Citizen LCD retains image even when off

Citizen has developed something it's calling the "memory liquid crystal," a new passive matrix LCD that can retain an image even when powered off. According to Citizen, the display's inorganic membrane, combined with an angled orientation, keeps the crystals frozen in position without power having to be maintained. The five-volt, non-backlit display isn't going to take the place of your LCD TV anytime soon, but is planned for use in point-of-sale applications, watches and cellphone auxiliary displays.

[Ben Hobbs @ Apr 17th 2006 11:18AM]

Now if only they could do an active matrix screen, in colour - this would be perfect for those digital phoo frames that are becoming popular.

Ben Hobbs

[Oven @ Apr 17th 2006 11:23AM]

it looks black and white only. is this the case?

[HarryC @ Apr 17th 2006 11:31AM]

Now screen burn is a feature! Pure genius.

[macona @ Apr 17th 2006 11:34AM]

This is actually nothing new. Kent Displays sells these kind of displays. http://www.kentdisplays.com

[Silver @ Apr 17th 2006 12:05PM]

OMG IT SAYS "BANANA"!!

So is this cooler than e-ink? Cheaper maybe? Something?

-KJ

[djdole @ Apr 17th 2006 1:02PM]

Nice.
Imagine if your (digital) watch only has to power up a bit to refresh the display, instead of constantly providing a stream of power to display the time.
Talk about having a long battery life.

[Timerider @ Apr 17th 2006 1:41PM]

Um...e-ink anyone? same thing but better.


djdole:
Citizen made a watch that used an e-ink display, it only directed power to the display once a minute (hours, minutes, no seconds). The display was flexible too.

[Jonathan Keim @ Apr 17th 2006 1:41PM]

yeah and even more a cellphone external display. It would only have to change once per minute rather then only once per second

[LCD engineer @ Apr 17th 2006 1:58PM]

Do not confuse "active" display with "passive" display types. This is a passive type display using several key technologies for image rentention. However, with every refresh, there is the "paging" effect which will limit its applications.

[Stellar Developer @ Apr 17th 2006 2:16PM]

Dammit Silver... I wanted to post bananna first :( Its like all these years of japanese are finally paying off ^_^

[eev @ Apr 17th 2006 6:34PM]

afaik it's just smectic LC (FLC in that case). with good bistability of course. at least they presented some prototypes based on smectics some times ago.
possibility to make such devices is well known.
and it's not the same thing what Kent Displays makes.

[eev @ Apr 17th 2006 7:18PM]

p.s. of course it can be new development and it has nothing to do with their previous work with smectics.

[Isaac @ Apr 17th 2006 7:20PM]

And to reset it, you just have to grab it by both sides and shake it up and down vigorously... Etch-A-LCD!

[eev @ Apr 17th 2006 7:24PM]

p.s. of course it can be new development and it has nothing to do with their previous work with smectics.

[Robot Jesus @ Apr 17th 2006 10:16PM]

Well that reminds me of the time my buddy dropped his DS off of a school roof... Well now it retains its picture completley when powered off. It was pretty interesting.

[Brian Glassman @ Apr 21st 2006 11:33PM]

Currently, LCDs already consume very minimal wattage, now this technology can cut even further to probably by 10 to 100 times. With this technology the power consumption now is based on the number of screen refreshes. Thus, screens which refresh less often, like minute timers, would reduce their power consumption dramatically; whereas, LCD refresh often will see less of a benefit.
Now which applications stand to benefit from this technology? Reasonably, I only see a small niche market of LCD devices which demand long battery life, for everything else the cost trade off which most like favor older LCD technology. The only application which comes to mind is low power consumption portable marketing displays.
Thanks Brian Glassman
Technology
www.techrd.com

[Charles @ May 12th 2006 5:43AM]

Late post, but they should use it with ebooks. It will conserve power between page flips.

[JDB @ May 27th 2006 8:22PM]

This is not new technology, remember a BBC programme call tomorrows world, where they showed memory LCDs, was being used as part of system for control a car speed, where a camera would scan a road sign, the LCD display would retain the image.

This is talking 5-8 years ago