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.
Nokia N86When 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:
Nokia starts shipping the N8 in Europe
After several delays, Nokia are finally shipping the N8 flagship smartphone to pre-order customers. If you order one now, it'll ship on October 18th (in the UK it costs £419.99 sim-free over at Amazon.com). The N8 has a large (3.5", 360x640) touch OLED and runs Symbian^3 on a 680Mhz CPU. It also has Wi-Fi, a microSD slot and a 12mp camera.
Nokia will also release soon three new AMOLED using smartphones: the E7, C6 and the C7. The E7 and C6 displays use use Nokia's new ClearBlack Display technology (CBD) - which is said to deliver better outdoor visibility.
Nokia delays the N8 by a few weeks, says pre-orders are great
Nokia announced they're delaying the N8 launch by a few weeks - "to do some final amends". They hope to launch it during October. They also say that the phone is seeing strong pre-order demand, in fact they claim its the strongest such demand for any Nokia phone ever. The N8 has a 3.5", 360x640 touch AMOLED and runs Symbian^3 on a 680Mhz CPU. It also has Wi-Fi, a microSD slot and a 12mp camera.
Nokia's CBD display is a polarized-filter that blocks light
A few days ago Nokia has announced their ClearBlack-Display (or CBD) which is an AMOLED display that performs better outdoors. Today we learned that CBD means a polarized filter that sits on top of the display, and blocks light. This helps it perform better outdoors. So CBD is not the same as a Super-AMOLED display (which is an AMOLED with a touch-panel built-in).
In the photo above, you can see the Nokia's E7 (left) vs a Galaxy S with a Super-AMOLED.
Engadget: Nokia's CBD is slightly better than the iPhone's SLCD in direct sunlight
Engadget has tested Nokia's new CBD display (in a prototype E7) against the iPhone's S-LCD. Both do not perform very good in intense, direct sunlight, but the CBD has a very slight edge as it offers better visibility in extreme viewing angles.
What is Nokia's new ClearBlack AMOLED display?
Nokia has launched three new smartphones today, two of which (The E7 and the C6-01) use Nokia's new Clear Black Display (CBD) technology which is said to perform better outdoors than a normal AMOLED. Nokia says that the display is a polarized AMOLED. This might actually be just Nokia's name for a Samsung made Super-AMOLED display, we do not know yet.
Nokia E7
Engadget really likes the display: "The screen is simply gorgeous -- ClearBlack may be a gimmicky trademark, but CBD's black levels are no joke. We're definitely talking Super AMOLED degrees of awesome...".
Nokia announces three new AMOLED phones - the E7, C6-01 and the C7
Update: There are actually three new phones, the C6-01, C7 and E7.
Nokia has just announced three new Smartphones - the E7, C6 and the C7. All use AMOLED touch displays. The E7 has a 4" display, the C7 a 3.5" one and the C6 a 3.2" one. The E7 and C6 displays use Nokia's new ClearBlack Display technology (CBD) - which is said to deliver better outdoor visibility.
The phones will be released towards the end of 2010, in Europe. The E7 will cost â¬495, the C6 will cost â¬260 and the C7 will cost â¬335.
Nokia's N8 to ship in the UK in the last week of October
So, Nokia's N8 is finally shipping, in the UK at least. The N8 will arrive at Nokia's on-line shops at the last week of September, and in UK retail shops on October 1st. The N8 will cost £429 unlocked, and free for a £35 per month contract. The N8 has a large (3.5") touch OLED and runs Symbian^3 on a 680Mhz CPU. It also has Wi-Fi, a microSD slot and a 12mp camera.
New Nokia N9 rumors: to have a 4" Super-AMOLED
Back in June, we heard some rumors about an upcoming Nokia N9 phone with a Super-AMOLED display. Today we have some fresh rumors, and a photo. The N9 will be a QWERTY slider running the MeeGo OS. The display is indeed a 4" Super-AMOLED. Other specs include a 1Ghz processor, 64Gb of memory (512Mb RAM), micro-SD slot, Wi-Fi, HSPA+ an an HDMI out (the N9 is capable of 720p video).
So it's not confirmed yet, and we'd be somewhat surprised to see a Nokia phone with a Super-AMOLED (what with all the supply issues and the fact that Samsung Electronics is said to get all Super-AMOLED displays exclusively for the next 16 months or so). But we can sure hope that Nokia is working on such a good-speced phone...
TPO Display (part of Chimei Innolux) to introdue AMOLED products in 2010 or early 2011?
iSupply is reporting about the AMOLED shortage and its effect on android smartphones. Interestingly, they say that TPO Display (which is now a part of Chimei Innolux) is planning to introduce AMOLED products at the end of 2010 or early 2011.
TPO were developing 3"-4" panels for mobile phones and cameras (it was reported
that they will supply Nokia with these AMOLEDs). TPO were facing some technical problems, that caused some delays, and it wasn't clear what will happen to that OLED program after the merger with Chimei Innolux. It's good to hear that it's still going forward.
Rumors: Nokia's working on a QWERTY slider with a Super-AMOLED
There are some rumors about an upcoming Nokia phone, the N9. It is said to be a Symbian ^3 phone with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It will have a 12mp camera and a Super-AMOLED display.
There are some questions here: first of all, Nokia said last week that the N8 will be the latest N-series that runs Symbian. Second, We heard that Samsung Electronics will be the only company that gets Super-AMOLED displays, for at least 18 months. We'll keep waiting for news on that one.
