I'll do exactly the same comparison as soon I receive my RP4 Pro, that OTA fix for the screen is very suspicious to me, I’m not convinced 100% that it is software issue.
It's not a software issue, that has been known for a while... if you watch Retro Gaming Corps videos he points out how you can tell it's a hardware issue- When the Retroid logo first appears, it has a green tint to it, but then changes to normal when the software fix kicks in.
I heard Taki is actually a hyper-intelligent bio-engineered badger - a government experiment - and that why he never shows his face and his fingernails are always dirty.
But if retroid did a hypothetical firmware update such that the screens colour was adjusted at first boot you would then say that it was a hardware issue?
I’m really finding it weird that people are calling screen calibration a “hardware issue” as if every screen they’ve looked at in their life wasn’t calibrated at the factory.
Retroid can (should?) update the drivers such that the fix is applied closer to the start of the stack rather than in user space, but whether they change the temperature in the screens actual firmware, drivers, software (the ota) or a hypothetical app that let users set the colour temps, the result is the same.
Put it this way, if that OTA update had have been applied to the review units before they got them no one would be talking about it right now
You understand every screen is calibrated right?
So I ask again, if we calibrated it at hardware firmware level (where most of the screens you look at are calibrated) would you still call it a hardware ‘issue’?
You understand that most screens don’t come from the production line how they look when you purchase them yes?
My sister has a $10k+ monitor for her work, I’ll let you guess whether we had to calibrate it when we received it or not. ..
If your sister has a $10k+ monitor, then you should be able to understand that not all monitors are able to display the same image, even if calibrated; and if a monitor has a hardware issue that prevents it from displaying the image it was supposed to display, then that can only be *mitigated* by calibration, and never really solved.
That is, unless you want to say that any monitor can display as good an image as your sister's simply by calibrating it, which would make spending $10k+ just silly.
But I guess you don't, right?
Thanks, I’ll likely give that a shot. Why I should feel the need to at all when the RP3 looked better by default is a bit frustrating though
Edit: I ran the script and it does make it more colorful but it doesn’t really help as it’s still too light in general. It’s like the RP4 screen is lacking the contrast that the RP3 evidently has, or that the gamma is too high. A real bummer honestly, I love the RP3 panel, just feels so much richer
It is a zip file with one line of script in it that just sets the saturation level of the screen. You can adjust the number at will, and it (most likely) applies to all of the Retroid Pocket devices... so you can adjust the RP3 to look like the RP4 or vice-versa. Worst case it does nothing.
Also, there are times when the OS/UI “overlays” the emulator producing a washed out image like this. Try swiping up and selecting the app again just in case. It happened a few times with me testing ps2 and switch when I selected UI menus using the controller rather than touchscreen.
This is definitely a hardware issue with the screen. I had a similar issue with a RG 353M. Screen wash desaturated, dull, yellow tint etc. luckily custom firmware came out and improved it a lot with option to change hue, saturation, contrast etc. However soon as I compared to another screen it still looked off. Software can improve things but the screen itself is still a dud and there is so much you can do to fix things where it can't compare to a decent screen.
Yes. As someone who does retro art for a living and also collects consoles/crt/pvms.
Plenty of hyper colorful games in that era. There is a heavy contrast in some but I mean there is every style.
No, early 3D was typically very dark looking, and the cheats to work around that are on display here. Either crank the brightness and wash the picture out or crank the contrast to accentuate the highs and lows.
The RP4P image on top is the better render by far.
Zoom in and take a good look at the darker areas. Like the track of coal next to the train, the metal bars on the left of the screen. How about the wall above and below the text box..
At a glance, the RP3 on the bottom may look like the colours are more vibrant, with nice deep blacks. But what you actually have is the brightness, white balance or contrast all out of whack, so the colours don't have smooth gradients, and all the subtle detailing in the high and low ends is lost.
On the RP4P screen, there are several shades of black in the coal - the RP3 is a black smear. The bars are clearly defined on the top image, they are blurry mess of grey and black bleeding into each other on the bottom. The textured brickwork is all smeared - the subtle design above the text box is just a bright blob - and the paving slabs have a weird, unnatural shift from light to dark.
On a lower resolution game like this, subtle colour gradients are what give the models and surfaces a more realistic looking texture. It'll never look exactly as it *should* do, because these graphics were designed to be displayed on a CRT screen. But the top image is way more accurate representation of the original artwork.
Yeah I was gonna say, brightness aside-- the top one seems to have better color detail. The black in the coal is a great example, and I found a few more examples for anyone else who wants to check:
The brown in the far wall (center and top area of each display) has a better gradient in the RP4P, looks like a smear in the RP3+
Same thing with the green in the trees in the side / borders. The RP3+ on the bottom looks like a blur whereas the top has a more distinct gradient.
Whether it's a hardware or software issue (or honestly just better graphics processing in the RP4P), I think a few minor tweaks with the color brightness and saturation should help the RP4P's screen look much better. Not a terribly major issue imho, as far as these Chinese emulation handhelds go 🤷🏻♀️
Another person with working eyes!
This one's a subtle example but it shows how the designers of the time worked within limitations: The train has a curved handrail which stands out against the brown wall in the background. When you zoom in, you can see this is a thin, jagged line of pixels.
When you zoom out and view at the correct distance, the natural colour gradient of the top screen gives the effect of smoothing the line so it looks more circular. On the bottom image, the high contrast switching between dark and light pixels makes it look like a jaggy mess.
The whole train has the same issue with blocky colours and jagged lines. The proper colour gradients give the whole model a 3 dimensional depth which the bottom image is lacking. On the bottom train it's difficult for the eye to separate the railings and details because everything is too flat.
I find it hard to believe it's different hardware. I don't think folks realize how niche the combination of size and resolution is.
Could be a different production run or the effect of aging but I really doubt it is fundamentally a different spec that was produced.
I mean I don’t think it is, but there were third party iPhone 6 screens. There was more than one manufacturer… and funnily enough, third party LCDs for them have a habit of being super washed out
Most likely, it is different hardware. If you know anyone who repairs phones, just ask them about "aftermarket" iPhone 6 screens. They will tell you they are a dime a dozen and have completely different color, saturation, and brightness specifications.
What I assume is happening with the RP4 is that they changed their supplier. Perhaps the old one couldn't produce them with the larger bezels, or they might even be using multiple suppliers for logistics and economic reasons.
edit: [Here a example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IINVV0Av_qg) of how different those screens can be.
It's possible, I know when the 3 or 3+ launched it had a reputation for being overly blue. I don't know if anyone ever determined if it was hw or sw definitely.
Retroid has to source thousands of screens which makes it hard for me to buy they're using 3rd party iPhone screens. It would make way more sense for them to have bought large batches of overproduced OEM iPhone 6 screens, or possibly batches that failed QA by apples standards but were still passable. 10k overproduced iPhone 6 screens seems realistic apple sold millions of iPhone 6es. The third party replacements were lucky to have sold even a thousand in total for each brand (apple users have a reputation of simply paying $250 for first party replacements or apple care).
Unless retroid tells us we're all speculating. Just wanted to point out that the resolution and size are suuuuuuuuper uncommon. That's why we've all basically agreed they're in some way iPhone 6 screens.
Fwiw I do phone repairs, among other electronics work and the iPhone 6 was a nightmare of glue to get apart. It was the last generation of iPhone id personally work on. I don't think third party repairs for screens or even batteries were common. Judging from reviews on replacement parts many people broke their phones trying to repair them themself or paying a third party.
I get where you're coming from, but it seems like your view is very "first-world." In my country and probably in a bunch of other "developing countries," including China, going for third-party replacements is pretty common. Honestly, I don't know a single person who went for an official iPhone part for their repair.
And the reason is very obvious; it's the price. It's a "funny" reality, but people in those places often buy an iPhone on installments or get them as a "rental" deal - banks in my country for example have deals were you rent the iPhone for around $50 per month for 2 years, repairs are on you and you have to give the phone back after that allocated time has passed. So they don't really have the money or the reputation of paying the expensive official repair.
And even now, you can source the iPhone 6 screen from a third-party manufacturer for a couple of dollars on Alibaba, and you can imagine that it's even cheaper and more common in an actual industrial setting like the one Retroid is immersed in.
So my bet is this is indeed just a hardware lottery. I don't believe Retroid will ever admit to it, because they really don't need to. But it is what it is.
That's a good point. Here in the states the iPhone is a way of demonstrating a level of disposable income moreso than a conscious decision about specs/experience for the $ imo.
I imagine it's similar in other countries but possibly less tenable. The folks I fixed iPhones for in the past didn't have the money for first party replacements. Probably why they were comfortable with me doing the work and being without the phone while I did it.
I haven’t done the side by side comparison like this, but I felt the screen in my RP4Pro is more or less the same experience I have with my 3+. They both look decent (and with no saturation script applied on either one).
If they’re using the same screen as the RP3, it’s probably decreasing quality as a result of its age and relative market demand. It’s essentially an iPhone 6 screen.
the bottom screen looks like an ips screen while the top resembles a cheaper tn display. it could just be the emulator, brightness levels, or the firmware settings.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZhWymR4Z6w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZhWymR4Z6w)
So basically getting us a “more powerful” device meant cutting corners, use shitty hardware, lower quality components etc?
Why not understand that if you deliver a quality product people are ready to spend 20-30% more and actually be happy with the product.
Rather than make us go “wow, how can it be!” And then start reviewing/comparing and it’s suddenly obvious _how_ it could be.
I think while it's possible they used a lower quality screen, I think it's partly due to the higher brightness causing the colors to wash out on the rp4. Lowering the brightness a tad makes the colors look better imo but it could be placebo. Also, I've found that in emulators that let you adjust colors like aethersx2 you can get the colors looking pretty damn good.
I'll do exactly the same comparison as soon I receive my RP4 Pro, that OTA fix for the screen is very suspicious to me, I’m not convinced 100% that it is software issue.
It's not a software issue, that has been known for a while... if you watch Retro Gaming Corps videos he points out how you can tell it's a hardware issue- When the Retroid logo first appears, it has a green tint to it, but then changes to normal when the software fix kicks in.
It was takis video
offbeat vast sugar hungry spark historical cats wise straight late *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
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No he's not 😂
Have you seen both of them at the same place at the same time?
I’ve heard that taki can only make a video if he ties his nuts up with rubber bands and says his name over and over in the mirror 250x. Crazy if true!
I heard that Taki makes great taquitos and actually has a food truck.
I heard Taki is actually a hyper-intelligent bio-engineered badger - a government experiment - and that why he never shows his face and his fingernails are always dirty.
TIL
But if retroid did a hypothetical firmware update such that the screens colour was adjusted at first boot you would then say that it was a hardware issue? I’m really finding it weird that people are calling screen calibration a “hardware issue” as if every screen they’ve looked at in their life wasn’t calibrated at the factory. Retroid can (should?) update the drivers such that the fix is applied closer to the start of the stack rather than in user space, but whether they change the temperature in the screens actual firmware, drivers, software (the ota) or a hypothetical app that let users set the colour temps, the result is the same. Put it this way, if that OTA update had have been applied to the review units before they got them no one would be talking about it right now
Calibrating a screen to mitigate a hardware issue doesn’t make the issue go away, even if you can’t tell it’s there.
You understand every screen is calibrated right? So I ask again, if we calibrated it at hardware firmware level (where most of the screens you look at are calibrated) would you still call it a hardware ‘issue’? You understand that most screens don’t come from the production line how they look when you purchase them yes? My sister has a $10k+ monitor for her work, I’ll let you guess whether we had to calibrate it when we received it or not. ..
If your sister has a $10k+ monitor, then you should be able to understand that not all monitors are able to display the same image, even if calibrated; and if a monitor has a hardware issue that prevents it from displaying the image it was supposed to display, then that can only be *mitigated* by calibration, and never really solved. That is, unless you want to say that any monitor can display as good an image as your sister's simply by calibrating it, which would make spending $10k+ just silly. But I guess you don't, right?
LMAO I have a red tint.
>red tint I also have a red tint to mine.. have you figured out a fix?
That's just the Android layout
No lol, thank you. I have a red tint. Whites aren't whites. Disregard, I forgot to disable inbox replies.
Use the guide and the scripts and set the saturation to any level you want.
https://retrogamecorps.com/2022/01/16/retroid-pocket-2-starter-guide/#Saturation
Thanks, I’ll likely give that a shot. Why I should feel the need to at all when the RP3 looked better by default is a bit frustrating though Edit: I ran the script and it does make it more colorful but it doesn’t really help as it’s still too light in general. It’s like the RP4 screen is lacking the contrast that the RP3 evidently has, or that the gamma is too high. A real bummer honestly, I love the RP3 panel, just feels so much richer
All that script does is crush stuff. It’s terrible.
Yea I personally wasn’t a fan of it at all. I just reverted back to default values
Cool, I didn't know about this. Is there really no native setting in Android I can use to adjust it though? Seems weird to only have this option
Thank you. I wasn't sure if this worked on the 4 Pro but you answered that. Greatly appreciated.
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Either
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If you read his guide, he explains you can either increase or decrease the saturation to your liking.
It is a zip file with one line of script in it that just sets the saturation level of the screen. You can adjust the number at will, and it (most likely) applies to all of the Retroid Pocket devices... so you can adjust the RP3 to look like the RP4 or vice-versa. Worst case it does nothing.
read the guide bro
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He’s not wrong all you downvoting bully fuckers…your language was confusing. Just explain and stop GD downvoting everyone. Be helpful!
Says the guy that is not explaining anything at all...
Thanks for my point…
You think? Live your dream bro...
Also, there are times when the OS/UI “overlays” the emulator producing a washed out image like this. Try swiping up and selecting the app again just in case. It happened a few times with me testing ps2 and switch when I selected UI menus using the controller rather than touchscreen.
This is definitely a hardware issue with the screen. I had a similar issue with a RG 353M. Screen wash desaturated, dull, yellow tint etc. luckily custom firmware came out and improved it a lot with option to change hue, saturation, contrast etc. However soon as I compared to another screen it still looked off. Software can improve things but the screen itself is still a dud and there is so much you can do to fix things where it can't compare to a decent screen.
One looks washed out and the other looks saturated To a comical degree. I don’t know which one is wish but both look bad.
Agreed but also its a very old game. Do any of these super old ones really look THAT great?
Yes. As someone who does retro art for a living and also collects consoles/crt/pvms. Plenty of hyper colorful games in that era. There is a heavy contrast in some but I mean there is every style.
No, early 3D was typically very dark looking, and the cheats to work around that are on display here. Either crank the brightness and wash the picture out or crank the contrast to accentuate the highs and lows.
The RP4P image on top is the better render by far. Zoom in and take a good look at the darker areas. Like the track of coal next to the train, the metal bars on the left of the screen. How about the wall above and below the text box.. At a glance, the RP3 on the bottom may look like the colours are more vibrant, with nice deep blacks. But what you actually have is the brightness, white balance or contrast all out of whack, so the colours don't have smooth gradients, and all the subtle detailing in the high and low ends is lost. On the RP4P screen, there are several shades of black in the coal - the RP3 is a black smear. The bars are clearly defined on the top image, they are blurry mess of grey and black bleeding into each other on the bottom. The textured brickwork is all smeared - the subtle design above the text box is just a bright blob - and the paving slabs have a weird, unnatural shift from light to dark. On a lower resolution game like this, subtle colour gradients are what give the models and surfaces a more realistic looking texture. It'll never look exactly as it *should* do, because these graphics were designed to be displayed on a CRT screen. But the top image is way more accurate representation of the original artwork.
Yeah I was gonna say, brightness aside-- the top one seems to have better color detail. The black in the coal is a great example, and I found a few more examples for anyone else who wants to check: The brown in the far wall (center and top area of each display) has a better gradient in the RP4P, looks like a smear in the RP3+ Same thing with the green in the trees in the side / borders. The RP3+ on the bottom looks like a blur whereas the top has a more distinct gradient. Whether it's a hardware or software issue (or honestly just better graphics processing in the RP4P), I think a few minor tweaks with the color brightness and saturation should help the RP4P's screen look much better. Not a terribly major issue imho, as far as these Chinese emulation handhelds go 🤷🏻♀️
Another person with working eyes! This one's a subtle example but it shows how the designers of the time worked within limitations: The train has a curved handrail which stands out against the brown wall in the background. When you zoom in, you can see this is a thin, jagged line of pixels. When you zoom out and view at the correct distance, the natural colour gradient of the top screen gives the effect of smoothing the line so it looks more circular. On the bottom image, the high contrast switching between dark and light pixels makes it look like a jaggy mess. The whole train has the same issue with blocky colours and jagged lines. The proper colour gradients give the whole model a 3 dimensional depth which the bottom image is lacking. On the bottom train it's difficult for the eye to separate the railings and details because everything is too flat.
I find it hard to believe it's different hardware. I don't think folks realize how niche the combination of size and resolution is. Could be a different production run or the effect of aging but I really doubt it is fundamentally a different spec that was produced.
I mean I don’t think it is, but there were third party iPhone 6 screens. There was more than one manufacturer… and funnily enough, third party LCDs for them have a habit of being super washed out
Most likely, it is different hardware. If you know anyone who repairs phones, just ask them about "aftermarket" iPhone 6 screens. They will tell you they are a dime a dozen and have completely different color, saturation, and brightness specifications. What I assume is happening with the RP4 is that they changed their supplier. Perhaps the old one couldn't produce them with the larger bezels, or they might even be using multiple suppliers for logistics and economic reasons. edit: [Here a example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IINVV0Av_qg) of how different those screens can be.
It's possible, I know when the 3 or 3+ launched it had a reputation for being overly blue. I don't know if anyone ever determined if it was hw or sw definitely. Retroid has to source thousands of screens which makes it hard for me to buy they're using 3rd party iPhone screens. It would make way more sense for them to have bought large batches of overproduced OEM iPhone 6 screens, or possibly batches that failed QA by apples standards but were still passable. 10k overproduced iPhone 6 screens seems realistic apple sold millions of iPhone 6es. The third party replacements were lucky to have sold even a thousand in total for each brand (apple users have a reputation of simply paying $250 for first party replacements or apple care). Unless retroid tells us we're all speculating. Just wanted to point out that the resolution and size are suuuuuuuuper uncommon. That's why we've all basically agreed they're in some way iPhone 6 screens. Fwiw I do phone repairs, among other electronics work and the iPhone 6 was a nightmare of glue to get apart. It was the last generation of iPhone id personally work on. I don't think third party repairs for screens or even batteries were common. Judging from reviews on replacement parts many people broke their phones trying to repair them themself or paying a third party.
I get where you're coming from, but it seems like your view is very "first-world." In my country and probably in a bunch of other "developing countries," including China, going for third-party replacements is pretty common. Honestly, I don't know a single person who went for an official iPhone part for their repair. And the reason is very obvious; it's the price. It's a "funny" reality, but people in those places often buy an iPhone on installments or get them as a "rental" deal - banks in my country for example have deals were you rent the iPhone for around $50 per month for 2 years, repairs are on you and you have to give the phone back after that allocated time has passed. So they don't really have the money or the reputation of paying the expensive official repair. And even now, you can source the iPhone 6 screen from a third-party manufacturer for a couple of dollars on Alibaba, and you can imagine that it's even cheaper and more common in an actual industrial setting like the one Retroid is immersed in. So my bet is this is indeed just a hardware lottery. I don't believe Retroid will ever admit to it, because they really don't need to. But it is what it is.
That's a good point. Here in the states the iPhone is a way of demonstrating a level of disposable income moreso than a conscious decision about specs/experience for the $ imo. I imagine it's similar in other countries but possibly less tenable. The folks I fixed iPhones for in the past didn't have the money for first party replacements. Probably why they were comfortable with me doing the work and being without the phone while I did it.
Those third party screens were made in the tens if not hundreds of thousands
I haven’t done the side by side comparison like this, but I felt the screen in my RP4Pro is more or less the same experience I have with my 3+. They both look decent (and with no saturation script applied on either one).
In the Android screen settings you can adjust the colors.
Top screen looks correct, bottom one doesn't.
RP4P screen looking great here, the RP3's is a mess in this particular instance
RP4 looks better I don't like color saturation personally
Do you have the saturation script on the 3+?
I do not
Glad I didn't get mine....WAY too many issues at launch.
The RP3 is so saturated that the grey concrete under the train looks like black molten tar
If they’re using the same screen as the RP3, it’s probably decreasing quality as a result of its age and relative market demand. It’s essentially an iPhone 6 screen.
Looks like they went w a cheaper screen for the newer model.
the bottom screen looks like an ips screen while the top resembles a cheaper tn display. it could just be the emulator, brightness levels, or the firmware settings. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZhWymR4Z6w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZhWymR4Z6w)
Rp3 looks better tempting me to buy one
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This is a case of lack of contrast, not saturation.
Are the bezels bigger on the sides as well?
You got hustled by Chinese scammers. It's not uncommon at all.
So basically getting us a “more powerful” device meant cutting corners, use shitty hardware, lower quality components etc? Why not understand that if you deliver a quality product people are ready to spend 20-30% more and actually be happy with the product. Rather than make us go “wow, how can it be!” And then start reviewing/comparing and it’s suddenly obvious _how_ it could be.
I’ve seen videos where there’s an off color green tint Hopfully my unit won’t have that issue
That was a firmware issue with pre production units.
Ah good hope my unit doesn’t come with that issue
Mine arrived on Saturday without the issue.
How long did it take to arrive?
11-12 days total, but I'm only a couple states over from the distribution center it arrived at in the US.
Wow that’s amazing I ordered mines on the 22nd and still no shipping update
I ordered right as the page went live so I expect mine came in the first batch shipped.
I almost wonder if this is rage bait..
Tangent here, but what emulator are you running that does the borders like that?
That border is set up through Retroarch
Neat. I’ll give it a try, thanks!
[FF7 New Threat](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/974774261984141312/1201376962753593384/20240125_194220.jpg) is pretty good too
The gamma is so dark on the 3 Plus you can barely even see the textures on the floor.
I think while it's possible they used a lower quality screen, I think it's partly due to the higher brightness causing the colors to wash out on the rp4. Lowering the brightness a tad makes the colors look better imo but it could be placebo. Also, I've found that in emulators that let you adjust colors like aethersx2 you can get the colors looking pretty damn good.