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Display type - definition

There are many display/panel types used in smartphones today.

These include:

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)
IPS-LCD (In-Plane Switching Liquid Crystal Display)
OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode)
AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode)

The screen, when combined with the touch element, is 'the' major element of the user interface and as such we go to great lengths when testing screens during our review process to measure a displays quality by measuring Contrast Ratio, Color Calibration, Brightness and Sunlight Legibility.

LCD/IPS-LCDs

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) displays consist of a matrix of Liquid Crystals. Liquid Crystals do not emit light themselves and are reliant on some form of back-light to illuminate the whole display. As a result LCD displays can be very visible in direct sunlight.

Our tests show the IPS-LCD matrix in detail for the iPhone 8 Plus

IPS-LCDs provide a superior viewing angle and better color reproduction than non IPS-LCDs due to the layout of the LCD's themselves. This has become a common display type for mid-range to high-end phones.

OLED/AMOLED

OLED & AMOLED utilizes 'organic' LEDs which emits light and in the majority of cases does away with the need for the back-light of an LCD display resulting in a potentially thinner panel. It provides less washed out 'blacks' with a better contrast ration and is highly visible in low light conditions.

When magnified, the differences between panel types are clear

They consume less power as opposed to LCDs which always have the back-light on. When a pixel is 'black' on a OLED/AMOLED display the pixel is truly off.

Related terms:

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2G | 3.5mm headphone jack | 3G | 4G | 5G | 802.11

A

A-GPS (Assisted GPS) | A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) | AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) | Accelerometer | Airplane mode | Alarm Clock | Alphanumeric | AMOLED display (Active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) | Analog | Android | ANT+ | Antenna | Aperture | APN (Access Point Name) | Apple AirPlay | Apple AirPlay 2 | Apple iOS | Apple iOS 10 | Apple iOS 11 | Apple iOS 12 | Apple iOS 7 | Apple iOS 8 | Apple iOS 9 | Apple Pay | aptX | Audio jack | Auto-focus | AVRCP (Audio/Video Remote Control Profile)

B

Bada OS | Band | Bandwidth | Bar | Base Station | Battery Charging | BeiDou Navigation Satellite System | Benchmarking | Biometrics | Bit | BlackBerry OS | BlackBerry Playbook OS | Bluetooth | bps (Bits per Second) | Brand | Broadband | Browser | Byte

C

Calculator | Calendar | Call alerts | Calling Plan | Camera | Capacitive Touchscreen | Car Kit | Carrier | CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) | CDMA2000 | Cell | Chipset | cHTML (Compact HyperText Markup Language) | CIF (Common Intermediate Format) | Clamshell | CMOS (Complementary metal-oxidesemiconductor) | Color depth | Concatenated SMS | Connected GPS | Construction | Corning Gorilla Glass | CPU (Central Processing Unit) | Crosstalk | CSTN (Color Super Twisted Nematic) | CTIA | Custom ringtones | CyanogenMod

D

D-Pad (Direction Pad) | Data Disclaimer | DC-HSDPA (Dual Carrier or Dual Cell High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) | Digital Zoom | Display type | DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) | DNSe (Digital Natural Sound engine) | Downlink | DRM (Digital Rights Management) | Dual-band | Dual-Mode | Dual-SIM | DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) | Dynamic Memory

E

EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) | EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) | EGPRS | EGSM (Extended GSM) | Email client | Emoji | EMS (Enhanced Message Service) | eSIM | EV-DO | EV-DV | Exchangeable covers | External Antenna Jack | External Display

F

FCC (Federal Communications Commission) | Feature Phone | Femtocell | Firefox OS | Firmware | Fixed-focus | Flash Memory | Flight mode | Flip-down phone | FM Radio | FM Transmitter | Form factor | FOTA (Firmware Over-The-Air) | FPS (Frames Per Second) | Frame Error Rate | Frequency | FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

G

Galileo (Global Navigation Satellite System) | GB (Gigabyte) | Gbps (Gigabits per second) | Geo-tag | GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) | GNSS Positioning | GPRS | GPS (Global Positioning System) | gpsONE | gpsOneXTRA Assistance technology | GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)

H

H.263 | H.264 | H.265 | Half-QWERTY keyboard layout | Handwriting recognition | Haptics | HEVC | Hot Spot | Hot Swap | HSCSD (High-Speed Circuit Switched Data) | HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) | HSDPA+ (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access Plus) | HSP (Headset Profile) | HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access) | HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) | Hz (Hertz)

I

iDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) | Image Signal Processor (ISP) | IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) | IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) | IP (Internet Protocol) | IP Ratings | IrDA (Infrared Data Association)

J

K

KB (Kilobyte) | Kbps (Kilobits per second) | Key Guard | Key Lock Switch

L

Land line | LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) | LED (Light-Emitting Diode) | Li-Ion (Lithium Ion) | Li-Polymer (Lithium Polymer) | LiMo OS | Linux | Location-Based Services (LBS) | Lock code | Long SMS | Long Term Evolution (LTE) | Loudspeaker

M

Macro | Maemo OS | Magnetometer | mAh | Mass Storage mode | MB (Megabyte) | Mbps (Megabit per second) | MeeGo OS | Megapixel | Memory card slot | Memory effect | Messaging | MHz (Megahertz) | Micro USB | microSD | microSDHC | Microsoft Exchange (Server) | MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) | MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile) | Mil-Spec (MIL-STD) | MIMO | Mini-USB | miniSD | MMC | MMCmobile | MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) | Mobile games | Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) | Mobile IM (Instant Messaging) | Mobile WiMAX | Mobility DisplayPort (MyDP) | Models | Modem | Monochrome | MP3 (MPEG Layer 3) | MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) | MPEG-4 video | Multitouch input method | Music playback time (battery life) | Music Player

N

NAND Memory | Network capacity | Network coverage | NFC (Near Field Communication) | NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) | NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) | NOR Memory | Numeric keypad

O

OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) | OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) | Optical Zoom | OS (Operating System) | OTA (Over-The-Air) | OTG

P

Packet Data | Pager | PC Sync | PCS (Personal Communications Service) | PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) | Percentile rank | Phone Book Access (PBA) | Phone Life Cycle | Phone Physical Attributes | Phonebook | PIM (Personal Information Manager/Management) | PIN code (Personal Identification Number) | Pixel | Pixel density (Pixels Per Inch) | Polyphonic ringtones | POP3 (Post Office Protocol) | Port | Predictive text input | Price | PTT (Push-To-Talk) | PUK Code (PIN UnlocK Code) | Push

Q

QCIF (Quarter Common Intermediate Format) | Quad-band | Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) | QVGA (Quarter Video Graphics Array) | QWERTY keyboard layout

R

RAM (Random-Access Memory) | RBDS (Radio Broadcast Data System) | RDS (Radio Data System) | Rechargeable Battery Types | Resistive touchscreen | Resolution | Ringer ID | Ringing profiles | Ringtone | Roaming | ROM (Read-Only Memory) | RS-MMC (Reduced-Size Multi Media Card) | RSA (Rural Service Area) | RSS (Rich Site Summary) | Ruggedized (Rugged)

S

S60 user interface | SAP (SIM Access Profile) | SAR (Specific absorption rate) | Screen protection | SD (Secure Digital) | Secondary camera | Sensors | Side Keys | SIM | SIM lock | Single-Band | Skin | Slimport | Smart Watch | Smartphone | SMIL | SMS (Short Messaging Service) | SNS (Social network service) | Soft keys | Soft Reset | Speed Dial | Stand-by time (battery life) | Stereo Speakers | Streaming Video | Stylus | Sub-QCIF | SVGA | Symbian | SyncML

T

Talk time (battery life) | TCP/IP | TD-SCDMA (Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) | TEST | Tethering | Text messaging (texting) | TFD (Thin Film Diode) | TFT (Thin Film Transistor) | Theme | To-Do list | Touchscreen | Trackball | Transflash | Transflective | Tri-band

U

UFS | UI (User Interface) | UIQ | UMA | UMTS | Unlocked phone | Upload | UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) | USB (Universal Serial Bus) | USB On-The-Go | USIM

V

VGA (Video Graphics Array) | Video call | Video Codec | Voice dialing | Voice mail | Voice memo | VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) | VPN (Virtual Private Network)

W

WAP (Wireless Application protocol) | watchOS | WCDMA(Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) | Wear OS | Wearable Technology | webOS | Wi-Fi | Windows Mobile | Windows Phone OS | Wireless email | WLAN | WMV (Windows Media Video)

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