The world of display screens is witnessing technological advances that can completely transform the way we view TV, surf the Net or use our mobile phone. Here is a preview of things to come...Display screens are now as ubiquitous in our lives as the air we breathe. Whether at home or the workplace, they come in a spoilt-for-choice array of sizes and technologies and are a reliable indicator of the quality and cost of a product.Basically, there are three types of screens we encounter in our day-to-day life, if we categorise them based on usage rather than size or technology: television (TV) screens, personal computer (PC) screens and mobile-phone screens. TV and PC screens are more akin in terms of their size and technology while mobile screens, which are fast outnumbering their TV and PC counterparts, come in smaller sizes, increasingly with more advanced features like touchscreen and biometric capabilities.Display technology has come a long way from the days of black-and-white CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors to super-sized LCD (liquid crystal display) screens, and we are now moving into the era of 3D (three-dimensional) screens. Some of the bigger players have already unveiled prototypes of their 3D display products, and 3D TVs will soon be available for viewers who are willing to shell out $2,000 or more. Broadcasters are also gearing up to air eye-popping footage for their viewers. In Europe, the England vs Wales Six Nations rugby union international scheduled in February at Twickenham will be the first live 3D sporting event. Sky TV is also planning to launch a 3D channel, possibly by May 2010. The only irritant is that you will still need special glasses to watch 3D TV. While TV is poised to go 3D, PC displays are gravitating towards touchscreen technology. A touchscreen display can detect the faintest touch as well as its precise location within the display area. Touchscreen displays are becoming common in mobile handsets.Earlier, software compatibility issues pre-empted the integration of a touchscreen display on PCs, but that problem has been resolved and you can now use a touchscreen display for your PC if it runs on the Windows 7 operating system or the Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6. There are three popular technologies used for touchscreen devices: resistive, capacitive and surface acoustic wave. A resistive system uses two very thin metallic, electrically conductive layers separated by a narrow gap. When the user presses at a point on the display area, the two metallic layers become connected at that particular point, causing a change in electrical current. A special driver on your device (PC or mobile handset) translates this change into bits and bytes that the OS can understand and you get the desired result. On the other hand, a capacitive system consists of an insulator like glass, coated with a transparent conductor such as indium tin oxide. When you touch the surface of the screen, a distortion of the local electrostatic field, measured as capacitance, is caused. The capacitance from that particular point is sent to the device and the OS responds accordingly.Capacitive touchscreens are typically used in high-value mobile handsets like Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Nexus One and Motorola’s Droid. There are two advantages of using a capacitive touchscreen. It transmits almost 90% light, so the resultant display is sharper and clearer than in the case of a resistive system which transmits around 75% light. Also, a capacitive screen is more sensitive to touch, so you can just use your finger, while a resistive screen might require the use of a stylus or pen. Falling prices are set to make capacitive touchscreens du jour in mobile handsets.Some other contemporary display technologies that are vying for your eyeballs are plasma, DLP (digital light processing) and OLED (organic light emitting diode). So how should we view the future of display screens? In terms of size, it is safe to say that big and small will co-exist, depending on the application. For instance, 42-inch LCD TVs will eventually edge out the bulky 21-inch CRTs that have been beaming the world into our homes since ages. And with the advent of 3D TV, reality shows will take on a new dimension, and it’s not inconceivable that someday, you may even be a part of your favourite TV show.
Courtsey-Moneylife.in and SuchedaDalal.com
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