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Forget holograms, here's a 'floating e-ink' display
The amount of pixels in a display has been the source of forum flamewars since the advent of HDTV, which makes an experimental display technology from the University of Sussex so interesting. It's called JOLED and it measures a whopping 7 x 6 voxels high and wide, respectively. Hold on, it gets more interesting. Each voxel is a diminutive multi-colored sphere, and they're suspended in mid-air by an array of ultrasound speakers that "create high-pitched and high-intensity soundwaves that are inaudible but forceful enough to hold the spheres in place," according to the school.
E Ink's new higher contrast Carta display is the secret behind Amazon's refreshed Kindle Paperwhite
Amazon peppered its second-gen Kindle Paperwhite announce yesterday with the usual marketing fluff: whiter whites and blacker blacks! But, it turns out, those boasts do have some grounding in reality. E Ink has a new screen tech and, surprise surprise, it's the one that's powering the refreshed Paperwhite's improved readability in sunlight and increased contrast. And the company has some numbers to back those claims too, marking this new "formulation" as offering a 50 percent improvement in contrast over older Kindles, and 20 percent boost to whiteness. It's an accurate claim by our estimation, considering we recently had some eyes-on time with the second-gen Paperwhite. Still, it doesn't beat the Kobo Aura HD's screen, but not everything niche can be so nice.
Amazon purchases Liquavista display company from Samsung
Proving rumors correct, Amazon just purchased Liquavista, the touchscreen company previously owned by Samsung. This news comes from The Digital Reader, which discovered the acquisition via new filings from the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce (Amazon also confirmed the news). That's about it as far as details go, but it's safe to assume that Amazon will employ Liquavista's low-power color e-paper technology for its Kindle lineup.
VESA announces embedded DisplayPort version 1.4, claims better battery life and performance improvements
The embedded DisplayPort (eDP) standard consumes less power than the on-the-way-out LVDS method, and a new update from VESA should cut down on energy usage even more. The reduced power-sipping comes thanks to a new partial-frame update feature for Panel Self Refresh, regional backlight controls, additional link rate options and other tweaks. The upcoming release of eDP Version 1.4 will also support a wider range of mobile devices, including tablets, laptops and "handhelds," and the auxiliary channel can now carry a display's multitouch data to the system processor. Additionally, VESA says this latest version of eDP will allow for increased battery life and allow for thinner, lighter devices. Look for the standard to be released in October, and it should make its way to gadgets by 2014.
Researchers print a fully-functional OLED control circuit using an inkjet
Don't worry, this isn't about teaching bacteria how to climb out of a petri dish and follow a subway map. The picture above actually shows an OLED display control circuit that was quickly and cheaply manufactured thanks to the joys of inkjet printing. Its makers at UCLA start-up Aneeve Nanotechnologies also claim their carbon nanotube circuit yields better performance than traditional silicon counterparts and should therefore be considered a competing technology. On the other hand, it's also true that inkjet circuitry has been around in various forms for years, so we must return to the fundamental question: will we ever be able to afford one of these?
Sony licenses Dolby's HDR tech to make brighter, better Bravia HDTVs in the future
Ever since BrightSide first showed off its Extreme Dynamic Range displays that claim to display luminance throughout the entire range of vision back in 2005, we've been waiting for the technology to overtake current LCDs. The years have passed and a after being purchased by Dolby all we've had to show for it so far is a slightly smaller bezel and a handful of reference displays for professionals from Sim2. That could turn around though, now that Dolby has licensed the technology to Sony to make BRAVIA LCD HDTVs with. Of course, so far Sony hasn't done much with its implementation of OLED and after six years we're cautious to get too excited before actual products are announced, but we could be in for some much better looking displays very soon. Check the press release after the break for details or slick the link to Sim2 below for more explanation on just what this technology is and why you should look forward to it.
Apple reportedly selects Sharp for next-gen LCDs
The iPhone 5 hasn't even made it into the hands of the Apple faithful, and already we're hearing hints of what the display of the iPhone 6 could be like. Apple has chosen Sharp to supply low-temperature poly-silicon (p-Si) LCDs for the displays, and the Japanese manufacturer will reportedly begin production of the screens in the spring of 2012. The displays are to be built in the Sharp Kameyama Plant No. 1, which is currently used to build LCD TVs. The technology that will be used on the iPhone 6 provides thinner and lighter displays that consume less power -- a key component of good smartphone design. The poly-silicon LCD allows the display drivers to be mounted directly onto a glass substrate, creating a "system on glass" on which signal processing circuits, optical sensors, and additional components are located. Since those components can be removed from other circuitry, the next-next-generation iPhone can be much thinner and have improved battery life through better efficiency. The p-Si displays also create more vivid images and feature fewer connecting pins, which leads to better durability. The fact that Apple is selecting this technology for a phone that won't see the light of day for another year seems to indicate that it's not sold on organic LED (OLED) displays, which are used in competing devices, such as Samsung's Galaxy S. [via Apple Insider. Images from Toshiba Mobile Display]
iSuppli suggests Apple's cash infusion going toward display manufacturing
During Apple's recent earnings conference call, Tim Cook confirmed Apple was spending $3.9 billion on pre-payments for unspecified components. Aware of the AMOLED display shortages that plague the mobile phone industry, analysts and tech pundits alike assumed Cook was referring to the LCD displays used in the iPhone, iPod touch and the iPad. One early hint of a manufacturing deal for display technology surfaced in early 2009 when Apple reportedly signed a five-year deal with LG to supply displays for its notebooks and Cinema displays as well as the iPhone and iPod touch. A more recent rumor suggested Apple was investing in a Toshiba-owned manufacturing facility for retina displays. IHS iSuppli has dug up information from its manufacturing channels that corroborate these rumors. According to iSuppli, Apple's $3.9 billion in pre-payments is headed to LG Display, Sharp, and Toshiba Mobile display and would secure the supply of advanced LCD displays for the iPhone, iPod touch and the iPad. Besides buying displays from the trio of display makers, Apple is also investing in manufacturing facilities to build the high resolution IPS (in-plane switching) and LTPS (low-temperature polysilicon) LCD panels used in its mobile devices. By investing in these LCD companies, Apple is securing for itself a steady supply of displays which will meet the growing consumer demand for its popular iPhone and iPad. [Via Fortune]
Qualcomm lays down $1 billion for new Mirasol plant in Taiwan, catering small and medium devices
Good news, digital bookworms! After months of rumoring, Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs has just announced that Qualcomm will really be building a new Mirasol plant over there. Specifically, the $1 billion, seven-hectare factory will reside in the Hsinchu Longtan Science Park to mass-produce small and medium flavors of said transflective display, meaning the Snapdragon maker will, for the first time, be able to churn out something smaller than the current lone 5.7-inch model. Yep, those must be the low-power smartphone screens that Qualcomm talked about previously, which sure sound delicious. Now, what's up with our little Pixel Qi?
Major tech manufacturers to drop VGA by 2015, Apple wonders what took 'em so long
A syndicate of consumer electronics titans including AMD, Dell, Intel, Lenovo, Samsung and LG announced this week that its products will collectively drop support for VGA by 2015. Saying sayonara to the 20+ year-old analog technology is pretty self explanatory to us in this day and age, but the council of doom apparently felt compelled to cite DisplayPort's and HDMI's benefits of increased energy efficiency, smaller size and support for higher-resolutions as proof the move wasn't personal -- just business. AMD plans to lead the charge by starting the VGA removal process in 2013 and even intends to go the extra mile by stripping DVI-I and low voltage differential signaling technology (LVDS) support too. We definitely side with AMD's desire to focus on cutting edge standards like Displayport 1.2 and HDMI 1.4a sooner, but if plenty of lead time and "going green" excuses help everyone else involved in the sentencing sleep better at night, then so be it.
Mirasol displays slated for 'converged devices' in Q1 2011, followed by low-power smartphones
When we reported that the Mirasol low-power color displays were pushed back to early 2011, that wasn't technically correct -- Qualcomm just informed us that the company's cranking out panels even as we speak, and will ship them to OEMs this fall. So what's actually going to happen in Q1 2011? The formal release of Mirasol devices, of course. Representatives told us that the 5.7-inch, 220ppi XGA color display will appear in multiple products with multiple partners next year, and that they "will be in devices that are converged and look a lot more like a tablet PC than an e-reader." Following that, they said, the company will turn its attention to developing Mirasol for smartphones. We couldn't get Qualcomm to comment on a rumored $2b Mirasol plant, unfortunately, and there's no word on that color Kindle, but we imagine all will be revealed at or shortly after CES next year.
Qualcomm's Mirasol displays pushed back to 2011, Pixel Qi breathes a sigh
We don't know a soul who doesn't want a low-power color display that looks great in bright sunlight, but nobody's really stepped up to the plate -- not Pixel Qi, whose awesome dual-mode display sold out in a single day, and not Qualcomm, whose Mirasol has similarly been the subject of delay after delay. We're sorry to say that the latter has been bumped back yet again, as GigaOM reports the panels won't arrive till early 2011, right alongside their rival technology. Sure, competition's always great for pricing, but still -- what a shame.
Spot the difference: HTC Desire's SLCD versus AMOLED
(function() { var s = document.createElement('SCRIPT'), s1 = document.getElementsByTagName('SCRIPT')[0]; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; s.src = 'http://widgets.digg.com/buttons.js'; s1.parentNode.insertBefore(s, s1); })(); Digg If you'll recall, a little while back HTC waved its white flag amid AMOLED shortages and made the jump to the readily-available SLCD for its Desire and Nexus One handsets. As a quick recap, here's what CEO Peter Chou said about the swap: "The SLCD displays provide consumers with a comparable visual experience to HTC's current 3.7 inch displays with some additional benefits including battery performance." So, just how "comparable" is the SLCD? To find out, we picked up both flavors of the Desire to perform some comparison tests. Let's start off with the picture quality: what caught our attention straight away was how much sharper SLCD is, but alas, AMOLED is still in the lead for vibrancy and brightness. We dug a little deeper and learned that this has to do with the different pixel arrangements on the two types of panels -- unlike traditional TFT LCD panels, AMOLED's PenTile RGBG (red, green, blue, green, etc.) filter matrix utilizes just two subpixels per pixel instead of three in the same amount of space, thus allowing greater transmittance due to the larger red and blue subpixels. But obviously, the downside is that the pictures aren't as sharp as the denser-packed SLCD. Read on for more! %Gallery-101997%
Qualcomm building a $2b Mirasol plant after winning 'major client'?
Well, if this isn't a statement of intent, we don't know what is. Those good old market sources are reporting today that Qualcomm has set aside a cool $2 billion to build a new Mirasol display production plant in Taiwan. The chipmaker already has a Mirasol facility in Longtan, a joint venture with Foxlink, but is said to be the sole investor in this new build. The whole thing has apparently been spurred on by a major client having "already started the design-in process" after seeing production samples of the 5.7-inch, low power, color display. We can't know for sure who that client may be, but Qualcomm's been doing some real heavy flirting with Amazon and all those overtures might (might!) finally have paid off. Of couse, as Jeff Bezos himself said, a color Kindle isn't likely to hit the market anytime soon, and this new factory isn't expected to begin volume production until 2012, but we'll take a slow and speculative roadmap over no roadmap at all.
LPD display tech from Prysm uses lasers, phosphors, groovy Flash intros
Well, it's Thursday. You know what that means: it's time for another new revolutionary display technology that will offer better image quality at lower costs and with reduced energy consumption. Today's breakthrough is LPD, or Laser Phosphor Displays. They rely on a screen covered in phosphors, much like a traditional CRT, but instead of a scanning beam of electrons those pixels are excited by a series of lasers. It seems rather similar to SED and FED tech, but with lasers rather than cathodes, thus making it roughly 23 times more awesome. The display tech is said to be able to created in any shape or size, and with its long lifespan and low power consumption is being targeted toward large-scale installations for advertising and the like. Don't believe the hype? Turn up those speakers, click on that read link, and prepare to be awed by the breathless potential of... Prysm.
Researchers developing OLEDs as cheap as newspapers?
Sure, it'll probably be a good while before you get your hands on an OLED TV, but don't lose heart, young gadget-head! Techno-wizards at the RIKEN center in Japan have concocted a new way to fashion OLEDs that eschews the standard spin-coated films for something called electrospray-deposited polymer films, incorporating "a novel dual-solvent concept" that makes the 'em "smoother than before, thereby enabling [...] superior devices." We'll skip a few details that don't mean anything to those of us who aren't Advanced Materials subscribers (hit the read link for more info) and get to the good stuff: Yutaka Yamagata, the guy who developed this technique, says it will lead to displays "manufactured as inexpensively as printing newspapers." Is that a promise, Yutaka? If so, we're holding you to it. [Via OLED-Info]
Pixel Qi's 3Qi LCD screen sized up with Kindle, CTO sheds light on your questions
Turns out Pixel Qi's CTO Mary Lou Jepsen reads Engadget, or at least the posts relevant to her company and her invention, the 3Qi screen. In addition to a side-by-side comparison of the display against the Kindle and a few other devices, in an interview with techvideoblog, she can be seen going through our most recent post and answering some of our readers' questions, including clearing up what seems to be a pretty big misconception that the screen uses e-ink for being visible in direct sunlight -- "it's standard LCD, just clever design," she explains. In one scene, she demonstrates that even in those very bright situations when the screen looks to go monochrome for visibility, you can still see a hint of color, with the full "Pleasantville" experience entering the more she moves the hardware into the shade. As for reports of the tech adding a $200 premium, she dismisses this as a misquote and infers that it was more of an example price for a laptop that'd be using the technology. There's a lot of fascinating tidbits here, including some talk on the nature of the display and laptop industries. As it stands, mass production begins this Fall, and even though you're seeing that Acer logo on the demo unit, Jepsen says it's just a prototype built into a laptop they bought at Radio Shack and that no manufacturing partners have been confirmed. Make sure the closest star isn't beaming down at your screen and head on after the break for the both videos. Read - Mary Lou Jepsen answers user comments Read - Pixel Qi vs Kindle vs Toshiba R600 vs regular LCD tablet
DuPont crafts ultra longevous OLED materials, which likely won't be affordable
DuPont's been dabbling in OLED advancement for years now, and while the world waits for the introduction of market-ready big-screen OLED HDTVs, engineers at the miracle-working company are toiling away to make sure those very sets last quite some time. For anyone following the OLED TV scene, you'll know that luminance longevity has been a nagging issue, but if new developments pan out, stamina will be the least of our worries. In fact, the firm has crafted a green light-emitting material that can purportedly push onward for over a hundred years... continuously. Furthermore, the same scientists have engineered a new blue light-emitting material with a luminance half-life of 38,000 hours along with a red light-emitting material with a life of 62,000 hours. Unfortunately for the laypeople out there, we can't imagine this stuff being even marginally affordable -- but hey, it's great news for the sybarites!
Seiko Epson's inkjet tech brings big-screen OLED TVs closer to reality
We know it's been burning on your mind everyday since December 6th, 2007: "What on Earth are those guys and gals over at Seiko Epson doing now that they've killed production of RPTVs?" At long last, we've located an answer. According to a prideful new release from the outfit, it has developed a new inkjet technology that will enable the "uniform deposition of organic material in the production of large-screen OLED TVs." For what seems like years now, manufacturers have teased us with 37-inch OLED HDTVs, but they've skirted around questions relating to "price" and "release." Now, the last remaining excuse seems to have been vaporized, so if we don't see a market-ready big-screen OLED at CES 2010... well, let's just say the knee-capping club is dying for a reason to reunite.[Via Akihabara News]
New cuttlefish-inspired display tech can change color, eat your pet guppy
Cuttlefish are one of the most intelligent creatures in the sea, able to change their shape and color to escape predators -- but, they aren't smart enough to escape us, and they taste good, so they also go great with risotto. Scientists at MIT, however, decided not to eat their cuttlefish, instead using them to inspire the tech inside a new type of highly-efficient display. The screen is just one micron thick and contains a layer of poly-2 vinyl. Left alone it's clear but, when exposed to an electrical charge, its thickness and reflectivity can be controlled to create color. Just a few volts are required to form an image but, like e-ink, its design means backlighting is not an option. Viewing angles are also quite poor at this point, so this is one display tech that may take a long time to belly up at retail. Master of disguise video after the break.
