We put the Huawei Pocket 2 through our rigorous SBMARK Display test suite to measure its performance across four criteria. In these test results, we look at how it fared across a variety of tests and common use cases.
Overview
Key display specifications
- 6.94 inch OLED
- Dimensions: Folded: 87.8 x 75.5 x 15.3 mm; Open: 170 x 75.5 x 7.25 mm
- Resolution: 1136 x 2690 pixels, (~420 ppi density)
- Refresh rate: 120Hz
Pros
- Good color rendering is good in most light environments
- HDR10 rendering is good in terms of brightness and contrast in both low-light and indoor-lit environments.
- Good smoothness in any use case
Against
- Lack of screen contrast under sunlight
- Slight magenta cast in HDR10 renderings
- Strong reflection and visible crease
The Huawei Pocket 2 is a high-end clamshell smartphone that scored highly in our foldable device rankings, particularly in terms of touch functionality and video performance.
The outdoor readability experience was inferior to that offered by its main competitor, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, in particular due to lower luminance and higher reflectance, which impacted outdoor contrast and made the crease quite visible.
The outdoor gallery readability was also improved thanks to a specific HDR photo setting enabled by default, which improves the contrast and brightness of SDR photos, bringing them closer to an HDR rendering. While this had a positive impact on readability, our testers noted that the rendering could sometimes lower the rendering of details in the darker tones and on the subject’s face, giving them a flatter appearance, in outdoor conditions. Indoors and in low light, however, the same feature had a very positive impact on the overall rendering of the displayed images.
The screen’s high pulse-width modulation of 1440Hz, the highest frequency seen in a flip device this year, means the display is unlikely to produce temporal lighting artifacts that could impact the user experience.
In other areas, the device’s HDR10 rendering performed well in indoor and dark room conditions. The device’s color fidelity was good, and angular color shift was well-handled. Additionally, the Pocket 2’s touch fluidity was flawless in the use cases we tested.
Test summary
About SBMARK Display Tests: For evaluation and analysis, a device is subjected to a series of objective and perceptual tests under controlled laboratory and real-life conditions. The SBMARK Display Score takes into account the overall user experience provided by the display, considering hardware capability and software tuning. Only factory-installed video and photo apps are used in the tests. More in-depth details on how SBMARK tests displays can be found in the article “A Closer Look at the SBMARK Display Tests”.
The following section focuses on key elements of our extensive testing and analysis in the SBMARK labs. Full reports with detailed performance evaluations are available upon request. To order a copy, please contact us.
How the display readability score is composed
Readability measures how easy and comfortable it is for a user to view fixed content, such as a photo or web page, on a display under different lighting conditions. Our lab measurements are complemented by perceptual testing and analysis.
Skin tone rendering in an indoor environment (1000 lux)
From left to right: Huawei Pocket 2, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6, Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
(Photo for illustration purposes only)
Skin tone rendition in a sunlight environment (>90,000 lux)
From left to right: Huawei Pocket 2, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6, Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
(Photo for illustration purposes only)
SCI stands for Specular Component Included, which measures both diffuse and specular reflection. The reflection from a simple glass pane is about 4%, while it reaches about 6% for a plastic pane. Although the first surface of smartphones is made of glass, their total reflection (without coating) is usually about 5% due to the multiple reflections created by the complex optical stack.
The average reflectance is calculated based on the spectral reflectance in the visible spectrum range (see graph below) and the human spectral sensitivity.
Uniformity
This graph shows the distribution of luminance across the entire display panel. Uniformity is measured with a 20% gray pattern, with bright green indicating ideal luminance. A bright green color evenly distributed across the screen indicates that the display is uniformly bright. Other colors indicate a loss of uniformity.
Displays flicker for 2 main reasons: refresh rate and pulse width modulation. Pulse width modulation is a modulation technique that generates pulses of variable width to represent the amplitude of an analog input signal. This measurement is important for comfort because flickering at low frequencies can be perceived by some individuals and, in extreme cases, can induce seizures. Some experiments show that discomfort can occur at a higher frequency. A high PWM frequency (>1500 Hz) tends to be less annoying to users.
How the displayed color score is composed
Color evaluations are performed under different lighting conditions to see how well the device handles color with its surroundings. Devices are tested with sRGB and Display-P3 image patterns. Both the true and default modes are used for our evaluation. Our lab measurements are complemented by perceptual tests and analyses.
Circadian clock factor is a metric that defines the impact of light on the human sleep cycle. It is the ratio of light energy that contributes to sleep disruption (centered at 450 nm, representing blue light) to light energy that contributes to our perception (covering 400 nm to 700 nm and centered at 550 nm, representing green light). A high circadian clock factor means that the ambient light contains strong blue light energy and is likely to affect the body’s sleep cycle, while a low circadian clock factor means that the light has weak blue light energy and is less likely to affect sleep patterns.
How the Display Video Score is Composed
The video attribute evaluates the Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) and High Dynamic Range (HDR10) video handling in indoor and low-light conditions. Our laboratory measurements are complemented by perceptual tests and analyses.
HDR video rendering in a low light environment (0 lux)
Clockwise from top left: Huawei Pocket 2, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6, Motorola Razr 40 Ultra
(Photo for illustration purposes only)
These indicators show the percentage of frame irregularities in a 30-second video. These irregularities are not necessarily noticeable to users (unless they are all in the same timestamp), but they are an indicator of performance.
How the Display Touch Score is Composed
We evaluate touch attributes across many types of content where touch is critical and requires different behaviors, such as games (quick taps for responsiveness), web (smooth page scrolling), and images (precise and fluid navigation from one image to another).
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