AMOLED vs Retina Display
Screen technology is one of the areas where many people weigh when deciding to get their next device; whether it is mobile phone, tablet, and the like. In this area, there are two new buzz words, AMOLED and retina display. The main difference between AMOLED and retina displays is the actual composition of each pixel. The retina display uses LCD technology, similar to what you will find on today’s devices and uses a backlight. AMOLED, which stands for Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diodes by the way, uses three discrete LEDs for each pixel. The entire screen therefore produces its own light and does not need a backlight.
The edge of the retina display over all other displays is its significantly higher resolution. Apple claims that the very high resolution of their display is beyond what most people’s eye are able to discriminate. This makes the image very fine. Most AMOLED displays available today is not able to compete in terms of pixels per inch, but new technologies may allow this new technology to compete pretty soon.
The biggest advantage of AMOLED displays is its near infinite contrast. This is because each pixel produces its own light and can be turned off when black needs to be displayed. This cannot be achieved by the retina display because of the backlight behind it. Even when the LCD tries to block the light, some amount is still able to get through and produces a grayish color. The downside to this is the reduced visibility when used under direct sunlight. Because the screen produces its own light, the light of the sun may overpower.
Another AMOLED display advantage is the fact that each pixel that displays black consumes virtually no power because it produces no light. This results in great power savings if you use a black background instead of white. A good example of this is when reading e-books, since most e-book readers allow the colors to be flipped; resulting in a white text on a black background. You can still flip colors in a retina display but no power will be saved since the backlight behind the screen is still on.
Summary:
- Retina displays use an LCD while AMOLED displays used LEDs
- Retina displays tend to have a much higher resolution than AMOLED displays
- AMOLED displays provide better contrast than the retina display
- AMOLED displays may have lower legibility under direct sunlight than the retina display
- AMOLED displays may be more power efficient than the retina display