At the FPD 2011 exhibition Toshiba will be showcasing their latest innovations, including a 6.1-inch LCD panel with a mind-boggling pixel density of 498ppi as well as a new IPS panel variant, dubbed “Soloudina”.

Toshiba develops 6.1" LCD with (498ppi)
Apple seems to have started a pixel race when the introduced the iPhone 4 with “Retina Display”. Since then panel manufacturers have created panels with extremely high pixel density, and now Toshiba has developed an impressive 6.1" LCD panel.


Toshiba’s 6.1-inch 498ppi LCD panel

The panel boasts a 2560x1600 pixel resolution (which equals 498ppi). This resolution is only found in the largest 30-inch+ 16:10 format LCD monitors today. To provide some perspective we have compared a 6.1” LCD panel to a 30-inch below.


6.1” LCD compared to 30” LCD – but with same 2560x1600 pixel resolution

Toshiba promises “photographic image like” picture quality and also mentions a 1000:1 contrast ratio and 176/176 degree viewing angles. The panel reproduces 61 % of the NTSC color gamut and can display 16.7 million colors in 8-bit.


Toshiba’s 6.1-inch 498ppi LCD panel

The choice to go with a 6.1-inch format seems like an odd one, but Toshiba hopes to appeal to tablet and smartphone makers.

New IPS variant
Samsung recently announced their competitor to LG’s popular IPS LCD panel technology called PLS, and Toshiba follows suit. Under the name “Soloudina” Toshiba hopes to compete in the display arena with an IPS-like panel technology.

The technology is very similar to the patented IPS technology but Toshiba is using a different electrode structure, they claim. Toshiba’s panel type should still provide the IPS picture characteristics such as wide viewing angles and natural colors.


Toshiba’s 4.3 and 7-inch Soloudina LCD panels

Toshiba has developed 4.3 and 7” LCD panels based on Soloudina with 1280x720 (342ppi) and 1280x800 (217ppi) pixel resolutions, respectively. The contrast ratio is marketed as 800:1, viewing angles are 176/176 degrees and the panels display 8-bit colors (16.7 million colors). Even though Toshiba does not mention “Soloudina” for their 498ppi LCD panel it seems to be based on the new LCD panel type, too.

Toshiba plans to exhibit all their new inventions at the FPD International 2011 exhibition from Oct 26 to 28 in Yokohama, Japan.

- Source: Toshiba, Techon Nikkei