Samsung’s new flagships come with an option for an always-on home button. For those of you who were worried about burn-in problems, you’ll be happy to know that the button actually moves around slightly to prevent any unintended image retention.
This year’s Galaxy S flagships – Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus – may not have the iconic physical home button on the front, but they do have a pressure sensitive software home key. What’s more, Samsung also gives you the option to have it on all the time – simply go into your device’s AOD settings and select “Home button only.”
Fear not because Samsung has apparently implemented a clever way to address burn-in.
Now, you may have been worried that having an always-on home button would cause the infamous burn-in issue that OLED displays are particularly susceptible to. Well, fear not because Samsung has apparently implemented a clever way to address that: the folks over at Galaxy Club used tape to demonstrate that the virtual home button icon on Galaxy S8 devices actually moves around ever so slightly in various directions. It looks like the home button moves around only when the device is off; the three buttons within the navigation bar are static.
Just like old plasma displays, OLED displays are prone to burn-in issues. Essentially, the variation in luminance degradation in OLED panels causes noticeable image retention problems. Static images, in particular, burn up certain diodes, and that’s why even for other OLED phones, Samsung makes sure the AOD information moves around the screen.
