Samsung preps first wide VGA OLED for handhelds

Samsung SDI's OLED team has developed what should be the world's first small OLED display to feature a truly high resolution, the company revealed today. Previous attempts at the organic display technology had been limited to a quarter VGA resolution (320x240), but a new technology from Clairvoyante dubbed Pentile lets Samsung remove a third of the needed sub-pixels and pack the main pixels closer together. The reworking allows for a wide VGA resolution of 800x480 in a display measuring just 3.08 inches across, Samsung says.

As an active matrix OLED, the screen's image quality is also reportedly improved dramatically versus an LCD, according to the company: the display covers the entire NTSC color range, achieves a 1,000:1 contrast ratio in its small space, and should be friendlier to batteries with just 0.4 watts of average power. Pixel response times will also be virtually instantaneous and eliminate the ghosting effect that plagues LCDs.

Samsung explains that the technology should be immediately useful for cellphones, portable media players, and other devices that browse the web, play video, or otherwise require high detail without the luxury of a larger screen. Device makers will have the chance to test the display themselves early next year and will see mass production of the screens for finished products during the summer.