NEC Announces 2.7-inch HD LCD Display

Folks yearning for HD video on their phones or portable media players just got a boost from NEC, which has announced a 2.7-inch display packing 960 by 540 pixels.

Folks who love the idea of watching video or television on mobile phones or portable media devices but who are continually irked that those little tiny portable displays can’t handle HD content just received a reprieve from electronics giant NEC. NEC LCD Technologies has just announced a 2.7-inch LCD display that offers a 960 by 540 pixel resolution—that’s a whopping 413 pixels per inch. NEC envisions the panel—which bears the memorable part number NL9654HL06-01J—being used as a viewfinder on high-definition camcorders, enabling users to more accurately set focus and check colors on a built-in display. But, of course, portable media fans immediately want to know when the display might start popping up in phones and portable media players.

NEC says it will start shipping samples of the display by the end of July.

The display’s 960 by 540 pixel display is compatible with the "full HD" resolution of 1,920 by 1,080 pixels, and ought to provide enough resolution for the screen to be used as an HD viewfinder and display device. NEC says the display can handle 70 percent of the NTSC color space, a 25 ms response time, and offers 300 cd/m² of brightness and a 400:1 contrast ratio.