Electrowetting sharpens up mobile phone displays
Mobile phone displays are set to get much, much sharper.
So sharp, in fact, they'll be able to be used under the same conditions in which people currently use paper, ranging from very dimly-lit rooms to bright day-light conditions.
The technology behind this display breakthrough is known as electrowetting, which apparently manipulates the natural forces intrinsic to an oil and water interface...obviously!
The technology behind this display breakthrough is known as electrowetting, which apparently manipulates the natural forces intrinsic to an oil and water interface...obviously! Electrowetting displays offer much wider viewing angles than traditional LCD-based displays, can be viewed easily in bright sunlight, and offer an almosy limitless variety of colours. Better still, they use up less of a mobile phone's battery, as there's no need for backlighting.
The image above shows a prototype electrowetting display from Philips spin-off LiquiVista. The numbers are displayed by the new technology, while the LiquaVista logo at the bottom is written on paper. Comparing the two shows how close to the display qualities of paper the new LiquaVista display is.
Hot on their heels, though, are Qualcomm, with it rival iMoD MEMS-based technology, which enables a display to be viewed almost like printed paper, with no constraint at all on lighting conditions.
Whichever technology wins out, it seems mobile phone displays are set to get much sharper, which can only be a good thing as new screen-intensive features such as mobile TV become more prevalent.
[Source: EETimes, LiquaVista]
