Do Pocket PC screens suffer from image burn?

[hamslay]

Pocket PCs dont seem to come with screen savers as such, they just switch off or turn the backlight off. Is there a problem with leaving the unit switched on all day in the cradle with the backlight on? It's useful to leave the screen on so I can monitor email, news, stocks etc. at a glance, but I have no idea if LCDs suffer from long periods of static images as CRT displays do.

Anyone?

[vincentsiaw]

actually, I also wondering the same things as you. last year, I try to turn on my old 3835 24 hour, with backlight on at full power, for a week, and I don't see any sign of burn yet, but in the long run, I don't know, to scared to take the risk....

[brntcrsp]

LCD displays like the one that you have in your PDA do not suffer from image burn in, the same applies for notebook displays and LCD monitors.

[etalianstallion]

You can always install PocketCandy if you really want a screensaver on your PPC.

[Dave Beauvais]

LCDs do not (and cannot) suffer from burn-in the way CRTs can. CRTs work by firing a very precise stream of electrons at a phosphor dot. (There are three such dots for each pixel in a color display.) When the phosphor is hit with electrons, it glows. Over time, if the image on-screen never changes, that pattern of lit vs. unlit dots can be permanantly "burned" into the phosphor coating. Modern CRTs take much longer to burn-in than do older displays, but it can still happen. This is why if you ever see a monitor that was used in an office in the early 90s, it will usually have the menu bar from the old DOS version of WordPerfect burned into the bottom of the screen. :)

Color LCDs are generally lit using a fluorescent or LED light source, so really the only thing you'd need to worry about is the lifespan of the light source, not the LCD itself. The LCD acts as a kind of colored filter for the light.

That said, a friend of mine has kept his iPAQ 3950 turned on in the cradle just about all day, every day, for the last five or six months with no bad side effects. Personally, I set my Pocket PCs to turn their backlights off after ten to fifteen minutes while docked; if I'm not using them, why have the light on?

--Dave

[pjtrader]

The technical answer has been provided. The anecdotal answer has been provided. I have no reason to post this, but I will anyway. :roll:

I leave my pocket pc docked with full brightness all day long with my calendar in view. It saves me having to switch my desktop over just to see when my next appointment is.

Not that I'm so busy I can't remember them...it's just age catching up with me.

Cheers,
Pam

[hamslay]

Thanks everyone, question answered perfectly! :D