14 DAY TRIAL // The first generation of handheld devices that use an innovative new display technology will be in the shops soon, so be ready to forget about fuzzy, low-resolution screens on your mobile phone, digital camera or portable music player.
The main benefit of new Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) screens is their bright, clear image. OLED screens refresh faster, so they're better at displaying video.
The best active-matrix models can display nearly four times as many colors as equivalent-size LCDs can reproduce.
Unlike LCDs, OLEDs emit their own light in the form of electroluminescence. As a result, OLED displays appear brighter and sharper than LCDs, even when viewed from an side. And as a benefit of ditching the LCD backlight, OLEDs are considerably saving on battery life.
This quality recommends the use of such technology for portable products such as mobile phones, digital cameras/camcorders and music or video players.
In spite of all the reasons that would recommend LCDs to be replaced by OLED screens, this switch will not take place anytime soon.
OLEDs are difficult to manufacture, thus increasing the cost of any device that uses an OLED screen. The majority of the 264,000 active-matrix color OLED displays that will be produced this year will be installed in high-end handheld devices such as cameras and mobile phones.
However, by 2010, factories will be producing 289m active-matrix OLED displays annually. And about 90 percent of that figure should go into the mobile phone industry.