iPhone AMOLED Screens to Bring Back Apple II-style Green on Black?

Marco Arment has a fun post up today about designing for AMOLED (active matrix light emitting diode) screens, currently used for Google's Nexus One, and something many hope Apple adopts for the 4th generation iPhone and -- even though cost and supply prohibitive -- the upcoming iTablet/iSlate/iPad as well.

Most significantly with OLEDs, power consumption is greatly reduced when displaying black or very dim colors, so a dark layout option is even more beneficial than with LCDs.Another consideration is that the blue subpixels have the shortest lifespans, a problem that has always plagued OLEDs and is one of the biggest reasons they’re still rarely used.

Armant's tongue-in-cheek solution? To go old school, Apple II ancient CRT-style green on black. Not that we're not nostalgic (I rocked that green screen for many years on my Apple II), but here's hoping AMOLED technology gets better with blues and quick.

Rene Ritchie
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Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.