AMOLED vs LCD - Whats The Difference?

So AMOLED and LCD, what's the difference? Why should I be interested in AMOLED rather than LCD? Surely a screen is a screen? Well, if you have these questions then you have come to the right place.

AMOLED stands for Active-Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode and consists of a matrix of OLED pixels which light up upon electrical activation this is in contrast to an LCD display where pixels are shown using a back light to emit light through a crystal display. LCD displays tend to be sharper with better colour reproduction but AMOLED displays are better for brighter more vibrant colours along with far less battery consumption.

Advantages:

1. AMOLED displays consume considerably less power than both standard OLED displays as well as LCD displays.
2. These displays typically provide a higher refresh rate than passive-matrix OLED displays.

Disadvantages:

1. AMOLED displays can be difficult to view in direct sunlight although this is becoming less of an issue with the development of Super-AMOLED, a newer type of AMOLED developed by Samsung which has closed the gap between the layers of the screen.
2. Due to the current high demand for the display technology current supplies are short leading to various manufacturers implementing other display technologies in their devices.
3. AMOLED displays do not last as long as other display technologies. Whilst this is not a major problem with cell-phones it does prove a problem with televisions and devices with a longer life span.