14 DAY TRIAL // The Society for Information Display recognized Apple’s iPhone and iPad screens as true marvels, with the smartphone’s Retina Display nabbing the groups ‘Display of the Year Gold Award.’ The 'Display Application of the Year Gold Award' went to the iPad.
The organization acknowledged Apple’s efforts citing the iPhone 4 as a landmark in Apple’s track record of revolutionizing personal communications technology.
“Packing four times the number of pixels into the same 3.5-in. dia. screen found on earlier iPhone models, the 640×960-pixel Retina display set a new benchmark for mobile display resolution, low power consumption and image quality,” the group said about the phone’s screen.
But they were visibly more impressed by Apple’s in-plane-switching technology, which offers a superior viewing experience over many other displays.
“Utilizing Mobile IPS (in-plane switching) technology, the iPhone 4 Retina display achieves a viewing angle superior to conventional mobile LCDs, providing an enhanced viewing experience for the end user in virtually any application,” SID said.
The reviewers went on to enumerate the key technical advancements packed in Apple’s Retina display, including the following:
· customized LTPS TFT backplane with organic passivation and optimized pixel design; · user-customizable, auto-adjustable brightness using ambient light sensing; · advanced IPS compensation polarizer technology for high contrast (800:1) and color consistency regardless of viewing direction; · 8-bit color depth; · an ultra-thin, tiny-footprint driver IC; · patent-pending mechanical integration.
As far as the iPad was concerned, SID said in it’s own words that it’s a game changer. Apple themselves touted the screen as a primary factor in its aim to change personal computing as we know it, and SID agrees:
“The iPad LCD’s Mobile IPS technology combines with its innovative Multi-Touch user interface and unique system design to enable the iPad’s versatility in numerous applications,” they said.
The tablet’s screen offers a minimized gamma shift over viewing angles, “enabling designers to create innovative apps that further enhance the viewing experience,” they found.
Delving even deeper into the technologies employed by Apple for the iPad’s screen, SID added that, “The iPad’s fully customized design leverages the existing amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (a-Si TFT) infrastructure in an innovative, ultra-thin product with the unique LCD and an innovative power-management system that achieves maximum power efficiency – 10 hours of battery life for WiFi web surfing and 9 hours for 3G web surfing.”
Visit The Society for Information Display here for more information on their individual Honors and Awards.