The VGA in unabbreviated terms is the Video Graphics Array. It is a standard resolution size adapted by modern computer monitors. The resolution of a VGA standard is 640 pixels wide by 480 pixels tall. If converted to portrait mode, it goes the other way around.

When a computer boots into the Microsoft Windows Operating System, the first screen that opens with the display of the Windows logo is shown in a VGA standard mode. The VGA mode is characterized by 32 colors. When the system is fully loaded, the computer or device moves to a mode that has a higher resolution.

The VGA resolution is larger than the resolutions of CIF, QVGA, and QCIF. It is smaller than 1 megapixel. The actual conversion in megapixels is 0.3.

During the early days of computer inventions, the monitors had a monochrome or two-color displays. When the IBM came up with the color graphics adapter in year 1981, it increased to a 4-bit palette of 8 colors with a maximum resolution of 640 by 280.

In 1984, the IBM came up with the Enhanced Graphics Adapter or EGA which multiplied the initial 8 colors into 2 making it 16 colors with a resolution of 640 by 350.

Finally, in 1987, IBM introduced the VGA. It was accepted widely by manufacturers and made the VGA standard a base display for video hardware. Contemporary graphics adapter cards can provide displays in the VGA mode. Usually, when the appropriate driver cannot be found, the hardware switches to the VGA display. The VGA mode is also the alternative standard when the driver has been intentionally disabled or if the operating system cannot locate a better driver.

If a user that operating under the Windows OS, the computer will display the VGA when switched to Safe Mode.

IBM came up with another standard in 1990 calling it the XGA or extended Graphics Array. But within this time, many standards have been released resulting to a division of choices among hardware display manufacturers.

AMOLED screen or Active-Matrix OLED is one among 2 types of OLED display. The other type is called passive-matrix screen which is suitable for secondary displays and main displays of several low-end mobile handsets. A Passive-matrix screen is not ideal for viewing of videos unlike the AMOLED screen.

A transistor lies next to each pixel in an AMOLED screen. The transistors allow for quicker response times. This explains why AMOLED screens are best for displaying videos and are the most common screen types chosen to be the main display for mobile phones.

AMOLED screen is emerging as a display technology. OLED refers to a display technology that is very thin and very bright that allows for best display clarity that does not require a backlight for it to work. Active-Matrix refers to the technology that addresses image pixels. The combination of these two bring about the AMOLED screen. The creation of AMOLED screens is continuously being pushed to the direction of developing low-power and low-cost large size applications that will be applicable even in television sets.

OLED pixels are deposited into a thin film transistor or that which is called the TFT array. This process forms a matrix of pixels for the purpose of illuminating light when the electronic device is in use. The TFT array serves as a sequence of switches that manage the current flowing to each of the pixels in the display. One transistor signals a pixel to brightly shine.

AMOLED screens are characterized by 4 separate layers that control the image shown in the display. The layers are the anode layer, middle organic layer, cathode layer, and the circuitry layer at the bottom of the layering.

The advantage of AMOLED screen displays is its ability to provide good quality video-rate performance similar to other passive-matrix OLED providers only with lesser power consumption. This advantage makes AMOLED screen a good choice for manufacturers that develop portable electronics as battery life is critical to a product’s success.

QVGA resolution in unabbreviated terms is Quarter Video Graphics Array resolution. Other popular names are Quarter VGA and qVGA. QVGA resolution is a standard display popular among those with 320×240 resolutions. It is popularly found in electronic devices. Examples are mobile phones, PDAs, and some handheld game consoles.

The QVGA resolution is usually displayed in a portrait alignment. This is opposite to normal PC alignments that are usually set to landscape. For portrait alignments, the dimension of the display is the 240×320 display. The focus is more on height and not width.

It is called Quarter Video Graphics Array resolution because the display is equal to ¼ of the original computer resolution which is 640×480 display resolution. The original standard was first observed in the IBM machine that also used the VGA display and was an industry standard during the late 1980s.

When an LCD display uses the QVGA resolution, the device is able to produce full-color displays. Other advanced QVGA resolution displays are compatible with touch screens.

It is also possible for digital video recording equipment to make use of the QVGA resolution. This leads to saving file space in space-capable media which is the reason why more devices such as digital cameras and digital mobile phones are built in with QVGA resolution.

The QVGA resolution is supported by numerous video record file formats. A QVGA video usually consists of 15 or 30 frames per second. When you encounter the term QVGA mode, this refers to the image size. Image size is more popularly known and understood as the “resolution”.

There was a time when television programs on iTunes were distributed in the QVGA resolution format. This happened before Apple released the iTunes version 7 of the software. So if you wanted to watch the programs on your iPod, you can sync the programs from the computer; and the iPod can play the QVGA resolution videos and movies at 30 frames per second.

TFT touch screen is in simple terms called the touch screen monitor. Its price has decreased in recent years causing them to become more popular in mobile technology. There are 3 basic systems that recognize touch as the commanding source. These systems are resistive, capacitive and surface acoustic wave.

A TFT touch screen with the resistive system consists of a normal glass panel. A conductive and resistive metallic layer lies above the glass panel. When the monitor is working, an electrical current moves in each of the 2 layers. The conductive and resistive layers are set apart by “spacers” and a scratch-resistant layer is placed on top of the entire setup.

Contact between the two layers happen when the user touches the screen. After contact, the electrical current facilitates coordination and the computer calculates the contact. The user’s touch is translated by a special driver into a language that the operating system can understand.

A TFT touch screen with the capacitive system consists of a ‘capacitive layer’. Electrical charge is stored on the glass panel of the monitor of the capacitive layer. The electrical charge is transferred to the user whenever a touch of a finger is done on the monitor. When this transfer happens, it results to a decrease in charge which is calculated by the computer and translated into information that can be digested by the touch-screen driver software.

The capacitive system is better than the resistive system when it comes to giving out better picture clarity. The capacitive system is able to transmit about 90 percent of the light from the monitor. On the other hand, the resistive system is only able to transmit 75 percent.

A TFT touch screen with the surface acoustic wave system consists of 2 transducers. One transducer sends and the other receives. The monitor glass plate is divided into x and y axes where transducers are located. Reflectors are placed on the glass for the purpose of reflecting electrical signals from one transducer to another. The use of receiver transducers is to determine if the wave has been disturbed by a touch and such touch is located accordingly.

The surface acoustic wave system setup does not have metallic layers on the screen. This results to 100 percent transmission of light providing the best image quality and clarity. Surface acoustic wave TFT touch screen systems are especially best in displaying detailed graphics and are better than the other two discussed earlier.

The cheapest TFT touch screen is the one with a resistive system while the surface acoustic wave setup touch screen is known to be the best TFT touch screen and the most expensive too.

An OLED or organic light emitting diode screen is made from a film of organic amalgam. It has other names such as light emitting polymer or LEP, organic electro luminescence or OEL, and light emitting diode or LED.

A polymer substance is contained within the layer. This substance permits the deposit of appropriate organic compounds into the layer. The organic compounds are deposited in horizontal and vertical patterns through a “printing” process which results to a matrix of pixels able to emanate light of varied colors.

The use of OLED screen is increasing. You can find it installed in television sets, computer displays, and portable devices. You might notice that more mobile phones, cameras, PDAs, and advertising panels are using OLED screens. Other uses of OLED screens are for general space illumination and large-area light-emitting elements.

The primary difference between OLED screens and liquid crystal displays or LCDs is that there is no need for a backlight for OLED screens to be utilized. This means that devices with OLED screens save battery power. Cell phones with OLED screens are considered to have relatively longer battery life than that with an LCD screen.

Without the requirement for a backlight, OLED screen displays appear to be thinner as compared to a device with an LCD panel.

An OLED screen is at present the brightest and thinnest screen available. Manufacturers have long sparked the idea of creating a screen that would provide the best clarity but reduce usage of battery power. The recent discovery of OLED screens has proved to match these expectations.

The problem with OLEDs is that the manufacturing can be quite complicated. A device that is installed with this kind of screen becomes relatively expensive. And where cost is a deciding factor, the demand might not allow OLEDs to supplant LCDs soon.