AMOLED, Super AMOLED,
TFT, Super LCD - what types of screens are these ? Confused by these
terms while deciding to buy a smart phone ? Don’t worry, this guide is
all you need. After reading this guide, you will be in a better
position to understand what the manufactures are talking about, when
they say ,the screen is TFT-LCD or Super AMOLED.
TFT- LCD
TFT
LCD (Thin Film Transistor Liquid Crystal Display) , commonly called
LCD, is the most common screen type used in mobile phones. This
technology uses Thin Film Transistor technology to improve the display
quality. LCD screens requires back light which makes the pixels
visible. Some of the Phones using this technology– Samsung Galaxy Ace,
HTC Dream, iPhone 2 G and 3G.
Super – LCD ( S-LCD)
Super
LCD is an evolved form of TFT LCD technology. It offers excellent image
quality and gives more battery life (due to low power consumption).
Nickname of Super-LCD / TFT is IPS ( In plane switching). You can
see that in the specifications of many phones. It usually says,
the Display is Super IPS or simply IPS.
Popular Phones using this technology – iPhone 3GS, HTC One X.
AMOLED
First
and the most important point – This is not LCD. It uses LED technology.
The term AMOLED consists of two parts - AM and OLED.
The
OLED part of AMOLED, means Organic Light Emitting Diode. Yes, it
uses organic compounds to form the electroluminescent material. AM
part refers to the Active matrix technology behind the addressing
of pixels. Unlike LCDs, AMOLED displays don’t need backlight.
Black backgrounds are best suited for AMOLED screens as black turns
the pixels off consuming less power. Contrast ratios of AMOLEDs are much
better than LCDs.
But AMOLED Displays are difficult to view in
direct sunlight compared to LCDs, due to their reduced
maximum brightness. There is severe shortage of AMOLED displays due to
high demand. Certain phones from HTC which was supposed to use AMOLED
has been changed to use SLCD due this shortage. There was also a concern
that the organic materials used in AMOLED can degrade over a period
of time. This is addressed using the latest technology innovations
by various manufactures.
Popular Phones using this technology – HTC Legend, LG E-730, Nokia N9
Super AMOLED
Super
AMOLED is Samsung’s term for AMOLED having an integrated digitizer.
This means, the touch screen layer is integrated into the display
during the manufacturing itself , rather than overlaying on top later.
Super AMOLED solves the problem of viewing difficulty in direct
sunlight. It reflects sunlight 5 times less than the normal AMOLED
display. Popular Phones using this technology – Samsung Galaxy S
series, Samsung S8600 Wave III, Samsung Omnia 7
Super AMOLED Plus
A
technology introduced with Samsung Galaxy S II. This technology uses
the RGB-RGB pixel arrangement typically found in LCDs. Due to this, the
display is more brighter and more energy-efficient than older Super
AMOLED displays. Super AMOLED Plus gives sharper and clearer images.
Popular Phones using this technology – Samsung Droid Charge,
Samsung Galaxy SII, Samsung Infuse 4G. Hmm, that is a lot of
information. But can you answer a simple question : which screen
technology best suites me ?
There is NO one word answer to this.
We
know AMOLED gives better contrast ratio compared to LCDs. That means,
you can watch movies and games better using AMOLED. The color
reproduction is far better in AMOLED than LCDs. So If you are going to
extensively use your phone for watching YouTube videos, Playing games,
Viewing pictures and watching movies – AMOLED is the BEST choice. Super
AMOLED or Super AMOLED Plus will be better than plain AMOLED as it is
more brighter and is easy to view under direct sunlight compared to
AMOLED.
If you are going to read extensively from web using your
mobile , problem is different . Most of the text available on web is
black text on white background. Hence the AMOLED will consume more
power in this case. LCD is more suitable to read text for longer
duration compared AMOLED , however minimal that difference may be.Along
with the screen technology, you need to consider the display resolution
also before selecting a particular phone model. Higher resolution means
the displayed content is sharper. Mobile phones usually comes with
QVGA(320 x 200) , HVGA(480 x 320) and WVGA(800 x 480) and qHD(960 x
540) resolutions.
There are also many HD phones available in the market offering a high-resolution of 1280x 800 pixels.
Hope you have enjoyed this guide.
