Toshiba intros 367PPI mobile screens

Toshiba Mobile Display is using the SID screen expo this week to show a line of extremely dense smartphone-sized displays. The screens, all of them LTPS (low temperature polycrystalline silicon) LCDs, range in size from 3.3 inches to four inches but are all much sharper than usual displays at these sizes. Resolutions start at 480x864 for the smallest screen and scale up to 1280x720 (720p) for the four-inch screen, achieving an even higher density than Apple's iPhone 4 at 367 pixels per inch.

The panels promise historically much better performance than mobile displays. Color gamut goes up to 92 percent of the NTSC range, viewing angles approach IPS (in-plane switching) at 176 degrees, and contrast ratios as high as 1,500:1.

Toshiba is also promising a stronger 3D angle and will show both three-inch (400x240) and eight-inch (800x480) Time Sequential-based 3D displays. The technique uses a backlight with a two-directional lens sheet that rapidly switches between left- and right-eye images to create a glasses-free 3D effect, but while still moving quickly and keeping a bright viewing angle.

Also on show are a seven-inch 1024x600 screen with an in-cell touchscreen layer, in-car screens from a 3.5-inch QVGA screen up to a nine-inch 720p screen.

Toshiba hasn't named any customers for its LCDs other than itself, nor when it expected the screens to arrive. Rumors persist that Toshiba is building a factory with Apple in mind that would provide displays for iPhones starting from 2012 onwards.

By Electronista Staff