The difference between the ips screen and gff. Full Lamination technology in a smartphone: what is it for, main advantages

The new iPad, which will go on sale tomorrow, turned out to be a surprisingly interesting model. It is distinguished by a denser case than the Air 2, a very productive processor and, of course, an affordable price tag. In official retail, they ask for less than 25,000 rubles, which is more than appropriate in the context of a protracted crisis.

Lamination

Despite the fact that most consumers are not aware of the properties of the so-called full lamination, it is possible to distinguish a display using this technology from a display without it with the naked eye. This can be achieved by getting rid of the air gap between the protective glass and the sensor matrix located under it, which, in turn, improves the quality of the picture displayed on such a display and also reduces the thickness of the module itself.

Anti-reflective coating

At first glance, this is far from the most important characteristic for a display, which, be that as it may, contributes to a more comfortable interaction with the device in natural - and artificial too - lighting conditions. Thanks to it, the need to twist the screen brightness to the maximum, peering into the image under direct rays from an incandescent bulb, disappears. It is a pity that is not the case with the new iPad.

true tone

Thanks to the presence of four-channel sensors that monitor ambient light, the True Tone display is able to automatically adjust not only the brightness, but even the color temperature of the image. And although the only company device that uses this technology is only the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, Cupertino could easily equip their new product with it.

Profile DCI-P3

A display with an extended color gamut is the privilege of the company's top-end devices, and therefore it would be not only reckless, but also extremely unreasonable to expect that they will equip the new iPad. In short, this profile is capable of showing much more color shades, and therefore, for the most part, it is used only in professional devices and digital cinemas. Learn more about the benefits of DCI-P3-enabled displays earlier with the iPhone 7 as an example.

Orientation toggle switch

Yes, yes, despite the fact that the new iPad was stuffed into the body of the debut iPad Air, Cupertino did not manage to equip it with an orientation change switch on the side. What this may be due to is not known for certain, because the case of the novelty is almost 1.5 mm thicker than that of the second “air”. Perhaps Apple simply did not dare to return to this archaism, which for many, however, was almost a priority over the Home button.

And what, you ask, is the new iPad really no better than previous models? Not at all. If you believe the materials of a press release published in the corresponding section of the company's American website, the new product has a brighter screen than the one that was installed in. And, of course, the price. She, too, must not be forgotten.

Smartphones are replacing conventional phones, but choosing them is not easy for most people, because even the simplest smartphone comes with a long list of features that are “extremely important” for the buyer. Let's try to understand and decipher some abbreviations.

So, the most important and expensive part of a smartphone: the display. The cost of the device is mainly determined by this module. Screen size is measured by the length of its diagonal in inches, for example: 5”. However, in addition to physical dimensions, its resolution is important, i.e. the number of vertical and horizontal dots it can display.

The higher the resolution with the same screen diagonal, the better the picture will be. For this parameter, the density of dots on the screen, the term PPI (points-per-inch, dots per inch) is responsible. At the moment, popular resolutions for 5-inch screens are HD Ready(1280x720) and Full HD(1920x1080), the latter is usually set to PPI about 400-440 units.

If you suddenly meet a smartphone with a “large screen” and an unexpectedly low price, pay attention to its resolution, if it is below the listed values, you should not expect a good picture from it. Another important characteristic of the screen is the type of matrix on the basis of which it is made. Ultimately, for a smartphone, this directly affects the quality of color reproduction, how rich and believable the colors are. At the moment, the best among displays are matrices of the type IPS and Amoled.

Directly adjacent to the screen is the area responsible for the response to pressing - TP(touchpanel). It is characterized by one important parameter: the number of simultaneous clicks that the panel can register. This value starts from 2x (for smartphones with a small screen size) and can go up to 10 (typical for tablets). The ability of the touch panel to understand a lot of clicks can come in handy in games, but if you rarely play, two TRs will also be quite enough.

A special glass is now glued over the TP area in modern smartphones, protecting the screen from damage, scratches and other external influences. It also protects the camera lens on the back cover, if the manufacturer cares about its users, since this part is even more prone to damage than the screen, which is usually placed on top of the device. If you see words in the list of characteristics Corning Gorilla Glass 1-2-3 or AGC Dragontail, the conversation is about him.

The 3 components described above are usually made in the form of a single module of plates glued to each other, bearing the name OGS(one-glass-solution). This decision is due to 2 reasons: there is no air between the layers, which distorts the picture if you look at the screen not at a right angle, in addition, the thickness of the device as a whole decreases, which affects ergonomics. State-of-the-art “full lamination” technology GFF(glass-to-film-to-film, literally: glass to TP film to screen film) implies that the 3 components are glued so tightly and with high quality that the screen seems to be at the very top, and not in depth, which attracts the device with quality pictures and affects the same final case thickness.

Recently, a thin 4th layer has been applied to the mentioned 3 layers, which has the name "oleophobic coating", which is a thin "nano" film that repels fats from the screen. Another application option is anti-reflective coating, its meaning is clear from the name.

The next important characteristic of a smartphone is battery capacity.. In addition to the fact that it can be removable and non-removable (affects the thickness of the device as a whole), the main parameter of the battery is its capacity. It is clear that the larger the capacity, the longer the smartphone will work, however, you need to remember that the capacity increases the weight of the device (not everyone is comfortable carrying a brick in their pocket). In addition, it should be borne in mind that the main consumer of energy is the screen. If it is large, with high resolution, then it needs more current. But under a larger screen area, you can put a more capacious battery! Summarizing, one cannot say, for example, that a 2000 mAh battery is not enough; for smartphones with a small screen diagonal, this will be quite enough. For 5-5.5 inch devices, of course, it is better to have a higher capacity, from 2500 mAh, and if it has a 4G communication function (LTE), then from 3000.

Battery charger from the network consists of 2 parts: the power supply itself and the cord. Often people, having bought an additional charge in the nearest store, complain that it somehow "badly" charges. This is really a problem, because a smartphone, despite its size, can easily consume 600-800 mAh at peak load, so do not be surprised that after playing games or watching a movie, you find that after 3-4 hours the battery is empty. We divide the conditional 2000 capacity by 600 and get 3.5 hours of work, there are no miracles. Those. the question itself: “How long does your smartphone last?” is fraught with a catch, if you use it, then it is obvious that it will not last long, and if you do not use it, the question arises of purchasing a toy with so many functions, most of which are not used in any way. Since the smartphone consumes such a volume of current, the charger should produce much more of it. Now on the market, the minimum current value issued by the charger is 1A. If you connected your smartphone for charging to some new block and it charges “somehow wrong”, touch it, it should not be hot. High temperature is detrimental to the battery, most likely overheating means that the declared characteristics of the output current do not correspond to the real ones. If there is no replacement at hand, reduce the consumption of your smartphone, charge it with the screen off, or turn it off completely for a while.

Many modern smartphones support technology quick charge(fast charging), which allows you to speed up the process of charging the battery (numbers up to 40% are declared), such blocks usually give out 2A at the output (at 5V voltage). A separate important point is the quality of the power cord, which has its own resistance, which ultimately affects the value of the current coming to the smartphone connector. If the cord is bad, even the highest quality charger can be ineffective.

As for charging from a computer / laptop: the USB 2.0 standard allows you to power devices with a current of up to 500mA, 3.0 - up to 900mA, respectively, charging from an old computer will be ineffective, and may even cause a smartphone to discharge.

Before the mass adoption of smartphones, when buying phones, we evaluated them mainly by design and only occasionally paid attention to functionality. Times have changed: now all smartphones have approximately the same capabilities, and when looking only at the front panel, one gadget can hardly be distinguished from another. The technical characteristics of devices have come to the fore, and the most important among them for many is the screen. We will tell you what lies behind the terms TFT, TN, IPS, PLS, and help you choose a smartphone with the desired screen characteristics.

Matrix types

Three technologies for the production of matrices are mainly used in modern smartphones: two are based on liquid crystals - TN + film and IPS, and the third - AMOLED - on organic light emitting diodes. But before we start, it is worth talking about the acronym TFT, which is the source of many misconceptions. TFT (thin-film transistor) are thin-film transistors that are used to control the operation of each sub-pixel of modern screens. TFT technology is used in all the types of screens listed above, including AMOLED, so if somewhere it is said about comparing TFT and IPS, then this is a fundamentally wrong question.

Most TFT matrices use amorphous silicon, but TFT on polycrystalline silicon (LTPS-TFT) has recently been introduced into production. The main advantages of the new technology are the reduction of power consumption and the size of transistors, which makes it possible to achieve high pixel densities (more than 500 ppi). OnePlus One became one of the first smartphones with an IPS display and a LTPS-TFT matrix.

Smartphone OnePlus One

Now that we have dealt with TFT, let's go directly to the types of matrices. Despite the wide variety of LCD types, they all have the same basic principle of operation: the current applied to the molecules of liquid crystals sets the angle of light polarization (it affects the brightness of the subpixel). The polarized light then passes through a light filter and is colored in the color of the corresponding subpixel. The first to appear in smartphones were the simplest and cheapest TN + film matrices, the name of which is often abbreviated to TN. They have small viewing angles (no more than 60 degrees when deviated from the vertical), and even with small inclinations, the image on screens with such matrices is inverted. Among other disadvantages of TN-matrices are low contrast and low color accuracy. To date, such screens are used only in the cheapest smartphones, and the vast majority of new gadgets have more advanced displays.

The most common technology in mobile gadgets now is IPS technology, sometimes referred to as SFT. IPS-matrices appeared 20 years ago and since then have been produced in various modifications, the number of which is close to two dozen. Nevertheless, it is worth highlighting among them those that are the most technologically advanced and are actively used at the moment: AH-IPS from LG and PLS from Samsung, which are very similar in their properties, which even was the reason for litigation between manufacturers . Modern IPS modifications have wide viewing angles that are close to 180 degrees, realistic color reproduction and provide the ability to create displays with a high pixel density. Unfortunately, gadget manufacturers almost never report the exact type of IPS matrices, although when using a smartphone, the differences will be visible to the naked eye. Cheaper IPS matrices are characterized by fading of the picture when the screen is tilted, as well as low color accuracy: the image can be either too “acidic” or, on the contrary, “faded”.

As for power consumption, in liquid crystal displays it is mainly determined by the power of the backlight elements (LEDs are used in smartphones for this purpose), so the consumption of TN + film and IPS matrices can be considered approximately the same at the same brightness level.

Matrices created on the basis of organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) are completely different from LCDs. In them, the subpixels themselves, which are subminiature organic light-emitting diodes, serve as a light source. Since there is no need for external illumination, such screens can be made thinner than liquid crystal. Smartphones use a variation of OLED technology, AMOLED, which uses an active TFT matrix to drive sub-pixels. This is what allows AMOLEDs to display colors, while conventional OLED panels can only be monochrome. AMOLED matrices provide the deepest blacks, since it only requires completely turning off the LEDs to “display” it. Compared to LCDs, these matrices have lower power consumption, especially when using dark themes, in which the black areas of the screen do not consume power at all. Another characteristic feature of AMOLED is too saturated colors. At the dawn of their appearance, such matrices really had an implausible color reproduction, and although such “childhood sores” are long gone, most smartphones with such screens still have a built-in saturation setting that allows you to bring the image on AMOLED closer in perception to IPS screens.

Another limitation of AMOLED screens used to be the unequal lifetime of LEDs of different colors. After a couple of years of using a smartphone, this could lead to sub-pixel burnout and afterimage of some interface elements, primarily on the notification panel. But, as in the case of color reproduction, this problem is long gone, and modern organic LEDs are designed for at least three years of continuous operation.

Let's summarize briefly. The most high-quality and brightest image at the moment is provided by AMOLED matrices: even Apple is rumored to use such displays in one of the next iPhones. But, it should be borne in mind that Samsung, as the main manufacturer of such panels, keeps all the latest developments for itself, and sells “last year's” matrices to other manufacturers. Therefore, when choosing a smartphone not from Samsung, you should look towards high-quality IPS screens. But in no case should you choose gadgets with TN + film displays - today this technology is already considered obsolete.

The perception of the image on the screen can be influenced not only by the technology of the matrix, but also by the pattern of subpixels. However, with LCDs, everything is quite simple: in them, each RGB pixel consists of three elongated subpixels, which, depending on the modification of the technology, can be in the form of a rectangle or a “tick”.

Everything is more interesting in AMOLED screens. Since in such matrices the subpixels themselves are the light sources, and the human eye is more sensitive to pure green light than to pure red or blue, using the same pattern in AMOLED as in IPS would degrade color reproduction and make the picture unrealistic. An attempt to solve this problem was the first version of the PenTile technology, which used two types of pixels: RG (red-green) and BG (blue-green), consisting of two subpixels of the corresponding colors. Moreover, if the red and blue subpixels had a shape close to squares, then the green ones looked more like strongly elongated rectangles. The disadvantages of this pattern were "dirty" white color, jagged edges at the junction of different colors, and at low ppi - a clearly visible grid of the subpixel substrate, which appears due to too much distance between them. In addition, the resolution indicated in the characteristics of such devices was “dishonest”: if an IPS HD matrix has 2,764,800 subpixels, then an AMOLED HD matrix has only 1,843,200, which led to a visible difference in the clarity of IPS and AMOLED matrices with the naked eye. seemingly the same pixel density. The latest flagship smartphone with such an AMOLED matrix was the Samsung Galaxy S III.

In the Galaxy Note II smartpad, the South Korean company made an attempt to abandon PenTile: the device's screen had full-fledged RBG pixels, albeit with an unusual arrangement of subpixels. However, for unclear reasons, Samsung subsequently abandoned such a pattern - perhaps the manufacturer faced the problem of further increasing ppi.

Samsung has returned to RG-BG pixels in its modern screens with a new type of pattern called Diamond PenTile. The new technology made it possible to make the white color more natural, and as for the jagged edges (for example, individual red subpixels were clearly visible around a white object on a black background), this problem was solved even easier - by increasing the ppi to such an extent that the bumps were no longer noticeable . Diamond PenTile has been used in all Samsung flagships since the Galaxy S4.

At the end of this section, it is worth mentioning another picture of AMOLED matrices - PenTile RGBW, which is obtained by adding a fourth, white, to the three main subpixels. Before the advent of Diamond PenTile, such a pattern was the only recipe for pure white, but it never became widespread - one of the latest mobile gadgets with PenTile RGBW was the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 tablet. Now AMOLED matrices with RGBW pixels are used in TVs, because they do not require a high ppi. To be fair, we also mention that RGBW pixels can also be used in LCDs, but we are not aware of examples of the use of such matrices in smartphones.

Unlike AMOLED, high-quality IPS matrices have never experienced quality problems associated with sub-pixel patterns. However, Diamond PenTile technology, together with high pixel density, allowed AMOLED to catch up and overtake IPS. Therefore, if you are picky about gadgets, you should not buy a smartphone with an AMOLED screen, which has a pixel density of less than 300 ppi. At a higher density, no defects will be noticeable.

Design features

The variety of displays of modern mobile gadgets does not end with imaging technologies alone. One of the first things that manufacturers took up was the air gap between the projection-capacitive sensor and the display itself. This is how the OGS technology appeared, combining the sensor and the matrix in one glass package in the form of a sandwich. This gave a significant breakthrough in image quality: the maximum brightness and viewing angles increased, color reproduction was improved. Of course, the thickness of the entire package has also been reduced, allowing for thinner smartphones. Alas, the technology also has drawbacks: now, if you break the glass, it is almost impossible to change it separately from the display. But the quality advantages still turned out to be more important, and now non-OGS screens can only be found in the cheapest devices.

Recently, experiments with the shape of glass have also become popular. And they began not recently, but at least in 2011: HTC Sensation had a glass concave in the center, which, according to the manufacturer, was supposed to protect the screen from scratches. But such glasses reached a qualitatively new level with the advent of “2.5D screens” with glass curved at the edges, which creates the feeling of an “infinite” screen and makes the edges of smartphones smoother. Such glasses are actively used by Apple in their gadgets, and recently they have become more and more popular.

A logical step in the same direction was the bending of not only the glass, but also the display itself, which was made possible by using polymer substrates instead of glass ones. Here the palm, of course, belongs to Samsung with its Galaxy Note Edge smartphone, in which one of the side edges of the screen was curved.

Another way was proposed by LG, which managed to bend not only the display, but the entire smartphone along its short side. However, LG G Flex and its successor did not gain popularity, after which the manufacturer abandoned the further production of such devices.

Also, some companies are trying to improve human interaction with the screen, working on its touch part. For example, some devices are equipped with sensors with increased sensitivity, which allow you to work with them even with gloves, while other screens receive an inductive substrate to support styluses. The first technology is actively used by Samsung and Microsoft (formerly Nokia), and the second by Samsung, Microsoft and Apple.

The future of screens

Do not think that modern displays in smartphones have reached the highest point of their development: technology still has room to grow. One of the most promising are quantum dot displays (QLED). A quantum dot is a microscopic piece of a semiconductor in which quantum effects begin to play a significant role. Simplified, the process of radiation looks like this: the impact of a weak electric current causes the electrons of quantum dots to change energy, while emitting light. The frequency of the emitted light depends on the size and material of the dots, so that almost any color in the visible range can be achieved. Scientists promise that QLED matrices will have better color reproduction, contrast, higher brightness and lower power consumption. Partially, quantum dot screen technology is used in Sony TV screens, and prototypes are available from LG and Philips, but there is no talk about the mass use of such displays in TVs or smartphones.

It is also highly likely that in the near future we will see in smartphones not just curved, but also fully flexible displays. Moreover, almost ready for mass production prototypes of such AMOLED matrices have been around for a couple of years. The limitation is the electronics of the smartphone, which is still impossible to make flexible. On the other hand, large companies can change the very concept of a smartphone by releasing something like the gadget shown in the photo below - we just have to wait, because the development of technology is happening right before our eyes.