New LCD Could Shrink Cell Phones

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,112066,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article...d,112066,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div>"Samsung Electronics has developed a new flat-panel display unit for clamshell-style cellular telephones that could help manufacturers make thinner and cheaper handsets. In most clamshell phones, the main and sub displays are installed back to back in the upper portion of the telephone, one facing outwards and one facing inwards. Samsung's new module takes advantage of this configuration and uses a common backlight that is shared by each display...<br /><br />...In size, the module is about a millimeter thinner than two independent displays would be, according to Samsung. That works out to a reduction in depth of between 3 percent and 5 percent in an average clamshell-type cellular telephone. Cost savings are expected to be around 20 percent over the price of two independent display panels, Park said. The module contains a 1.8-inch TFT color main display, which has a resolution of 128 pixels by 160 pixels; and a 1.2-inch color sub display, with a 96-by-96-pixel resolution."

[upplepop]

Hopefully this type of technology will trickle down to PDAs!

I'm not sure if it will. This technology is used for clamshell phones that have two displays, one of which you can view when the phone is closed. Usually, this feature is so you can see caller ID information without opening the phone. I'm not sure how PDAs could incorporate two displays.

Any idea for uses of an additional 96x96 1.2 inch screen on the back of your Pocket PC?

[ctmagnus]

Hopefully this type of technology will trickle down to PDAs!

I'm not sure if it will. This technology is used for clamshell phones that have two displays, one of which you can view when the phone is closed. Usually, this feature is so you can see caller ID information without opening the phone. I'm not sure how PDAs could incorporate two displays.

Any idea for uses of an additional 96x96 1.2 inch screen on the back of your Pocket PC?

There's that one model like that already (except for dimensions). I forget what it's called though. :duh: But it was shiny. Does that help?

[Jason Dunn]

Hopefully this type of technology will trickle down to PDAs!

I'm not sure if it will. This technology is used for clamshell phones that have two displays, one of which you can view when the phone is closed. Usually, this feature is so you can see caller ID information without opening the phone. I'm not sure how PDAs could incorporate two displays.

Any idea for uses of an additional 96x96 1.2 inch screen on the back of your Pocket PC?

Um...yeah, you're right - I didn't completely grasp the implementation here they were talking about. Oops.

[cmlpreston]

On a slight tangent, I've always thought a clamshell PPC with two screens on the inside, separated by the hinge, would be great. (Like two-screen donkey kongs :lol: )

Bottom screen could run a full screen keyboard, or just the standard SIP with extra screen space, with the two screens making up one big virtual screen. Like having a dual-head monitor setup on a PC, etc.

cmlp

[mattchapin]

You mean they weren't always that way?

So the existing design is two backlit displays, back-to-back, that don't share a backlight? C'mon, I figured cell phone designers were smarter than that.

[maximus]

Bottom screen could run a full screen keyboard, or just the standard SIP with extra screen space, with the two screens making up one big virtual screen. Like having a dual-head monitor setup on a PC, etc.

cmlp

Touch screen in mobile phones ... I dont know, but personally I dont want a touch screen in mobile phone. I want a mobile phone that can survive daily abuses, to be used on all environment (on an environment with a lot of small debris flying) ... I dont think a unit with touch screen can do that.

Small screen + stylus = eye injury.

[Christian]

I don't see how the two screen advantages can directly affect a Pocket PC, unless they manage to improve the screens in other ways as well. I always hope that any attention paid towards miniaturizing display technology like this can have other benefits later. But it doesn’t sound like a single back-lit display would benefit from this?

[cmlpreston]

Touch screen in mobile phones ... I dont know, but personally I dont want a touch screen in mobile phone. I want a mobile phone that can survive daily abuses, to be used on all environment (on an environment with a lot of small debris flying) ... I dont think a unit with touch screen can do that.

Small screen + stylus = eye injury.

No, I didn't mean two touch screens on a phone. I meant two touch screens on a PDA. If they folded together to form a hard shell all the way around, it would be a nice device.

I definitely don't want a touch screen on a phone either.

cmlp

[David C]

Touch screen in mobile phones ... I dont know, but personally I dont want a touch screen in mobile phone.

You havn't seen the Samsung I500 from Sprint PCS. We just got a demo one here at my work. I don't like Plam personally, but the I500 is a really nice phone. It comes with touch screen and all. Not that hard to use either.

[Janak Parekh]

You havn't seen the Samsung I500 from Sprint PCS. We just got a demo one here at my work. I don't like Plam personally, but the I500 is a really nice phone. It comes with touch screen and all. Not that hard to use either.
Without question, the i500 is an awesome little device; I put up pictures on it in my CeBIT article. However, some people don't like touch screens as they're inherently more fragile to scratches/cracks. This is one of the key reasons MS deliberately eschewed the touchscreen for Smartphones.

--janak

[CESkins]

A 1 mm difference in thickness is nothing that I would be writing home about. I doubt that I would notice it given my current clamshell (Sanyo 8100) is already relatively small. However the cost savings would definitely go a long way towards helping the avg consumer keep cash in his/her pocket if it were passed along.