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Gone are the days when smartphones were the luxury of the rich because its 2020 and guess what, every person has one in their hand. Every person you look to will be having a touch screen smartphone and not any feature phone. The population is fully dependent on this piece of Technology that a single day without it seems impossible. Though, phones were invented back hundreds of years ago, to date they are being upgraded with the latest technology. Now, smartphones are much more than dialing and receiving calls.
Awareness and demand have also increased by double in the past decade which increased the requirements and further innovations to be applied to them. In 2020, people measure a phone’s features on the basic parameters including screen size, battery capacity, camera megapixels, Operating System etc.
Despite various features, a typical user does not think much about the Screen type and resolution. In this article, our main focus will be distinguishing between various types of screens with their features.
So, without further delay. Let’s get started.
Comparing different types of Display Technologies
#1 LCD
Also known as Liquid Crystal Display, LCDs have been there for a while now and was the first technology of screens after which LEDs were introduced. Basically, an LCD is made up of various different liquid crystals that are illuminated afterwards using a fluorescent backlight.
LCD has also been categorized further into 2 types:
- IPS LCD: these LCDs are quite on the expensive side and are usually pre-fitted in high-end devices promoting to better viewing experience and wider viewing angles. Also, this consumes less power as compared to the next variety of LCD.
- TFT LCD: this technology of LCD is mostly used in low-end smartphones these days and are losing their charm due to high power usage.
Advantages of LCD include better display under sunlight and consistent consumption of power irrespective of color.
Disadvantages of LCD include black color seen as grey due to backlight and lower picture quality.
#2 OLED
Often called as Organic Light Emitting Diode. Unlike LCDs, OLED is a thin-film display layered technology. It is an organic material that emits the light only when current is passed through the panel. OLED is believed to consume low power due to the fact that on darker pixels, the part is off either negligible current is passed through it.
That said, in manufacturing, OLED panels are fragile and vulnerable to physical damage and electrostatic discharge (ESD). To protect these sensitive components during handling and assembly, manufacturers often use tape and reel packaging. This method involves placing OLED panels onto reels sealed with tape, ensuring they remain free from contaminants and safe during transportation and automated assembly processes. By adopting this standardized packaging approach, OLED displays maintain their integrity and performance from production through to installation in various electronic devices. You can learn more about them in detail if you click here.
Anyway, like LCDs, OLED screens are also of two types:
- PMOLED: Passive Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode is a display variation in which a simple and controlled scheme is used where rows are powered individually. PMOLED is cheap and easy to use on smaller displays of up to 3 inches. The only drawback of PMOLED is its power consumption.
- AMOLED: Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) is based upon the technology of TFT in which there are very small capacitors that build up to be used in larger displays including smartphones.
#3 AMOLED
Continuing with the Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED). In the AMOLED variation of OLED, Active Matrix of OLED are used on a TFT plane that further activates the electronic currents and signals passed through by the software. The TFT panel acts as a switch t the display of each AMOLED pixel and thus lighting them only when in use.
An AMOLED by default contains two TFT on any pixel. Among the two TFT, one is used to turn on and off the signals and the other one is used to stay in a steady voltage to get rid of shocks and short-circuit in pixels resulting in dead pixels.
- Advantages of AMOLED include thinner displays, higher refresh rate, large scale displays, a higher ratio of contrast and vivid colors, and consumes less power while on dark colors.
- Disadvantages of AMOLED include poor color production in bright sunlight, consuming more power when the brightest of colors are to be seen, and because the display is organic, the life span of the display is also less.
Final Words
No doubt in the fact that LCDs were the first to be introduced followed by OLEDs. AMOLEDs are in the game for a while now and standards are increasing with 2K, 4K panels.
The only part where AMOLEDs are lacking is the daylight color production in sunlight.
So, this was our review and comparison of LCD vs. OLED vs. AMOLED. Still, have any queries? Comment down below.
