Could replacable OLED-screens be an option later on?

[gagster]

I finally got my Pandora last week, and it felt kind of surreal when it finally was here. This sure was a worthy spiritual successor to the GP2X, which I had a love/hate relationship with (dumb D-Pad and digital volume-buttons, without proper USB or any kind of network-connection).


Emulation on handhelds was fun yet again, but there is one thing I have in mind;


As devices like the Wiz have gotten crisp OLED-displays in present time, could it be possible later on getting that nice piece of technology inserted into Pandoras? I expect OLED-screens to be quite expensive compared to the traditional LCD's, but could it be as easy as switching panels on existing Pandora's with OLED ones, and it would simply work (connections and so on)?

 

[Blue Protoman]

I hear OLEDs don't last a terribly long time.

 

[craigix]

If they worked well you would see them on Apple devices. In my opinion they are still not ready for the mainstream. GPH dropped them because of huge fail rates on the Wiz.

 

[Prometheus]

[anecdote]


I learned recently that two devices I own have OLED screens; They honestly look no different to the Pandora's LCD. If I hadn't been told they had OLEDs, I would have just continued believing they were LCDs.


[/anecdote]

 

[rabidpoobear]

[anecdote]


I learned recently that two devices I own have OLED screens; They honestly look no different to the Pandora's LCD. If I hadn't been told they had OLEDs, I would have just continued believing they were LCDs.


[/anecdote]

I can tell a few major differences, at least with the sammy OLED's I've seen on phones:


1) blacks are ridiculously better. Run an android phone on an OLED next to an LCD and you'll see the difference


2) at least some OLED's use pentile and it looks SHITTY. You can see dithering all over the screen and it looks extremely cheap.


3) contrast seems better to me.


4) some OLED's (like on the sansa's) you can see the refreshing when you move your eyes around the display. Since it's strobing across the display instead of having a constant backlight and modifying the polarization of the display, you can see the updates, especially in your periphery, and even when just moving the device or the display. it looks really bad on some OLED's (the Sony tv has this issue too.)


so overall, price & resolution & compatibility & cetera, LCD was a much better choice in 2008 and still a better choice now, IMHO. And I'm a huge advocate of OLED tech. I just don't think that the mass production OLED's these days are worth a damn.

 

[xenomat]

Push for OLED Screen!


When it comes to picture quality i would call myself a extreme/compulsive Freak.


I usualy spend a few days, even weeks to pick out a new monitor or TV, and i only use LCDs monitors because i simply don't have another choice (currently H-IPS panels). For me, LCD is a faulty technology, because it is not possible to have real black and the contrast is just terrible. The monitors i now have are the last LCDs i have bought, now i wait for OLED or a similar technology.


I would search for a compatible OLED and put it in the pandora myself, if i found one. Also, i own a HTC Desire (also 480x800 btw), and the AMOLED ist just brilliant. There is no way one could not see the difference, other then not truly caring about display quality.


I would love the possibility to upgrade the display in the future.


@Craigix


I don't care about (or like) Apple, but in my HTC the Display works really great.

 

[Scntrblob]

If they worked well you would see them on Apple devices. In my opinion they are still not ready for the mainstream. GPH dropped them because of huge fail rates on the Wiz.

Not as huge as the nub fail rate, or the _LCD_ cable failrate. And the WiZ screen DOES look great. No ghosting, he?!?


But I agree, OLEDs time has not yet come but I hope it is close.

 

[Asiyura]

There are no known OLED or AMOLED screens readily available compatible with the form factor of the Pandora.


(the position and orientation of the connector is important to fit in the case)

 

[craigix]

If they worked well you would see them on Apple devices. In my opinion they are still not ready for the mainstream. GPH dropped them because of huge fail rates on the Wiz.

Not as huge as the nub fail rate, or the _LCD_ cable failrate. And the WiZ screen DOES look great. No ghosting, he?!?


But I agree, OLEDs time has not yet come but I hope it is close.

The reason Gamepark have closed down is because of the money they lost during the last 2 years, I'm pretty sure those OLED screens contributed to that, we have had approx 250 failed nubs in the wild, I think they had THOUSANDS of failed OLEDS.

 

[Prometheus]

There is no way one could not see the difference, other then not truly caring about display quality.

Or they do care about display quality and longevity, find OLED to be an unremarkable technology, and don't want the display failing prematurely as OLEDs are given to doing, because they want their device to actually be usable for a long time. (I fall into this camp, personally, as I'm not in the school of thought of wastefully throwing away perfectly usable goods every year or less in order to "keep up with technology".)


Or have the longevity problems of OLED now been resolved?

 

[craigix]

There is no way one could not see the difference, other then not truly caring about display quality.

Or they do care about display quality and longevity, find OLED to be an unremarkable technology, and don't want the display failing prematurely as OLEDs are given to doing, because they want their device to actually be usable for a long time. (I fall into this camp, personally, as I'm not in the school of thought of wastefully throwing away perfectly usable goods every year or less in order to "keep up with technology".)


Or have the longevity problems of OLED now been resolved?

I'm pretty sure the first device to ship with a reliable OLED will be the PSP2, then maybe Apple will follow with an iPhone5 with a retina OLED.


That said there is still going to be a life limit on those screens, for example if the GP32 had an OLED I'm quite sure every single one would now be dead, food for though.

 

[Prometheus]

That said there is still going to be a life limit on those screens, for example if the GP32 had an OLED I'm quite sure every single one would now be dead, food for though.

That right there - the life limit - is my concern. I still have all of my childhood and teenage games and consoles, including handhelds, of course, and they all work. It will really suck to eventually find that devices from times now approaching will not work when I'm older-still and want to play with them again.


(And, honestly, as I said before, I see little to no difference between supposedly-great OLEDs and supposedly-inferior LCDs. I do know that the "inferior" displays will keep going for a lot longer, though. :lol: )

 

[darfgarf]

Comparing my desires amoled to the slcd version makes the differences apparent, yes its lovely tech, but I wouldn't say for gaming and etc, just to show off really. What we really need is some mirasol, but those aren't out quite yet

 

[xenomat]

There is no way one could not see the difference, other then not truly caring about display quality.

Or they do care about display quality and longevity, find OLED to be an unremarkable technology, and don't want the display failing prematurely as OLEDs are given to doing, because they want their device to actually be usable for a long time. (I fall into this camp, personally, as I'm not in the school of thought of wastefully throwing away perfectly usable goods every year or less in order to "keep up with technology".)


Or have the longevity problems of OLED now been resolved?

I honestly don't believe you would need to "throw away" a device with a OLED Screen after one year... i remember reading many articles over the years regarding the longevity of the different colors, and years ago it was already at a point where the display would "survive" like 17 years of constant use (blue being the weak factor, "only" 150.000 hrs). But then i guess this would be better suited for a TV/Monitor, a viewing-only device, as this is their only purpose. On a Handheld device you would rather replace the display at the point of failure, provided the rest of the hardware even survives as long as the display. I also can't believe htc or samsung have many failed OLEDs, they are in development for about ten years now.


I see an extensive spare part market in the pandora's future.


So i would rather get a spare display to support longevity (the display on my game gear doesn't look so hot either btw..) and of course NOT throw away stuff after one year. I collect video games and own over 20 consoles and handhelds myself. Who knows how we emulate a XBox360 or a PS3, and on what kind of display we play in which location in 30 years... or if my Pandora still works in 2041.

 

[Scntrblob]

If they worked well you would see them on Apple devices. In my opinion they are still not ready for the mainstream. GPH dropped them because of huge fail rates on the Wiz.

Not as huge as the nub fail rate, or the _LCD_ cable failrate. And the WiZ screen DOES look great. No ghosting, he?!?


But I agree, OLEDs time has not yet come but I hope it is close.

The reason Gamepark have closed down is because of the money they lost during the last 2 years, I'm pretty sure those OLED screens contributed to that, we have had approx 250 failed nubs in the wild, I think they had THOUSANDS of failed OLEDS.

Do you really think so? I mean, I have barely seen people(Maybe 4-5 times) posting that on the boards and I think ED can confirm that it weren't that many. Well, speculation. I really enjoy Secret of Mana 2 in the WiZzes colors.

 

[xenomat]

Do you really think so? I mean, I have barely seen people(Maybe 4-5 times) posting that on the boards and I think ED can confirm that it weren't that many. Well, speculation. I really enjoy Secret of Mana 2 in the WiZzes colors.

I enjoy the SEGA-logo, every single time!

 

[Nintendo]

 

[-Tj-]

I just bought an SGS2 recently, which has the SAMOLED+ screen without the pentile arrangement. It's also my first OLED-based device. I've used a crapload of devices with LCDs and, physical and power properties aside, I don't see what all the fuss is about. It might be great for viewing photos, but every device the Pandora is capable of emulating originally ran on LCD tech or older, which means black was never really black. That's not to say I don't care about how good a display is, it's just that many of the LCD devices I own now are so good that black is the only thing visually that OLED has over LCD.


I had to send my SGS2 back because it had a screen defect, an odd dark circle about an inch in diameter. Many others on the xda forums are reporting similar issues, and others problems like ghosting, horizontal or vertical banding, and a yellowish tint on one side. One user stated that Samsung has even gone so far as to say in a support communication that the defects are not normal. Imo, while we're getting there, OLED is definitely not mature technology.


Were the option present, unless it changed the physical characteristics of the Pandora (like making the lid thinner) or dramatically increased battery life I wouldn't swap it out for an OLED screen.

 

[Nintendo]

Imo, while we're getting there, OLED is definitely not mature technology.

I agree and dread it for when NGP is launched. I reckon that a lot of complaints are forthcoming.

 

[MWeston]

I feel like I could say with a certain degree of certainty there won't be a Pandora with an OLED screen. Perhaps Pandora 3 in 2020 or something but we can't even buy that stuff right now. I've sent Samsung Semi many emails and even tried going through a distributor. It's not in their interest to help the little guys right now. There are some amazing HD LCD panels coming out 'soon' that look pretty amazing. 1280x720 in a 4.x" panel would be pretty sweet. Perhaps overkill, but awesome none the less! Just to be able to list that in the specs would be a wet dream.