A Brighter Outlook For Handheld Screens

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5086040.html?tag=nefd_top">http://news.com.com/2100-1041_3-5086040.html?tag=nefd_top</a><br /><br />"A Japanese company has developed lighting technology that it claims makes handheld screens brighter and clearer, with reduced power consumption. Omron, of Kyoto, Japan, has announced that its research labs produced a technique--dubbed hybrid-integration technology--that uses very small, or "nano," prism arrays to achieve a threefold improvement in contrast ratio compared to conventional front-lighting methods. The tiny prism array prevents reflection of unnecessary light and produces clear screen images."

[maximus]

Anything brighter and cheaper is good.

Just curious, what happened to OLED ? It is brighter, it is way cheaper .. but how come it is not on the consumer market yet ? There is only one model of Kodak camera is using it, nothing else. Conspiracy among LCD makers ?

[ipaqgeek]

My understanding with OLED is that the technology is so different that it is too expensive to retool a FAB to make the displays, so they are done on a small scale right now, and it will become more available as completely new FABs are built. Also, I think the outside viewability is not as good as transflective. Power consumption and inside viewing are unbeatable however. Sadly, the outside viewability is a major consideration for PDA screens as they are typically used with the screen pointing upward to the sky, or at least some point above the horizon. A camera, on the other hand, is more likely to be vertical, reflecting some low level reflection below the horizon.