14 DAY TRIAL // Last week when we reviewed Samsung’s new Gear Sport smartwatch, we described the display as one super-high-quality piece of technology that is living proof the South Korean firm is a leader when it comes to building screens that stand out in terms of colors, brightness, and contrast.
And while we stand by our statement that Samsung is indeed the best as far as displays go, we came across an issue affecting the Gear Sport and which seems to indicate that the company has actually made some compromises in terms of screen quality.
Before everything, let’s review the display specifications of the Samsung Gear S3 and the Gear Sport (check out the table below to see them side by side):
| Gear S3 | Gear Sport | |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution | 360x360 pixels 278 ppi |
360x360 pixels 302 ppi |
| Size | 1.3" | 1.2" |
| Features | Super AMOLED Full Color Always on Display Gorilla Glass SR+ |
Super AMOLED Full Color Always on Display Gorilla Glass 3 |
Now how a look at the photo below and see if you notice a difference in terms of color temperature and brightness – the one of the left is the Samsung Gear S3 and the one on the right is the Gear Sport, both of which were configured to use the same brightness level:
If you don’t spot any visible difference between the two, make sure you browse the photo gallery at the end of the article to see more color comparisons.
In just a few words, here’s what’s happening. Basically, no matter what color theme you select on your phone for a specific watch face, the Gear Sport display shows it with a different tone that becomes more noticeable in the case of purple, red, and yellow. For example, purple becomes pink-ish and yellow looks more like green, despite the display of the phone clearly showing the correct colors.
Comparing the Gear S3 and the Gear Sport shows the latter might have a display problem, and this could be caused by two different factors. First, it could be hardware, which is very likely given that we’ve experienced the same behavior on two different watches, and second, it could be software, which would allow Samsung to re-calibrate the display with a future update.
In both cases, it looks like the display was one of the areas affected by an unnecessary cost-cutting plan from Samsung, despite the fact that the Gear Sport still costs $299, so it’s not really the most affordable smartwatch that you can get right now.
We’ve reached out to Samsung to get an official statement on the color difference we noticed on the screen of the Gear Sport and we’ll update the article should a reply be offered.
