One of the many signature features of the Google Pixel 4, beyond the Soli / Motion Sense chip and astrophotography capabilities, is the inclusion of a 90 Hz display, or “Smooth Display,” as also seen on the OnePlus 7T and some gaming phones. Early adopters have found, however, that the Pixel 4’s 90 Hz display drops down to the standard 60 Hz on lower brightness levels.
Reviewers all across the internet got their hands on the Google Pixel 4 following last week’s Made by Google event, and theexperiences they’ve sharedhave been inconsistent to say the least. Some have nothing but praise for the 90 Hz refresh rate, while others found the Pixel 4’s adaptive Smooth Display option to switch on and off seemingly at random. This week, the Pixel 4 has been getting into the hands of people around the world, and developers have already begun trying to better understand their new phone.
One redditorseems to have landed on one of the triggers for when exactly the Pixel 4’s Smooth Display decides not to use its 90 Hz refresh rate. In their testing, which has been independently confirmed byXDA‘s Mishaal Rahman, the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL will switch over to 60 Hz when your screen’s brightness level is set to75 % or less. At around that same brightness level, the Pixel 4 switches to adifferent display calibration setting.
Other factors also seem to be involved, though, asone person reportsthat their Pixel 4 stayed on 90 Hz while on a low brightness level but very high ambient light level. This hints at the possibility that Smooth Display is partially tied to the Pixel 4’s Ambient EQ feature.
As developers continue to experiment with the Pixel 4, we’ll surely soon arrive at a full answer to whenpreciselySmooth Display does and does not use the 90 Hz refresh rate. What’s also not known, for now, is why Google uses this metric in the first place.
For now, the best way to ensure that you’re making the most of the 90 Hz display on the Pixel 4, regardless of your brightness level or the ambient light levels, is to enable the “Force 90 Hz refresh rate ”setting in the Developer Options menu. Just keep in mind that this will almost certainly have a huge impact on your battery life, which is already one of the major complaints of the smaller Pixel 4.
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