Disqus
My buddy Ron over at OLED-info.com has been a busy bunny – he’s been providing analysis on what the screens on a couple of OLED-sceen mobile devices are like. Short summary: not very good.
However, before we get into it, a refresher on OLED:
OLED is an emissive display technology – it means that the OLED materials emit light. This is in contrast to a reflective display – which uses an external light source – an ePaper display for example, or a ‘real’ paper. OLEDs are bright, and provide great image quality, but because they are emissive, when viewed under direct sunlight (or any strong light source) they have a readability problem.
The best display technology for direct sunlight (besides ePaper) is said to be transflective LCDs, which uses a reflective layer under the LCD’s filter. However this reduces the transmissive capabilities of the LCD, and the contrast is compromised as well. With OLEDs, unfortunately, it’s not possible to use a reflective layer as the OLEDs themselves emit light.
So all of that said, what were the handsets with issues? Well those that are not great are the Nokia N85, and also the Samsung Omnia II. To be fair, it’s not something specific to a particular manufacturer, more a quirk (or feature, as more wily marketing types would have you believe) of OLED per se.
Ron neatly summarises:
Several companies are working to solve this issue – mostly trying to improve the contrast of the OLED displays.The Fraunhofer institute, for example, is working towards OLED contrast optimization in combination with high temperature stability and outcoupling enhancement structures for the automotive industry.
In conclusion, it seems that sunlight visibility is a major drawback with OLED displays, and if you use your phonemainly outside in the sun, perhaps it’s best to get one with a translective LCD. But OLEDs are improving, manufacturers are just learning how to optimize them and hopefully the next generation displays will perform better.
Check out the full article here.
[Story via: OLED-info.com / Video still via: pocketnow.com on YouTube]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
