Is AMOLED Display Really Good for Eyes? (Explained)

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Manufacturers of mobile devices have optimized different technologies to create the most suitable display for customers.

The AMOLED display is probably the best because it features high contrast, making better picture quality. With its bright features, one might wonder how safe it is for the eyes.

So, is AMOLED display good for your eyes?

Find out if AMOLED display is good for your eyes

The AMOLED display is good for the eyes. The display technology is famous for its appearance and its safety characteristics. This technology gives you better contrast, more flexible viewing angles, and brighter colors which places less strain on the eyes.

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Despite being a safe viewing technology, many doubt it’s a better option than other displays. This post gives an in-depth explanation of AMOLED technology, its properties, and why it’s the best display technology yet.

What Is the Difference Between AMOLED and LCD?

AMOLED and LCD are two display technologies that compete in the world of digital devices. Both are built on fairly distinct underlying technology though they aim to attain the same goal – display. 

With this, manufacturers advertise different benefits depending on which display type they’ve decided on. Smartphone makers are increasingly choosing AMOLED displays, with LCD primarily kept for less costly phones.

The question is, what is the difference between these two developments? To understand this, you must have a good knowledge of both technologies. 

What Is an AMOLED Display?

The fundamental component of AMOLED is Light Emitting Diode (LED). Scientists interested in electronics play around with this light all the time. 

This light is scaled down dramatically and laid in red, green, and blue groups in its display panels. These clusters generate an individual pixel that can reproduce white light and multiple hues. The performance of the display of a device depends on the placement of these sub-pixels. 

There’s also OLED which stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. Here, there is a succession of thin organic material sheets sandwiched between two conductors in each LED. This material produces light when there’s a flow of current.

Next in the progression is AMOLED, Active Matrix Light Emitting Diode. The Active Matrix design incorporates a thin film transistor (TFT) and an electrolytic capacitor in each LED, allowing for more efficient lighting. Therefore, the capacitor at a pixel can maintain its charge even when a row and column trigger access to a pixel throughout several refresh cycles. 

The Super AMOLED also has a display that includes the touchscreen directly into the device. This results in screen thinner in devices.

A significant advantage of OLED displays is that each pixel can be precisely controlled. To achieve deep blacks and a high contrast ratio, you can turn off pixels completely. 

Once you dim individual pixels, you can save power. Plus, brighter images and greater viewing angles can be achieved because there are no additional layers on top of LEDs.

What Is an LCD?

Liquid Crystal Display reproduces colors differently when compared to AMOLED. This is because LCDs rely solely on a backlight as a light source and do not use separate light-emitting components. 

In science, white light blends all shades in a spectrum. As a result, LCD backlights must provide as much pseudo-white light as possible. Then, the liquid crystal element may subsequently filter the light into various colors.

Most LCDs produce pseudo-white light using a blue LED backlight and a yellow phosphor coating.

Afterwards, the light is polarized and passed through a crystal element. Adjusting the angle of polarized light can be done by twisting the crystal in various ways depending on its voltage. Then, to further reduce the light’s angle of incidence, the light travels through another polarizing filter. 

When all of these sub-pixels have been gathered together, they can be used to modify the display’s colors.

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AMOLED vs LCD: Which Is better?

Users notice a significant change in the quality of their viewing experience due to the extensive range of lighting options available. In terms of color gamut, AMOLED has a wider variety of options than LCD. This makes the visuals appear more colorful and realistic.

The sub-pixels arrangement focuses on green and blue, the most common colors in an OLED display. Most times, this makes their display seem dull.

OLED displays have a significant advantage over LCDs because they don’t need a backlight or filtering layers. However, since LCDs’ backlights don’t turn off even when pixels are supposed to be black, they are prone to light bleed and lower contrast ratios. On the other hand, OLED displays simply turn off their pixels.

LCD screens have a filtering layer that naturally blocks some light, but it also reduces the viewing angle compared to OLED.

Is AMOLED Better for Eyes than LCD?

For people who do a lot of night browsing, it’s paramount to know how the light emitted from your device affects your eyes. 

If you’re using an AMOLED, then you’re on the safe side. This digital technology was produced to make graphics brighter and sharper and protect users’ eyes.

Amoled displays automatically turn off individual pixels when they’re supposed to be black. This means that the display would not reflect any light into your eyes. With this, there’s no way it can harm your eyes.

Despite this, you still get to view your screen in the same clear graphics. On the other hand, LCDs do more harm than good to your eyes.

LCD depends on a backlight for it to efficiently display images. Therefore, even when the image on the LCD screen is completely black, there will always be a layer of backlight shining through it and striking your eyes. With this, your eyes get dry as the light strains them continuously.

At night, this becomes even more apparent. When no other light sources compete with your smartphone’s screen for attention, you focus your vision entirely on the screen. In the long run, this could affect your sight.

What Are the Advantages of Using an AMOLED Display?

Aside from being a good option for your eyes, this display technology has other benefits explored below.

Utilizes Less Electricity

Unlike other display technologies, such as LED and LCD, AMOLED consumes less power but has better energy efficiency.

It’s important to note that each AMOLED panel diode produces light without generating excessive heat. Since this display technology does not use LEDs or LCDs, the energy lost due to heat transfer is lower.

An AMOLED display doesn’t require backlighting, reducing the necessity of an additional power source. As a result, AMOLED panels can be used in portable and battery-powered electronic gadgets.

Quality of the Display 

Deep blacks and great contrast make AMOLED images brighter and more vibrant than ordinary LCD panels.

As a bonus, this display technology offers a broader field of view than even the most expensive panels. Even when you view the screen from extreme angles, there are no perceptible color shifts, and the brightness and vibrancy remain the same.

AMOLED panels also feature faster response times and refresh rates. As a result, moving images look better and are easier on the eyes than ever before.

Physically Slimmer

The organic plastic layer on a standard AMOLED panel is between 100 and 500 nanometers thick. As a result of its thinness, the material is lighter and more flexible than the stiff crystalline layers of LCDs. With this, the LED can produce and transmit more light than LCD.

The use of an AMOLED display allows for the production of slimmer devices. In addition, this technology introduced curved and innovative displays that can be rolled or folded.

What Are the Disadvantages of Using Amoled Displays?

Though effective, AMOLED technology isn’t perfect. Below are the disadvantages of using this display.

Short Lifespan

Materials found in AMOLED panels have a lower lifespan compared to LCD. The limited lifespan of color-specific organic components in AMOLED screens also causes high sensitivity to screen burn-ins. In other words, certain pixels will inevitably die out over time, reducing the quality.

Vulnerability to Water

AMOLED displays are extremely vulnerable to water damage. This is because while LCD uses inorganic crystals, AMOLED uses organic materials that can be easily damaged by water.

Poor Exterior Visibility

AMOLED images are difficult to see in direct sunlight. This flaw is due to the lower brightness of this display technology and the lack of backlighting.

Producers have devised several solutions to address this issue. They try to reduce the size of gaps between layers in the panel to reduce screen reflection. They achieve this by applying a coating to the screen to improve transparency and visibility were two examples of this.

What is the Difference Between an AMOLED and a PMLED?

In the Passive matrix light-emitting diode, there’s a grid system where integrated circuits control a charge transmitting along each row and column. However, this is sluggish and prone to error. 

When using an Active Matrix design, each LED is equipped with a thin film transistor (TFT) and an electrolytic capacitor (EC). With this, the capacitor at a pixel can keep its charge across refresh cycles when a row and column trigger access to a pixel. As a result, this technology makes it faster and more precise.