Available from this Friday, October 8, 2021, the new Nintendo Switch wants to impress us with its eponymous Oled screen. But the talent of this screen, although real, is only available to those who will know how to get it out of its hiding place …
It is finally here, this new model of Nintendo Switch long awaited. Starting today, October 8, 2021, gamers can get their hands on Nintendo’s new hybrid console review. Laying your eyes on this famous new Oled screen, in the absence of the improved computing power that had once been anticipated for a possible “Switch Pro”, constitutes the only major technical innovation of this new version of the console – as indicated by its very elegant official name, “Nintendo Switch (OLED model)”.
The only major novelty certainly, but not an insignificant novelty for all that, because Oled technology is here, as in all circumstances, carrying many promises (ultra deep blacks, more vibrant colors). But we obviously cannot be satisfied with the theory: what is the display quality actually produced by this screen? We have equipped ourselves with our faithful colorimetric probes in order to be clear about it.
Black ebony
So let’s start with the first of these promises: blacks of infinite depth. Contrary to what one might think, this characteristic is in fact not guaranteed by the use of Oled technology. The absence of backlighting and self-emitting pixels are one thing, but their power supply must be able to drive very low voltages with enough precision so that the transition between absolute black and very dark gray does not cause very unpleasant banding effects. This is the reason why the Oled displays of the PlayStation Vita or of the PlayStation VR, for example and to remain in the field of the video game, indeed emit small luminous residues even when they display black “0%”.
Fortunately, none of this concerns the Switch Oled screen, which from this point of view is well worthy of the standards set by current smartphones. In the dark, our probe is not able to detect the slightest photon emitted, nor our naked eyes. This infinite contrast compares very favorably to the ratios of 1084: 1 and 847: 1 measured on the LCD screens of the Switch Original and the Switch Lite, respectively. And we have known, since time, the advantages of these perfect blacks: depth and relief of the image, richness of detail brought to the shadow areas … Among the few games that we were able to try for this test, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which highlights these qualities in the most striking way, with its nocturnal sets whose shaded areas become veritable magnetic abysses for the gaze.
Supersaturation, c ** trap
We can not say, however, that the first contact with the console is so pleasant when it comes to color reproduction. By default, the Switch Oled indeed presents its user with extremely, if not too saturated, colors. The cause of this is that the console uses the native color space of its screen, which is found to be close to the DCI-P3 space, and not to the Rec.709 space for which the games and the interface of the console are however calibrated (this is the standard “SDR” color space used by the original Switch and Switch Lite, as well as on the HDMI output of the dock). The result to the eye is in substance equivalent to the “extended color” or similar modes that can be found on most Oled and Qled televisions on the market. It is marked by very flashy and perhaps in a sense flattering colors, but also very unfaithful, not doing honor to the artistic direction of the games.
This is particularly visible on the red and green shades, which are very largely oversaturated, which is sanctioned on the DeltaE 94 measurement by the peaks at nearly 9 (average at 4.3). These distorted colors are not so obvious in all games; we recognize for example that a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, with its candy box colors, is not distorted – the excess of liveliness is however perfectly superfluous, the game having absolutely no need of this to sparkle visually. Conversely, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s pastel color scheme is terribly battered. The grass is tinged with a radioactive mint green, and the sky with a blue “produced in WC”, which is the most complete misunderstanding.
Fortunately, there is a solution to all of this … as easy to guess as it is difficult to find when you pick up the console the first time. Yes, the Switch Oled offers two display modes, a “vivid color” mode (default) and a “standard” mode. Yes, the standard mode is much better calibrated. No, we will never be able to explain why the choice between these two modes has been hidden so deeply in the parameters of the console: we can only access it after going to look, at the bottom of the list of sub-menus, the “Console” section, where you can still find at the very bottom or almost the option “Saturation of the console screen”, sandwiched between two unrelated settings.
Still, after switching to standard mode, the rendering is transfigured. The Rec. 709 color space is perfectly respected this time around, and the DeltaE94 drops to an admirable average of 1.8 (against 3.2 for the original Switch, 2.1 for the Switch Lite), without any peak above. of 4. On our test copy – just like on the copy received by our dear neighbors of Gamekult, which we also took a look at -, we can only painfully distinguish a tiny drift from green to yellow, and nuances of gray pulling a bit towards blue (color temperature almost constant at 7367 K, for a target at 6500 K). The rest is indistinguishable. It should be noted that the rendering could present some small variations depending on the copies sold in the trade. But this is of little importance: in practice, the sight adapts in a few moments to these small drifts, which we can therefore qualify as insignificant.
Screen readability: maximum brightness limited, but reflectance finally tamed!
All this being specified, the simple fact that the Oled panel of this new Switch is able to cover a large part of the DCI-P3 color space opens up an interesting potential. We are surprised to imagine future games which, being aware of the Switch model on which they are running, could automatically adjust their tone-mapping on the Oled screen to use it authentically. Better yet, it might even go hand in hand with adding HDR compatibility with expanded color space on the dock’s HDMI output. A daydream ? No doubt, alas.
As it stands, the Switch Oled screen itself could not however claim any HDR label, the fault of a too limited peak in brightness. It tops out at 330 cd / m², a little less even than the 360 and 380 cd / m² achieved respectively by the original Switch and the Switch Lite.
This does not mean, however, that the Switch Oled does not achieve a colossal leap compared to its predecessors in terms of readability in full light, thanks to another less expected benefit of the new screen: its drastically reduced reflectance. This was one of the biggest weaknesses of LCD models, real mirrors that reflected almost 90% of incident light. This figure is almost halved by the Oled screen, which reflects 49% of the light. The difference is major.
The new Switch Oled screen therefore keeps its promises, and improves the visual experience on almost all possible metrics compared to LCD models. So on condition that you take the time to dig deep into the options of the machine …
We look forward to seeing you in a few days for our complete test of the Nintendo Switch Oled.
