Philips display could make camera flip-phones thinner

Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV is ready to begin showing off its latest thin mobile phone displays aimed at the growing market for mobile phones with integrated cameras, the Dutch company announced Monday.

The flip-top design module for a clamshell-style phone features a 1.9-inch (4.8-centimeter), 176 pixel by 220 pixel TFT (thin film transistor) display on one side with a 1.3-inch (3.3-centimeter), 98 pixel by 65 pixel color STN (super twisted nematic) display on the “flip” side, Europe’s largest consumer electronics maker said in a statement. The STN displays allow for a rotation of up to 270 degrees and offers a wider range of brightness than the twisted nematic displays which rotate the director of the liquid crystal by 90 degrees.

Philips’ OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) distributor channel will get the modules for integration into mobile phones with cameras beginning in the third quarter of 2004, the Amsterdam company said.

The module also comes with a VGA (video graphics array) camera as well as a removable cosmetic front cover that allows users to pick various covers in different colors and designs. Philips stressed the thinness of the module, saying it is less than 6.8 millimeters thick with cover included.

Other module features include real-time JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) coding, a high frame rate viewfinder, a polyphonic speaker, receiver and vibrating motor all within a single digital host interface, Philips said.

Philips will offer the first demonstrations of the module at the PT/Wireless & Networks Comm China 2003 in Beijing on Nov. 12-16.