AMOLED vs LCD: Which screen is best for your phone?
These
days you really only have two choices of screens when you are buying a
smartphone or tablet: LCD or AMOLED. Many of you probably can’t tell the
difference between the two screen types, but both technologies have
inherent strengths and weaknesses. LCD has been around for a while, but
AMOLED phones are gaining popularity thanks to Samsung and other
manufacturers. There isn’t a clear winner at this point in time, so
here’s a look at both.
Update: This article was originally published on June 18, 2012, and updated on Aug. 25, 2014, to reflect recent devices. DT writer Aaron Liu contributed to this article.
LCD, Liquid Crystal Display, has been a part of our lives for years now. Besides mobile
devices, we see LCD screens being used with almost every computer
monitor, and in the majority of TVs. While these screens are made of
wondrous liquid crystals, they also require a couple panes of glass, and
a light source. LCD screens produce some of the most realistic colors
you can find on a screen, but might not offer as wide of a contrast
ratio (darker darks and brighter brights) as an AMOLED screen.Update: This article was originally published on June 18, 2012, and updated on Aug. 25, 2014, to reflect recent devices. DT writer Aaron Liu contributed to this article.
LCD
Some
common terms you will find associated with LCD displays are TFT and
IPS. TFT stands for Thin Film Transistor, which makes the wiring of LCD
screens more efficient by reducing the number of electrodes per pixel.
One benefit of TFT displays is an improved image quality over standard
LCD screens. Another popular LCD technology is In-Plane Switching, or
IPS, which improves upon TFT by offering much wider viewing angles and
color reproduction on LCD screens. IPS screens are able to achieve this
by keeping all the liquid crystals parallel to the screen. IPS is
generally preferable to standard TFT.
Notable Devices with LCD Screens: iPhone 5 and 5s, LG G3, Sony Xperia 2, Google Nexus 5.
Sometimes when you read about AMOLED screens, you might hear people complaining about something called a “pentile” display.
This is a feature of most color AMOLED screens. Instead of having just a
single red, blue, and green sub pixel per actual pixel, pentile
displays have a RGBG sub pixel layout which has two green sub pixels for
each red and blue. The positive of this technology is that you are able
to create a screen that is just as bright as normal screens with one
third the amount of sub pixels. The negative of pentile screens is that
they can appear grainy, or appear to be lower resolution due to the
larger, more visible sub pixels. For a while, Samsung begun using a
display type called Super AMOLED Plus, which does not use a pentile sub
pixel layout and also improves viewability in direct sunlight —
traditionally a weakness for AMOLED. Samsung equipped the Galaxy S II
with a Super AMOLED plus screen, but then reverted back to Super AMOLED
screens for the Galaxy S III, citing screen life as the reason for the
switch.AMOLED
AMOLED, Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode, technology has grown in popularity in recent years, particularly among Samsung products. AMOLED screens consist of a thin layer of organic polymers that light up when zapped with an electric current. Due to this simple construction, AMOLED screens can be extremely thin and do not require a backlight. The benefit of losing a backlight is readily apparent: these screens are able to produce blacks so deep that the screen pixels can shut right off. Shutting off pixels can also save electricity and battery life in phones and tablets. Just keep your backgrounds close to black and you’ll save energy.Notable Devices with AMOLED screens: Samsung Galaxy S series, Nokia Lumia 900, HTC One S.
You be the judge
Can you tell which is AMOLED or LCD?
Related: LCD vs. Plasma TVs, LED vs. LCD TVs, and 1080p vs. 1080i.
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