super ips lcd2 vs tft lcd brands
If you want to buy a new monitor, you might wonder what kind of display technologies I should choose. In today’s market, there are two main types of computer monitors: TFT LCD monitors & IPS monitors.
The word TFT means Thin Film Transistor. It is the technology that is used in LCD displays. We have additional resources if you would like to learn more about what is a TFT Display. This type of LCDs is also categorically referred to as an active-matrix LCD.
These LCDs can hold back some pixels while using other pixels so the LCD screen will be using a very minimum amount of energy to function (to modify the liquid crystal molecules between two electrodes). TFT LCDs have capacitors and transistors. These two elements play a key part in ensuring that the TFT display monitor functions by using a very small amount of energy while still generating vibrant, consistent images.
Industry nomenclature: TFT LCD panels or TFT screens can also be referred to as TN (Twisted Nematic) Type TFT displays or TN panels, or TN screen technology.
IPS (in-plane-switching) technology is like an improvement on the traditional TFT LCD display module in the sense that it has the same basic structure, but has more enhanced features and more widespread usability.
These LCD screens offer vibrant color, high contrast, and clear images at wide viewing angles. At a premium price. This technology is often used in high definition screens such as in gaming or entertainment.
Both TFT display and IPS display are active-matrix displays, neither can’t emit light on their own like OLED displays and have to be used with a back-light of white bright light to generate the picture. Newer panels utilize LED backlight (light-emitting diodes) to generate their light hence utilizing less power and requiring less depth by design. Neither TFT display nor IPS display can produce color, there is a layer of RGB (red, green, blue) color filter in each LCD pixels to produce the color consumers see. If you use a magnifier to inspect your monitor, you will see RGB color in each pixel. With an on/off switch and different level of brightness RGB, we can get many colors.
Winner. IPS TFT screens have around 0.3 milliseconds response time while TN TFT screens responds around 10 milliseconds which makes the latter unsuitable for gaming
Winner. the images that IPS displays create are much more pristine and original than that of the TFT screen. IPS displays do this by making the pixels function in a parallel way. Because of such placing, the pixels can reflect light in a better way, and because of that, you get a better image within the display.
As the display screen made with IPS technology is mostly wide-set, it ensures that the aspect ratio of the screen would be wider. This ensures better visibility and a more realistic viewing experience with a stable effect.
Winner. While the TFT LCD has around 15% more power consumption vs IPS LCD, IPS has a lower transmittance which forces IPS displays to consume more power via backlights. TFT LCD helps battery life.
Normally, high-end products, such as Apple Mac computer monitors and Samsung mobile phones, generally use IPS panels. Some high-end TV and mobile phones even use AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diodes) displays. This cutting edge technology provides even better color reproduction, clear image quality, better color gamut, less power consumption when compared to LCD technology.
This kind of touch technology was first introduced by Steve Jobs in the first-generation iPhone. Of course, a TFT LCD display can always meet the basic needs at the most efficient price. An IPS display can make your monitor standing out.
Steven Van Slyke and Ching Wan Tang pioneered the organic OLED at Eastman Kodak in 1979. The first OLED product was a display for a car stereo, commercialized by Pioneer in 1997. Kodak’s EasyShare LS633 digital camera, introduced in 2003, was the first consumer electronic product incorporating a full-color OLED display. The first television featuring an OLED display, produced by Sony, entered the market in 2008. Today, Samsung uses OLEDs in all of its smartphones, and LG manufactures large OLED screens for premium TVs. Other companies currently incorporating OLED technology include Apple, Google, Facebook, Motorola, Sony, HP, Panasonic, Konica, Lenovo, Huawei, BOE, Philips and Osram. The OLED display market is expected to grow to $57 billion in 2026.
An AMOLED display consists of an active matrix of OLED pixels generating light (luminescence) upon electrical activation that have been deposited or integrated onto a thin-film transistor (TFT) array, which functions as a series of switches to control the current flowing to each individual pixel.
Typically, this continuous current flow is controlled by at least two TFTs at each pixel (to trigger the luminescence), with one TFT to start and stop the charging of a storage capacitor and the second to provide a voltage source at the level needed to create a constant current to the pixel, thereby eliminating the need for the very high currents required for PMOLED.
TFT backplane technology is crucial in the fabrication of AMOLED displays. In AMOLEDs, the two primary TFT backplane technologies, polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) and amorphous silicon (a-Si), are currently used offering the potential for directly fabricating the active-matrix backplanes at low temperatures (below 150 °C) onto flexible plastic substrates for producing flexible AMOLED displays. Brightness of AMOLED is determined by the strength of the electron current. The colors are controlled by the red, green and blue light emitting diodes. It is easier to understand by thinking of each pixel is independently colored, mini-LED.
IPS technology is like an improvement on the traditional TFT LCD display module in the sense that it has the same basic structure, but with more enhanced features and more widespread usability compared with the older generation of TN type TFT screen (normally used for low-cost computer monitors). Actually, it is called super TFT. IPS LCD display consists of the following high-end features. It has much wider viewing angles, more consistent, better color in all viewing directions, it has higher contrast, faster response time. But IPS screens are not perfect as their higher manufacturing cost compared with TN TFT LCD.
Utilizing an electrical charge that causes the liquid crystal material to change their molecular structure allowing various wavelengths of backlight to “pass-through”. The active matrix of the TFT display is in constant flux and changes or refreshes rapidly depending upon the incoming signal from the control device.
IPS (In-Plane Switching) lcd is still a type of TFT LCD, IPS TFT is also called SFT LCD (supper fine tft ),different to regular tft in TN (Twisted Nematic) mode, theIPS LCD liquid crystal elements inside the tft lcd cell, they are arrayed in plane inside the lcd cell when power off, so the light can not transmit it via theIPS lcdwhen power off, When power on, the liquid crystal elements inside the IPS tft would switch in a small angle, then the light would go through the IPS lcd display, then the display on since light go through the IPS display, the switching angle is related to the input power, the switch angle is related to the input power value of IPS LCD, the more switch angle, the more light would transmit the IPS LCD, we call it negative display mode.
The regular tft lcd, it is a-si TN (Twisted Nematic) tft lcd, its liquid crystal elements are arrayed in vertical type, the light could transmit the regularTFT LCDwhen power off. When power on, the liquid crystal twist in some angle, then it block the light transmit the tft lcd, then make the display elements display on by this way, the liquid crystal twist angle is also related to the input power, the more twist angle, the more light would be blocked by the tft lcd, it is tft lcd working mode.
A TFT lcd display is vivid and colorful than a common monochrome lcd display. TFT refreshes more quickly response than a monochrome LCD display and shows motion more smoothly. TFT displays use more electricity in driving than monochrome LCD screens, so they not only cost more in the first place, but they are also more expensive to drive tft lcd screen.The two most common types of TFT LCDs are IPS and TN displays.
The two buzzwords the tech world has been chatting about for a number of years now is IPS, (In-Plane Switching) screen technology used for liquid crystal displays or LCD’s for short, and TFT (Thin-Film-Transistor) an active matrix screen technology, which is more expensive, but a sharper image.
Designed in the 1980’s, but not introduced until nearly a decade later, in 1996, by Hitachi, IPS technology is nothing new, and a type of LCD design that affords greater viewing angles and higher-quality color reproduction than the traditional TN or Twisted Nematic LCDs.
When Apple brought it to the public’s attention, it took off, and as they say, the rest is history; but, it really didn’t become widespread or worldwide until just the late 1990’s. Since then, IPS screens have been implemented in homes all over the world, with variations to suit one’s electronic needs.
TFT (Thin-Film-Transistor) Liquid Crystal Display is a thin display type, where a transistor embedded into each crystal gate; these transistors are then printed on thin-transparent film. The technology was designed to improve image qualities, such as contrast and addressability.
Also designed in the late 1980’s, TFT display technologies is just another variation of LCD displays that offer greater color, contrast, and response times as opposed to available passive matrix LCD’s. One of the primary differences between IPS and TFT display technologies is the cost. IPS is more expensive than TN technology. However, there are some key differences between the two that should be noted.
Before we go into the differences, let’s talk about features of each technology. Note that we’re not talking TVs, computer, or tablets, but screens on a much smaller scale, (think 7” or smaller) which uses different rules to fit that scale. First, it’s interesting to discover that the TFT display technologies is the most common type of color display technology; more monochrome displays still out-sell color, due to lower cost and lower power consumption, however, the narrow poor visibility of TFTs in direct sunlight is their downside; but I’m getting ahead of myself here.
IPS technology has come a long way in regards to cell phones and other LCD screens that are even much smaller. (Picture digital clocks on a radio, microwave, and hand-held games) Some of the features of an IPS screen include:Wider viewing angles – crystals are aligned horizontally rather than vertically, so it allows for better angled viewing, perfect for smaller screens, where you need to rotate the screen for better viewing
Brilliant color image – this is a huge advance in technology, from a Twisted Nematic (TN) display that only produced 6-bit color, to an 8-bit color display with the IPS technology
Variations to help with user’s viewing requirements or desires – there are several different forms of IPS technology: Super-IPS, (S-IPS) Advanced Super IPS, Advanced S-IPS, where the liquid crystal molecules stay parallel to the front and back panels, instead of perpendicular when a voltage is applied
TFT display technologies have developed over the years and have become quite popular in tech circles. The features offered with this advancing technology are:Superior color display – for technology that requires it or for consumers that desire color screens
Variety of displays, which can be interfaced through a variety of bus types, including 18 and 24 bit for red/green/blue, LVDS, and 8 bit and 16 bit for a CPU – many controllers allow for two or more different types of interfaces on the same TFT screen
Let me explain. As you can see, both have excellent color display and clarity; however, IPS screens offer greater color reproduction and viewing angles because of the way crystal orientation and polarizers are arranged. In a TFT screen, the structure of the crystals results in angular retardation in the light. The IPS screens thus offer less distortion properties. Other differences include power consumption and cost. With IPS screens, it takes more power (up to 15% more) than with a TFT screen. If you’re on a monitor, such as a computer screen that’s bigger than 7 inches, it will drain your battery faster than if you’re on a 3.5” screen. Regarding cost, IPS panels are more expensive to produce than TFT panels.
Here’s why:IPS screens are popular and in high demand with professionals including surgeons and photographers or pretty much any profession that requires color reproduction, therefore, because the demand is high, the price goes up. (way to love economics) Also, less manufactures are building IPS at this time.
The color channels increase from 6 bits (TN displays) to 8 bits (IPS displays) to ensure the precision of shades per color channel, thus increasing manufacturing costs
If you want the benefits of having a Smartphone without a huge price tag, then TFT devices are your best bet. Another difference is that IPS screens have longer response times than TFT screens, so the lag output is greater. A few other key differences to be aware of are that with IPS panels, you get a bigger variety of panels, as was discussed above, with their super, advanced, and so forth developments, giving the consumer options, and IPS screens that can display 24-bit TrueColor; they also stay color-accurate and remain stable.
Because of their superior color and clarity of images, devices using an IPS screens are easy to install on walls, due to their compact form and low-depth. The Super IPS screens offer a higher angle of 170˚ for better clarity and wider viewing, particularly at night. Images remain stable and clear and not sparkly, shiny, like other screens; they also have a longer battery life and screen life, (on smaller screens of course) because of the lower electrical output. The release of heat is lower, again because of the reduced electrical consumption. The colors are also more vibrant and clear, not pixelated like other lower quality-type devices. As mentioned earlier, there are also many variations of IPS technology to suit your needs and desires.
Now we will go over the downside of IPS screens, which we briefly touched on above, which includes a major disadvantage: cost. If you’re just looking for an average Smartphone or don’t need all the fancy coloring and clarity for LCD displays, then cost may not be a big factor; however, this is the main reason why IPS technology is beginning to come down. As with every new invention, discovery or technology, demand is everything. Another disadvantage is that colors may not always transcribe correctly or accurately, which may or may not be a deterrent. Also, high resolutions are not always readily available for personal applications. In certain circumstances, the brightness may not be enough, especially in darkness.
Steve Jobs said it best: “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” I tend to agree with him. With TFT display technologies, less energy consumption is a big deal, especially when dealing with bigger screens, and of course less electricity means lower cost, overall. The visibility is sharper, meaning no geometric distortion, which is great for these tired, old eyes. The response time and physical design of the screens are also appealing. TFT displays can also save space and be placed virtually anywhere in an office or home, because of the brightly lit feature and crisp clear images.
Some cons of TFT screens deal with the viewing angle, which create distortion, resulting in a less-than-perfect image. Static resolution, meaning the resolution can’t be changed, may also cause a problem, but newer models seem to have tackled that issue. The accuracy of the display of colors is not perfect, specifically strong blacks and bright whites, so when printing an image, it may not display the spectrum of colors.
And there you have it. In the future, even this superb technology will change and new, more exciting technology will take its place. But until then, IPS & TFT screens are forging ahead with their own advances and improvements, so stayed tune. You don’t want to miss it.
Focus Display Solutions (www.FocusLCDs.com) offers off-the-shelf Color TFT display technologies in both TN and IPS. Many of the color modules contain built in touch panels.
As you might already be aware, there’s a large variety of versatile digital display types on the market, all of which are specifically designed to perform certain functions and are suitable for numerous commercial, industrial, and personal uses. The type of digital display you choose for your company or organization depends largely on the requirements of your industry, customer-base, employees, and business practices. Unfortunately, if you happen to be technologically challenged and don’t know much about digital displays and monitors, it can be difficult to determine which features and functions would work best within your professional environment. If you have trouble deciphering the pros and cons of using TFT vs. IPS displays, here’s a little guide to help make your decision easier.
TFT stands for thin-film-transistor, which is a variant of liquid crystal display (LCD). TFTs are categorized as active matrix LCDs, which means that they can simultaneously retain certain pixels on a screen while also addressing other pixels using minimal amounts of energy. This is because TFTs consist of transistors and capacitors that respectively work to conserve as much energy as possible while still remaining in operation and rendering optimal results. TFT display technologies offer the following features, some of which are engineered to enhance overall user experience.
The bright LED backlights that are featured in TFT displays are most often used for mobile screens. These backlights offer a great deal of adaptability and can be adjusted according to the visual preferences of the user. In some cases, certain mobile devices can be set up to automatically adjust the brightness level of the screen depending on the natural or artificial lighting in any given location. This is a very handy feature for people who have difficulty learning how to adjust the settings on a device or monitor and makes for easier sunlight readability.
One of the major drawbacks of using a TFT LCD instead of an IPS is that the former doesn’t offer the same level of visibility as the latter. To get the full effect of the graphics on a TFT screen, you have to be seated right in front of the screen at all times. If you’re just using the monitor for regular web browsing, for office work, to read and answer emails, or for other everyday uses, then a TFT display will suit your needs just fine. But, if you’re using it to conduct business that requires the highest level of colour and graphic accuracy, such as completing military or naval tasks, then your best bet is to opt for an IPS screen instead.
Nonetheless, most TFT displays are still fully capable of delivering reasonably sharp images that are ideal for everyday purposes and they also have relatively short response times from your keyboard or mouse to your screen. This is because the pixel aspect ration is much narrower than its IPS counterpart and therefore, the colours aren’t as widely spread out and are formatted to fit onto the screen. Primary colours—red, yellow, and blue—are used as the basis for creating brightness and different shades, which is why there’s such a strong contrast between different aspects of every image. Computer monitors, modern-day HD TV screens, laptop monitors, mobile devices, and even tablets all utilize this technology.
IPS (in-plane-switching) technology is almost like an improvement on the traditional TFT display module in the sense that it has the same basic structure, but with slightly more enhanced features and more widespread usability. IPS LCD monitors consist of the following high-end features.
IPS screens have the capability to recognize movements and commands much faster than the traditional TFT LCD displays and as a result, their response times are infinitely faster. Of course, the human eye doesn’t notice the difference on separate occasions, but when witnessing side-by-side demonstrations, the difference is clear.
Wide-set screen configurations allow for much wider and versatile viewing angles as well. This is probably one of the most notable and bankable differences between TFT and IPS displays. With IPS displays, you can view the same image from a large variety of different angles without causing grayscale, blurriness, halo effects, or obstructing your user experience in any way. This makes IPS the perfect display option for people who rely on true-to-form and sharp colour and image contrasts in their work or daily lives.
IPS displays are designed to have higher transmittance frequencies than their TFT counterparts within a shorter period of time (precisely 1 millisecond vs. 25 milliseconds). This speed increase might seem minute or indecipherable to the naked eye, but it actually makes a huge difference in side-by-side demonstrations and observations, especially if your work depends largely on high-speed information sharing with minimal or no lagging.
Just like TFT displays, IPS displays also use primary colours to produce different shades through their pixels. The main difference in this regard is the placement of the pixels and how they interact with electrodes. In TFT displays, the pixels run perpendicular to one another when they’re activated by electrodes, which creates a pretty sharp image, but not quite as pristine or crisp as what IPS displays can achieve. IPS display technologies employ a different configuration in the sense that pixels are placed parallel to one another to reflect more light and result in a sharper, clearer, brighter, and more vibrant image. The wide-set screen also establishes a wider aspect ratio, which strengthens visibility and creates a more realistic and lasting effect.
When it comes to deciphering the differences between TFT vs. IPS display technologies and deciding which option is best for you and your business, the experts at Nauticomp Inc. can help. Not only do we offer a wide variety of computer displays, monitors, and screen types, but we also have the many years of experience in the technology industry to back up our recommendations and our knowledge. Our top-of-the-line displays and monitors are customized to suit the professional and personal needs of our clients who work across a vast array of industries. For more information on our high-end displays and monitors, please contact us.
A wide variety of 4.3 ips lcd options are available to you, such as original manufacturer, odm and retailer.You can also choose from tft, ips and standard 4.3 ips lcd,
※Price Increase NotificationThe TFT glass cell makers such as Tianma,Hanstar,BOE,Innolux has reduced or stopped the production of small and medium-sized tft glass cell from August-2020 due to the low profit and focus on the size of LCD TV,Tablet PC and Smart Phone .It results the glass cell price in the market is extremely high,and the same situation happens in IC industry.We deeply regret that rapidly rising costs for glass cell and controller IC necessitate our raising the price of tft display.We have made every attempt to avoid the increase, we could accept no profit from the beginning,but the price is going up frequently ,we"re now losing a lot of money. We have no choice if we want to survive. There is no certain answer for when the price would go back to the normal.We guess it will take at least 6 months until these glass cell and semiconductor manufacturing companies recover the production schedule. (Mar-03-2021)
ER-TFTM020-1 is 320x240 dots 2" color tft lcd module display with ILI9342 controller board,optional 4-wire resistive touch panel with controller,superior display quality,super wide viewing angle and easily controlled by MCU such as 8051, PIC, AVR, ARDUINO,ARM and Raspberry PI.It can be used in any embedded systems,industrial device,security and hand-held equipment which requires display in high quality and colorful image.It supports 8080 8-bit /9-bit/16-bit /18-bit parallel ,3-wire,4-wire serial spi interface.Built-in optional microSD card slot . It"s optional for font chip, flash chip and microsd card. We offer two types connection,one is pin header and the another is ZIF connector with flat cable mounting on board by default and suggested. Lanscape mode is also available.
Of course, we wouldn"t just leave you with a datasheet and a "good luck!".Here is the link for 2"TFT Touch Shield with Libraries, Examples.Schematic Diagram for Arduino Due,Mega 2560 and Uno.For 8051 microcontroller user,we prepared the detailed tutorial such as interfacing, demo code and development kit at the bottom of this page.
Have you ever wondered what is the difference between LCD and OLED type of screens? What are each pros and cons? Why Samsung is mainly preferring “AMOLED”, whereas HTC swears on LCD type of display? Well, I hope we can work this through and help you choose what kind of display is best for your eyes!
When talking about display technology, essentially there are two types for smartphone market. In one corner there is LCD (liquid crystal display) and on the other hand we have OLED (organic light emitting diode) display technology.
This is the most common type of display in mobile world. We have different types of liquid crystal displays (LCD). From cheap, low budget display technologies with dull colours and poor viewing angles, to high end ones, capable of presenting extremely vivid, natural colours with wide viewing angles. It all comes down to money and effort manufacturers put into the display.
I would say HTC is the master of LCD type of displays. They constantly shock us with better and better displays. I remember when HTC One X came out. It was the best display on mobile device to that date, hands down! It was simply gorgeous. Colours were extremely vivid, viewing angles were incredibly wide, it was (is) bright and outdoor visibility was good too.
You see, there are many factors that come to account when talking about displays. It’s not just the pixels that matter when talking about a quality display. Usually when buying a new phone, if we take a deeper look into phone specs (what we should always do) we get additional info about display. We can stumble upon some fancy abbreviations like: TFT LCD, IPS LCD, S-LCD, SUPER LCD, SUPER LCD 2 etc… Those are all liquid crystal displays. Let’s take a look at each one of them and share a few words.
TFT LCD: stands for: “thin film transistor liquid crystal display”. Like TFD, it is an active-matrix technology. That means that each pixel has a transistor turning it on and off individually, making it very responsive. It’s cons are poor viewing angles and outdoor visibility under direct sunlight. They ought to consume more power, meaning they are less battery friendly. Because of low manufacturing costs, those are mainly seen on low budget phones to mid range ones.
IPS LCD: stands for: “in-plane switching LCD”. It’s a big step up from TFT screens. Viewing angles are wider, outdoor visibility is better and it should consumes less power. Production cost is a little higher, that is why we encounter them in high end phones like previously mentioned HTC One X, HTC One, Sony Xperia phones, LG high end phones and so on. Even Iphone uses this type in their “Retina” displays. IPS screens feature 2 transistors per pixel as opposed to the TFT ones that have only one.
Super LCD(SLCD): Is mostly used by HTC and are made by S-LCD Corporation and some by Sony. It’s suppose to be an advanced version of LCD display. It differs from regular LCD by removed gap between glass and display panel, making better viewing angles, less glare and nicer look (picture appears closer to you, feels more natural and warmer).
Super LCD2:Is again updated version with minor changes. Manufacturers also like to change names to attract us buyers, even though there weren’t any milestone changes…
LCD needs a backlight, because it does not produce light itself. So, the first element is light source of plain white light, evenly distributed across the whole panel. Than, there are two polarised films positioned at a 90 degree angle to each other. Normally, light does not pass through because it is stopped by either of the two polarised panels.
To turn the sub-pixel on, no electric charge is required. If we want to turn it off, a charge is released, causing liquid crystals to straighten out – align, and no light can pass. You might ask yourself why isn’t this making LCD screens more power effective if no current is needed for crystals to be twisted, causing light to pass through. Well the problem is with the back panel that is constantly shining no matter how many pixels are actually turned on, which leads us to LCD’s biggest rival and that is OLED display.
Organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays on the other hand, do not need a backlight panel, but instead, pixels themselves act as a light source. This type of display has one great advantage over LCD, and that is the way black colour is presented. Unlike LCD screen that needs a whole backlit panel to be lit up (even with “black pixels”), OLED panel simply shuts those black pixels off . That is why OLED displays have those deep blacks and high contrast colour ratio.
With OLED displays, the same goes as with LCDs. There are various types and consequently, quality ranges. In this display world, Samsung wears the crown, I’d say. They are also the biggest OLED display manufacturer
When looking for OLED displays you will probably come across these abbreviations: OLED, AMOLED, SUPER AMOLED, SUPER AMOLED PLUS. Let’s explain those in a few words
Super AMOLED:Samsung upgraded it’s AMOLED screen type by removing that extra touch-sensitive layer. With Super AMOLED screens, they managed to integrate touch sensor on display panel itself, making it even thinner than before, less power hungry, touch sensitivity is more accurate and viewing angles are even better.
Actually, working principle of these displays is a bit more complicated than LCD ones. It involves radiation, delocalization (moving) of pi electrons from highest occupied molecular state to lowest unoccupied molecular state of organic semiconductors and so on, so I didn’t care to dig too deep but it goes something like this;
New Samsung’s flagships possess this kind of matrix because as said above, OLED displays tend to image burn. What that essentially means is that pixels die – get burned. To check if your phones has some, you can use testers from Google Play, which fill the entire screen with red, blue and green colour (immersive mode – full screen). You can also apply white through entire screen to see if there are any burns. It is common for it to happen on areas that are persistent, such as “status bar” on top or navigation bar on the bottom. If we apply a white colour through entire screen and still see a grayish shadow where status bar usually is, that means you have a screen burn. People who text a lot have said that even keyboard can be faintly visible.
Well, here is an example. We have a Samsung Galaxy S2 and a screen burn is visible. LCD screen pixels burn as well, to be clear, it’s just its lifespan is much longer.
Below we have 3 different display matrixes. First is from Galaxy Note 3, which uses PentileMatrix where there are double as much green subpixels as there are red and blue (they do it because blue ones are the ones that get burned easiest). Samsung used new arrangement with this one, as seen from the picture, subpixels are diamondly shaped. Secondly we have LCD display from HTC One X and lastly again AMOLED display from Nexus One. Not all AMOLED screens have Pentile Matrix arrangement. Super Amoled from Galaxy S2 for example uses standard RGB configuration.
Basically in terms of picture quality both can be fairly equally good. Both, Samsung Note’s Super AMOLED display and HTC One’s Super LCD 2 are a joy to watch (I am just using those as example phones through the article, which doesn’t mean Sony, LG or any other manufacturer has any worse displays). You’ll get a crisp looking picture, with good colour presentation and bright display for outdoor visibility. Differences are not astronomical.
While manufacturers are constantly improving their screens, it is sometimes hard to follow the track which one is better. In the end it all comes down to personal preferences. Some like vibrant colours that AMOLED is able to deliver, for others it feels over saturated and prefer more natural colours LCD is famous for. Again some like deeper blacks while others browse on internet a lot and prefer whiter whites.
With the newest addition to the displays like LCD and LED, we have some significant modifications to them. These displays are most often used in smartphones. A smartphone usually has a Touch screen interface and thus people are more into the display quality. Manufacturers are trying to provide customers with displays that could be better, brighter, and vivid. There are three most popular displays that we often see with most of the phones. These are IPS LCD, AMOLED and Super AMOLED which are the modification to the traditional LCD and LED.
The IPS LCD(In-Plane Switching Liquid Crystal Display) is a modified version of the old LCD and was developed to overcome the limitations of it. If you remember using a phone with a plain old LCD, we didn’t get much of a viewing angle. Colors used to fade away while looking at it from another direction and the image quality was blurry due to poor color reproduction.
When these crystals are subjected to an electric field by two sets of electrodes they tend to obtain a 90 degree twisted structure. The IPS works on the same strategy but the alignment of the electrodes is a little different. In the IPS display, they are located on the same plane. Electrodes in the IPS LCD generate an electric field that is parallel to the lower glass plate. It then uses a polarised light that passes through these liquid crystal molecules with additional horizontal and vertical filters on either side.
The AMOLED(Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) has an active matrix of Organic LEDs. These consist of the electroluminescent layer which is made up of organic compounds. Whenever electricity is passed through the Thin Film Transistor (TFT) which houses the organic compound, it generates light. The transistor also acts as a series of switches that control the illumination by controlling the current flow.
The IPS needs a good backlight to produce a proper polarised light. Which in turn gives us a brighter white and good visibility in sunlight. It also gives good screen clarity too. The power consumption of the IPS LCD is almost 15% greater than the AMOLED.
On the other hand, the IPS LCD has great color reproduction. The whites are far better than that of the AMOLED, which look a little yellowish. It also adds natural color to the other segments. The electric field changes the nature of the liquid crystal’s behavior to produce good viewing angles. Thus most of the time photographers usually prefer to use an IPS LCD display in a camera.
The cost related to the development of the AMOLED is very high. The fabricating substances needed to build up the display are very costly. Another factor is the complexity to assemble them together makes it much more expensive than building an LCD. Thus we mostly see AMOLED displays in high-end devices like Samsung.
The IPS LCD also has a higher cost in development than that of the TFT LCD, but it is not as expensive as that of AMOLED. IPS LCDs are also used by some of the renowned phone manufacturers like Apple (in their earlier iPhone 8, 7, and so on), and HTC.
Since the AMOLED uses organic compounds for electroluminescent. Like all, these organic compounds tend to fade after a long-span use. The Red and Green pixel have a longer life span than that of the blue. These Red, Blue, Green are the base pixel that gives us the multi viewable color. Thus fading of one of the fundamentals pixels can lead to a significant color change. There is another term known as Burn-in, where the pixels permanently lose their ability to return to the relaxed state. Well, this phenomenon also happens in IPS LCD but it’s not permanent.
Samsung is the biggest fan of the AMOLED screen. All of its high-end flagship devices have been equipped with the AMOLED display. Samsung introduced its newest innovation of the AMOLED called Super AMOLED.
This works the same as the Super AMOLED, reducing the gap between the touch-sensitive screen and the physical display. This specific display is used by HTC in its flagship phones. The resulting combination has a similar effect to super AMOLED like increased visibility in sunlight and low power consumption. There are also Super LCD 2 and 3 which differ in terms of brightness. Super LCD 3 is much brighter than its predecessors.
People often confuse Gorilla glass with the categories of displays. You cannot differentiate Gorilla Glass and AMOLED or IPS LCD. The Gorilla glass is a chemically strengthened glass that is used over your display like AMOLED or IPS LCD to prevent them from scratches. The Gorilla Glass is developed by Corning and now in its sixth generation.