Should we use dark wallpaper for the OLED screens?

[robinhelene]

Am I being paranoid? Would it it be good to just use dark wallpapers to avoid burn in?

 

[flyinion]

Am I being paranoid? Would it it be good to just use dark wallpapers to avoid burn in?

Nah just change it every once in a while, maybe don't leave it on the same home screen all the time, but you're in apps most of the time anyway. I've had OLED on multiple Android phones up through 2014 (so newer OLED screens are even better) and never noticed burn in or retention on any of them. Just don't leave your brightness cranked to max all the time either (not that you'd really want to look at it that bright anyway). The only thing a dark wallpaper might really get you is some miniscule battery savings because the dark areas use less/no power. Again though, how often do you just sit and stare at your screen, with no icons on it at that

 

[metllicamilitia]

The only thing dark wallpaper will help with is battery life. That’s why Apple included an all black one. It uses less power to run black because those pixels just aren’t on.

 

[TripleOne]

The only thing dark wallpaper will help with is battery life. That’s why Apple included an all black one. It uses less power to run black because those pixels just aren’t on.

So an all black wallpaper won’t help prevent burn in?

 

[metllicamilitia]

So an all black wallpaper won’t help prevent burn in?

Yes and no, the black pixels would be off, but your app icons aren’t all black so those pixels will always be on, and always on in the same location for usually an extended period of time. I don’t know enough about OLED to know what exactly causes burn in, but the more black your screen is the less likely it is to happen in those areas because the pixels are off.

 

[TripleOne]

Yes and no, the black pixels would be off, but your app icons aren’t all black so those pixels will always be on, and always on in the same location for usually an extended period of time. I don’t know enough about OLED to know what exactly causes burn in, but the more black your screen is the less likely it is to happen in those areas because the pixels are off.

Thanks!!

 

[msm0511]

From my research burn-in is caused more by static images being constantly on at high brightness. I've been paying attention, and Apple seems to do things to mitigate this. (The clock, wifi status, etc. changes from white to black depending on app background color, along with the home bar. Keeping auto brightness on will help too. I think True Tone will help as well because whites are shifting in color so they don't remain the exact same at all times.

As far as battery life goes, I'd say that the power savings are minuscule to negligible using dark wallpapers. I think it was Jerry over on Android Central that wrote an article about it more recently. Generally people aren't on their home screens long enough to really save much battery by choosing dark wallpaper. Now if there was a true dark mode that uses black backgrounds at hex black #000000 it would probably save some battery, but if it's not hex black the pixels will still light up.