Electrowetting Promises Power-Sipping, Daylight Readable Color Displays

Dutch researchers are working on a new application of an old technology that could mean bright color displays that draw much less power than conventional LCDs, according to the BBC. In this application, an instance of a technique known as electrowetting, droplets of colored oil in suspension are the basis for the display's colors; each pixel's color is determined by moving the colored oils with electrical current. A prototype reader from Dutch firm Liquivista is shown in the accompanying video; color magazines with 50-60hz refresh time using this display technology are at least a few years out, though. Significantly, these screens are daylight readable, which makes me wonder how they compare to Pixel-Qi style screens in power draw, brightness, and maximum density.

1st

[Anonymous Coward]

From TFA: Can be build using existing LCD production setups - that's a pretty huge advantage; hope this isn't vapor.

Re:1st

[kimvette]

How common are dead pixels anyway? I see hot and dead pixels on only the cheapest lowest-end displays. Bad inverters and bad ribbon PCBs are far more common.

Re:Where's the last breakthrough?

[John Hasler]

> I'm not holding my breath for this one.

Sorry to hear that. We were looking forward to seeing you turn blue again.

Re:Eindhoven == Philips

[Bender_]

Aren't start-ups almost always spinoffs of a university or research institute? Liquavista is a spin-off of what used to be Philips Research (Natlab), one of last strongholds of real industrial research in Europe. It used to be a pretty amazing place, maybe the closest of what Europe had to the Bell Labs. Unfortunately it was messed up pretty badly during the last decade due to various splits, carve outs and a general move away from industry backed research.

Re:1st

[DesertNomad]

On any standard XGA and higher-res LCD display, there's a fair chance that at least one pixel has a problem of some sort. Each OEM has their own QA guidelines which they really don't want to share unless you push. This site http://www.screentekinc.com/lcd-quality-standards.shtml [screentekinc.com] gives some idea of the thresholds.

Re:1st

[JohnBailey]

Not on sale yet, but there is a working prototype. So perhaps like flexible e-ink and OLED monitors.. Pre production isn't really vapour ware. Saw it on demonstrated on Click yesterday. The colour isn't as bright as normal LCD and there is a bit of ghosting, but it is supposed to give significantly lower power consumption even with a back light, so the power saving alone will be an advantage for long life products. Not just e-book readers. The all day laptop is edging ever closer.