Nokia was once the world's leading mobile phone company. They were late to the smartphone revolution, and the company's mobile phone arm was sold in 2013 to Microsoft. The Nokia phone brand was sold by Microsoft in 2016 to HMD Global, a new company founded by ex-Nokia executives.
Nokia's first OLED phone
Back in 2006, Nokia introduced the 6215i phone that was actually a re-branded clamshell Pantech PN-315 handset, for the Verizon network in the US. The phone had a 65K, 97x64 PMOLED subdisplay.
Nokia AMOLED phones - past and present
In its Symbian days, before the rise of the modern smartphone, Nokia released several AMOLED Symbian phones to the market - such as the N85 and the N86, the N8 and the E7 and the C7. In most of these AMOLED phones, Nokia used their ClearBlack Display technology (CBD) - which adds a polarized filter to the AMOLED and is said to deliver better outdoor visibility.
When Nokia abandoned Symbian in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone OS, they continued to use OLED displays in most of their phones - the latest one was the Lumia 930, the flagship 2014 Windows Phone 8.1 smartphone. The Lumia 930 has a 5" Full-HD Super AMOLED ClearBlack display, a 2.2 Ghz quad core CPU, 20 MP PureView camera (with optical image stabilization), Qi wireless charging and NFC.
HMD Global, who now owns the global Nokia smartphone brand, has released several new smartphones - one example was the Nokia 8 Sirocco in February 2018 - with its flexible (edge-type) 5.5" 1440x2560 (534 PPI) P-OLED display - reportedly made by LG Display. In 2022 the company announced the X30 Android smartphone, with a 6.43" 90Hz 1080x2400 AMOLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 chipset, 6/8 GB of RAM, 128/256 GB of storage and a dual camera setup. The X30 is shipping, starting at around $500 (Note: link to Amazon.co.uk).
Nokia OLED research
Nokia was also engaged in high-end OLED research. In June 2014, for example, Japan's Semiconductor Energy Laboratory, in collaboration with Nokia unveiled a new foldable OLED display - see image below.
The latest Nokia OLED news:
Direct sunlight: Nokia's CBD Lumia 900 beats the Galaxy S and the iPhone 4
DisplayMate performed some testing of several smartphones and tablets under bright ambient lighting. The handset that came on top was Nokia's Lumia 900 (which uses the company' ClearBlack Display technology and an AMOLED display). The second-best handsets are the iPhone 4 and the Super-AMOLED packing Samsung Galaxy S.
Nokia's Lumia 900 to launch next week, available to pre-order
AT&T is set to launch Nokia's Lumia 900 on April 8th, and it's already available for pre-order for free actually ($100 with a $100 rebate, with a two year contract). The Lumia 900 is a Windows Mobile (7.5) phone that sports a 4.3" ClearBlack AMOLED display (800x480, non PenTile), LTE, 512MB RAM, 8mp camera with a 28mm f/2.2 Carl Zeiss lens and dual-LED flash and a 1.4Ghz CPU.
What's behind Nokia's ClearBlack display technology?
Nokia's ClearBlack Display technology has been announced in September 2010, and Nokia is using it in several phones (including the Lumia 900, Lumia 800 and older Symbian models such as the X7 and E7). We know that it includes polarizing filters to block incoming light. Today however Nokia finally revealed how it actually works:
A CBD filter includes both a linear polariser and retardation layers between the surface of your phone and the display. When light hits your screen, this is what happens:
Nokia's Lumia 800 now available in the UK, pre-orders have been the best ever for a Nokia phone
Nokia's Lumia 800 is now available in the UK for the Orange network. They say that pre-order demand has been great - in fact it has been the best ever for any Nokia phone. Orange currently offers a free XBOX 360 console with each upgrade - that probably helped... The Lumia 800 is Nokia's first Windows Phone - and it sports a 3.7" WVGA (854x480) ClearBlack AMOLED display. Other features include a 1.4Ghz CPU, 512MB RAM, 16GB of internal memory and a 8mp, f/2.2 aperture camera with carl zeiss optics. The Lumia 800 is made from durable polycarbonate plastic.
Nokia finally explains the technology behind ClearBlack displays
Nokia's ClearBlack Display technology has been announced in September 2010, but only now did they explained this technology fully. We knew that CBD adds a polarizing filter to a display (which can be either an LCD or an OLED) - but Nokia now tells us that the filter is placed between the touch layer and the actual display - which enables it to block incoming light and not harm the contrast or color quality. In the photo below, we can see a normal C6-01 phone with a CBD display (on the left) and the same phone without the CBD layer (on the right):
While the technology behind CBD displays is quite different to the one used in Samsung's Super AMOLED displays (which uses an on-cell touch layer) - the resulting image quality and behavior under sunlight is pretty similar in both display technologies.
Nokia shows a flexible device prototype, probably uses an OLED display
Nokia is showing a beautiful new bendable device prototype called the Kinetic. The idea is that you can bend and twist the whole device to perform certain actions: for example bending it towards you is used to select an option or zoom-in on an image.
Nokia didn't say what kind of display technology is used in this device , but it's most likely a flexible OLED. The display is 4" in size and has impressive viewing angles according to reports. In the past two years we've seen several companies present flexible/bendable OLED Prototypes: Samsung, LG and UDC, Toshiba, Sony, AUO and the FDC with UDC. Nokia is already buying AMOLED panels from Samsung and LG, so it's likely they are collaborating with one of the Korean makers.
Nokia starts shipping the N9
Nokia announced that they started shipping their N9 Meego smartphone. The 16 GB model will cost â¬480 (around $650) while the 64 GB model will cost â¬560 ($755). It will ship in several countries worldwide - but not in the US. Amazon.com does offer it unlocked - but it's listed as "unavailable" now.
The N9 is Nokia's first Meego phone - and it sports a 3.9" AMOLED display (854x480, we're not sure if it's a CBD display), 16 to 64 GB memory, 1GB RAM, Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi, compass and GPS. There's a 8mp F2.2 camera capable of 720p video. The phone is 'wrapped' in a polycarbonate shell and comes in three colors. Applications are Qt 4.7 compatible and HTML5 support in built in.
The Nokia N9 is now available unlocked for $500, will ship on September 23rd
Nokia said they will not launch the N9 in the US (it's a rather limited launch, really) - but you can actually buy it unlocked in Amazon.com for $500 (or $650 for the 64Gb model). It will be shipping on September 23rd.
The N9 is Nokia's first Meego phone - and it sports a 3.9" AMOLED display (854x480, we're not sure if it's a CBD display), 16 to 64 GB memory, 1GB RAM, Bluetooth, NFC, Wi-Fi, compass and GPS. There's a 8mp F2.2 camera capable of 720p video. The phone is 'wrapped' in a polycarbonate shell and comes in three colors. Applications are Qt 4.7 compatible and HTML5 support in built in.
The Nokia X7 now ships, costs $540 unlocked in the US
Nokia's X7 is now shipping for $540 in the US, unlocked. The X7 is a Symbian^3 phone (with the new "Anna" build) that features a 4" ClearBlack AMOLED, HD video recording, Flash, improved browser and 256MB RAM.
The X7 is also shipping via network carriers across Europe and Asia.
LG Display starts to provide OLED panels to Nokia
According to reports, LG Display started to provide OLED displays to Nokia (the deal to supply OLEDs to Nokia was announced back in January 2011). Currently it's only a small amount of displays, but they say that Nokia is already shipping phones with LGD's OLEDs. The rest of Nokia's OLEDs come from Samsung Mobile Display. LG Display started producing AMOLEDs in their 4.5-Gen plant in February 2011.
The same report says that LG Electronics will release an OLED phone in the second half of 2011. LGD's "main display" will remain IPS-LCD, but they are ramping up OLED capacity in their Paju plant.
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