OLED in the Blade

[Guest Grexeo]

HTC have recently replaced the 3.7" OLED screen in one of the most expensive Android phones on the market, the HTC Desire (with an RRP of £400-£500), with an inferior LCD screen, claiming that OLED availability is low.

Meanwhile, ZTE is selling a device with an RRP of £99 with a 3.5" OLED screen, which while slightly smaller, is very comparable. (From what I can tell)

What's the deal? Is HTC lying to cut costs/increase profits? Is ZTE using cheaper OLED materials? I'm confused.

Edited October 16, 2010 by Grexeo

[Guest Aquilo]

HTC have recently replaced the 3.7" OLED screen in one of the most expensive Android phones on the market, the HTC Desire (with an RRP of £400-£500), with an inferior LCD screen, claiming that OLED availability is low.

Meanwhile, ZTE is selling a device with an RRP of £99 with a 3.5" OLED screen, which while slightly smaller, is very comparable. (From what I can tell)

What's the deal? Is HTC lying to cut costs/increase profits? Is ZTE using cheaper OLED materials? I'm confused.

I'm not sure inferior is the right word to use. AMOLED screens are notoriously poor in direct sunlight, where the STFTs used in newer HTC devices do not suffer this problem, yet offer a comparable viewing experience. Infact, AMOLED's colour reproduction is considerably worse than that of the STFTs, and the PenTile layout used in AMOLED screens causes sharp contrasts to appear fuzzy.

Concerning the reason why ZTE can supply AMOLED screens while HTC claims shortages, this is because these screens are not the same. Supply of one product may easily be short, while another plentiful. It's not really a case of either lying or using cheaper materials, just the different specifications involved.

[Guest phillipjsr]

I'm not sure inferior is the right word to use. AMOLED screens are notoriously poor in direct sunlight, where the STFTs used in newer HTC devices do not suffer this problem, yet offer a comparable viewing experience. Infact, AMOLED's colour reproduction is considerably worse than that of the STFTs, and the PenTile layout used in AMOLED screens causes sharp contrasts to appear fuzzy.

Concerning the reason why ZTE can supply AMOLED screens while HTC claims shortages, this is because these screens are not the same. Supply of one product may easily be short, while another plentiful. It's not really a case of either lying or using cheaper materials, just the different specifications involved.

good answer, you should work in PR.

[Guest ken218]

good answer, you should work in PR.

The only thing I can add is, OLED is believed to consume less power (compare to SLCD panel used in Desire now), and the colour is mroe vivid.

But I don't think the response was just some PR material, i think it is true. (or am I fooled by more PR materials? :) )

[Guest Carbonize]

I'm not sure inferior is the right word to use. AMOLED screens are notoriously poor in direct sunlight, where the STFTs used in newer HTC devices do not suffer this problem, yet offer a comparable viewing experience. Infact, AMOLED's colour reproduction is considerably worse than that of the STFTs, and the PenTile layout used in AMOLED screens causes sharp contrasts to appear fuzzy.

I've heard it said that actually AMOLED has better legibility in sunlight.

http://www.gsmarena.com/amoled_vs_slcd_htc...t-news-1932.php

But then others have agreed with you so i guess it's a case of testing for yourself.

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/...62201671,00.htm

[Guest socialworker]

Regarding the statement that it's a different AMOLED display than used in the Desire:

Actually there can't be that much of a difference.

The only company able to produce a noteworthy amount of AMOLEDs for mobiles is Samsung.

They supplied HTC, I am pretty sure they supply ZTE too.

But as we're already talking about the SF display:

Naturally contrast is very good, but colour reproduction is pretty poor if you ask me, colours are very much oversaturated.

Is there a way to tune this?

I only got the phone today and am still at work, so beside a little tinkering I didn't have a chance to research that in length.

I found the option to adjust screen brightness, but nothing about colours or anything more sophisticated.

[Guest Aquilo]

Regarding the statement that it's a different AMOLED display than used in the Desire:

Actually there can't be that much of a difference.

The only company able to produce a noteworthy amount of AMOLEDs for mobiles is Samsung.

They supplied HTC, I am pretty sure they supply ZTE too.

But as we're already talking about the SF display:

Naturally contrast is very good, but colour reproduction is pretty poor if you ask me, colours are very much oversaturated.

Is there a way to tune this?

I only got the phone today and am still at work, so beside a little tinkering I didn't have a chance to research that in length.

I found the option to adjust screen brightness, but nothing about colours or anything more sophisticated.

True, but a different product will mean a different production pipeline. It's possible that there was something in the 3.7" pipeline that was causing HTC's shortages (possibly Samsung's own internal demand).

Regarding the AMOLED vs STFT experience - having used both I personally rate the STFT far higher. Of the tests I've seen comparing the battery drain of the two, they also appear to be very similar.

The oversaturation you mention is what I referred to when I talked about regarding colour reproduction. Sadly, it's an inherent characteristic of AMOLED screens. It might be possible to adjust the gamma, etc, using the source code. However, one of the many missing files from the ZTE kernel release was that concerning this exact display. So, unfortunately we're pretty much dead in the water.

To those who replied regarding the quality of the post - thank you, though I'm actually studying a Computer Science masters :)