One of the issues that we deal with most in depth at Computerhoy during our reviews is how much or how much a screen shines and whether or not it has to do with what the manufacturers tell us. Let’s see how the manufacturers deceive us.
It is ugly not to tell reality or the truth when they give you technical information, but, of course, on this occasion there is a “legal vacuum” in which manufacturers take the opportunity to offer the highest figure in the most beneficial extreme case.
The cold figure is simply a value that we can compare directly, but they are not transparent with the situation in which the screen gives that brightness.
During the reviews of some mobiles we have come across cases in which a manufacturer announced a higher figure than another mobile but in normal use with automatic brightness it was lower than that of another terminal.
The figures that are given glow in TVs it is, for example, a number of a window of a certain size within the screen instead of the entire screen, so it can be used to compare, but not to know how it performs in a normal case of viewing HDR content .
Let’s take a look at all this goings-on of half-truths about the maximum brightness of mobile screens and why we shouldn’t pay direct attention to those figures.
Mobile screens: double brightness mode
Mobile phone manufacturers tend to show their chests by offering a data figure of lumens. The highest-end mobiles exceed 1,000 and reach up to 2,000 luxes / nits in some models.
To get an idea, a figure of more than 600 nits is enough to be able to see something on the mobile outdoors. To see it well, we have to go to very high-end mobiles with those four-figure lumen numbers.
He brightness control On both Android and mobile phones for users, it is done through an automatic mode or manually by choosing the percentage of brightness. However, mobiles have a brightness mode that increases the brightness much more than in manual at 100%.
It is what is known as HBM o High Bright Mode and is activated when the mobile through the light sensor detects a lot of light, such as when the sun hits it, for example. This mode can also work when playing HDR content or not, this already depends on the terminal.
There are some mobiles that have a different HDR mode in which it has an intermediate brightness level between normal mode and HBM.
That is why in Computerhoy we measured the brightness manually and then with the HBM modeilluminating the light sensor.
This is Xiaomi’s brightness information about the Xiaomi 13 Pro
our measurements
Brightness according to Samsung: 1,750 nits
Well, as we see in those figures on paperEverything suggests that the Xiaomi mobile is the one that offers the brightest, and yes, in our measurements in high brightness mode, it is by far the brightest screen. So far so good.
But, how do you use your mobile in your day to day? Under the sun? Or in a well lit place but not with that extreme light? here is the difference.
Xiaomi 13 ProGalaxy S22 Ultra 5GBAnnounced brightness1,200 nits-Maximum announced brightness1,950 nits1,750 nitsBrightness measured in normal mode973 lux1,662 luxMaximum measured brightness2,809 lux1,893 lux
Despite the fact that we are dealing with two top mobiles and their screens offer a sufficient quality and brightness level for all types of use, on paper it would seem that the Samsung mobile has less brightness, and in your day-to-day life, in normal mode.
The Samsung mobile offers almost all the brightness that it advertises, that is, with both mobiles side by side, the Galaxy S22 Ultra shines noticeably brighter on a day-to-day basis, except when you put them in the sun. In fact, the Xiaomi in HDR mode does not launch that HBM mode, so it also has less brightness to view content.
For this reason, we encourage you to see our reviews in which we conscientiously measure all these aspects, so as not to stay with the best figure, but the casuistry of that figure that they use is at a specific moment in full sunlight.
It is not the only case, we can see that in the medium-high ranges the behavior is usually similar, we have announced a brightness value, but on a day-to-day basis you find a lower level than the one announced.
