Low Power LCD Screen Might Rival e-Ink

[Fluribus]

With the Game Boy Advance XP, Nintendo put a front light on a color LCD screen (a bit like the new glowy ereaders). It worked great for gaming in low light conditions. It was a pretty small screen, though. I wonder how well a larger screen like this would do coupled with a light guide.

Originally Posted by David Marseilles

Mmmm. Pixel Qi. My white whale. Even now I'm summoning all my willpower to resist the urge to go on a Google hunt that will lead to no good.

Only a Taiji master can generate Pixel Qi.

[andyh2000]

In comparison, the new screen mentioned above draws 3 mW while displaying a static image. That means that when it’s not in heavy use (reading, for example) this screen is 800 times more efficient than the one on the iPad 2.

Originally Posted by Quexos

Unfortunately the reason we would want these as e-readers would precisely be to "read", a heavy use according to the article.
So I wonder what the real consumption and battery range would be should this technology hit the stores. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
In the meantime ...

I think that quote was supposed to mean reading was an example of the device when it's not in heavy use, presumably because you only change the screen every minute or two.

Andrew

[Quexos]

I wonder how an OLED e-reader would fare ?
OLED is said to be a low consumption very high grade technology, the screens would be beautiful and colorful. And no front or back or side light would be required as the pixels themselves emit light ...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Unfortunately the reason we would want these as e-readers would precisely be to "read", a heavy use according to the article.

I don't see why reading would be a heavy use. For reading you're changing the screen image perhaps once every 30s. Compare that to video, where the image is changing perhaps 30x every second.

[MrTeatime]

Does anyone know the power output of a very small, cheap solar panel - like the ones on solar powered calculators?

[pdurrant]

Japan Display Inc.

The high-reflective display is supposedly ready for mass production now. It's 7.03 inches diagonal and 768x1024 - that's 182ppi, better than most eInk displays (which are 166ppi) but not as good as the 5" or high-res 6" (200ppi)

It also has a reflectance of 40% and contrast of 30:1, which compares very favourably with eInk Pearl which also has 40% reflectance but only contrast of only 10:1

The Kindle 4 battery is 890mAh at 3.7V, which can run the Kindle 4 for a month at half-an-hour/day usage. That's just 15 hours of reading. To drive the LCD display at 3mW for 15 hours would require just an extra 12mAh battery capacity.

So the power consumption is negligible for still images.

It certainly looks like a very interesting screen technology, and while I'd prefer to see unbreakable screens, I might settle for a fast colour screen.

The viewing angle seemed quite good in the video. Exciting!

[Kumabjorn]

Whoa, their WUXGA screen has a contrast ratio of 800:1 and a viewing angle of 178 degrees with a contrast of 10:1. Now gather around while mommy will read you a ghost story, can everybody see the screen?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Whoa, their WUXGA screen has a contrast ratio of 800:1 and a viewing angle of 178 degrees with a contrast of 10:1. Now gather around while mommy will read you a ghost story, can everybody see the screen?

I think that's a conventional back-lit LCD display, not their low power non-backlit one.

[Kumabjorn]

Ahh, I think you're right. 178 deg that is still amazing (me thinks) no matter what display. A 23" laptop with that display would be fantastic. Never having to adjust the screen just because you change position.

[kevinp]

Originally Posted by Quexos

I wonder how an OLED e-reader would fare ?
OLED is said to be a low consumption very high grade technology, the screens would be beautiful and colorful. And no front or back or side light would be required as the pixels themselves emit light ...

I had a Samsung "Epic" phone from Sprint that had an OLED screen. I had to charge the phone twice a day and didn't really use it that much. I don't think the screen used less power than the HTC EVO I have now, but the screen was definitely brighter.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by kevinp

I had a Samsung "Epic" phone from Sprint that had an OLED screen. I had to charge the phone twice a day and didn't really use it that much. I don't think the screen used less power than the HTC EVO I have now, but the screen was definitely brighter.

OLED screen power use depends on the colors displayed. A lot of whites and power usage goes through the roof, they draw virtually no power to display blacks. I personally really don't like the oversaturated colors, though.

[trocchietto]

I think eink moving to mobile phone second screen and making supermarket tags it is expecting than lcd will lead the ereader world, but cannot say, nobody can say that.
What I am instead really interested it is possible in technical terms(i mean as theorical best users scenario) that will hit next september the next sony t3? I mean japan display it is a technology developed in part by Sony
could be that possible for Sep FY13?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by trocchietto

What I am instead really interested it is possible in technical terms(i mean as theorical best users scenario) that will hit next september the next sony t3?

It's possible, since it would be made on an LCD production line, but unlikely, in my opinion.

But perhaps they're further along in development than it seems at the moment. (We've seen similar-ish sample displays from mirasol and eInk and Liquavista and Pixel Qi and Bridgestone and Fujitsu...)

[trocchietto]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It's possible, since it would be made on an LCD production line, but unlikely, in my opinion.

But perhaps they're further along in development than it seems at the moment. (We've seen similar-ish sample displays from mirasol and eInk and Liquavista and Pixel Qi and Bridgestone and Fujitsu...)

thanks mate
really needed a post by somebody with more than 18k messages
well it will be up to them, if they want to focus in making effective concurrency to kindle of if they want to ponder an exit, anyway as consumer I will take my indipendent decisions

EDIT
well do not say to me, I am not sleeping the night to have an android screen with no backlight technology since century, I had buy also a korean device if still would be in the market, I do not think they are developing the other technologies, as if they wanted to implement they could do ages ago, as the market has been stricken since ages by mirasol, eink color and qi pixar.
I am positive in thinking they are concentrating in this joint venture with Japan displays.