camera terms

[Mainframe AI]

what does cif stand for
what does vga stand for

[DEViANT]

CIF = Common Intermediate Format and has a resolution of 352 x 288
VGA = Video Graphics Array and has a resolution of 640 x 480 (there are all other kinds of these such as CGA, EGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA, UXGA, WXGA, etc.)

[I think Video Graphics Adaptor is also suitable, the 'A' can mean either/or]

[Mainframe AI]

righto thanks deviant

[Mainframe AI]

for screens, what does TFT and other initials mean?

[q7buzz]

TFT - Thin Film Transistor
STN - Super Twisted Nematic (older technology used in t68 and t610)

[DEViANT]

We also have:

TFD = Thin Film Diode (lower power consumption to TFT but still electronically switched)
OLED = Organic Light Emitting Diode (full viewing angles) - as seen on some of the latest gen Samsung and LG phones
DSTN = Dual Super Twist Nematic (not used on mobiles so far to my knowledge - it was an old laptop display technology)

There's probably more but I can't recollect them from the top of my head.

[Mainframe AI]

thanks guys... oled sounds nice

[TheZodiac]

OLED is going to change the display world! The only ones I have seen is on a Kodak phone (color) and some gray scale ones on certain cells. There is a company called V@MP that will be rleaseing a solid state camcorder witha 2" OLED screen and its insane.

HMmmmmm... anyone got a good guess on the next mainstream phone to have a large OLED? (not a secondary info screen)

Im thinking something from SAMSUNG. (a phone or provider of the OLED to another company)

[DEViANT]

Well, it's cheap but its life (5000 hours) isn't as good as LCD and sunlight still appears to drown it out (see the Samsung E700 outer display in sunlight). It also has low power consumption and emits light as standard, I guess we'll see how it goes. I'm quite happy with current transreflective TFT displays (i.e. Nokia Symbians and some new series 40s).

Anyway the OLED on Samsung's outer display was a bit crap (256 colour)...

All this new stuff will get exciting, Mitsubishi have apparently made an LCD with no back so you can view it from both sides which equals cheaper phones (as only one screen) and thinner.