HP Introduces New Technology to Save Mobile Battery Life

fenimor writes "HP researchers have developed new technology to save battery life on mobile devices. Targeting one of the main culprits of battery consumption -- the display -- they've developed an energy-aware solution that dims parts of the screen that aren't in use. Display battery life lasts from two to 11 times longer, depending on what the user is doing."

Comments

HP innovation!

[BWJones]

Now, this is the kind of thinking and research development that I would expect from HP! This technology combined with optimizations in the OS like Quartz could be a real boost to the way we interact with our portable devices, allowing for progressive dynamic layering of items that are important to view. Shoot, one could even link it into search engines to render only what is relevant for display.

Now if they could just put a little innovation into their calculators again....

Re:HP innovation!

[iowannaski]

While it would be incredibly cool if this technology could be used with PC LCD monitors, don't get too excited yet.

LCD screens generally rely on a single backlight for illumination. Swithing to multiple backlights is certainly possible, but don't expect to be able to control power consumption on a pixel by pixelbasis anytime soon.

Re:HP innovation!

[Anonymous Coward]

Proprietary displays that cost $$$ if broken
Proprietary power supplies
Proprietary memory
Proprietary service manual/Bios

Other brands are no better. HP should open up.

They have not added a mobile phone battery charger socket to their PC's yet. The LCD backlight can use this power. Everywhere I go, there is (seemingly) a nokia wall wart available.
While not safe to overload it doing a battery charge, it can used to power other stuff - ipods, laptop displays etc.

Given the nearly always uneconomic cost of replacing broken/cracked displays, I would like to see HP the LCD specifications available, so
1) More devices get repaired
2) Enable other brands/sizes of LCD's subsistuted.

Those that have grafted a 8inch black and white display where there was a 12 inch color, already know this.

Besides turning off, or closing the cover, the old lcd/monitor port switch key stroke combo is a big power saver.

Re:HP innovation!

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

You must be one of those people who read Wired. The guy was karma whoring. He strung together a bunch of buzzwords and said absolutely nothing.

Self Defeating

[AKAImBatman]

Watch a typical Windows user sometime. What's the first thing they do to whatever application they open?

If you said "Maximize it!", then you're right! Sadly, this ends up being self-defeating. :-/

Re:Self Defeating

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't understand, what's wrong with maximizing a window such that it should be associated with the evil world of Windows? What's not to like about using as much of the screen as possible so you can see as much of what you're working on as possible? Does the stereotypical Linux user configure their WM so as to remove the maximize button, or something?

Re:Self Defeating

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows users tending to maximize their apps on the screen, but I can assure you it's often NOT just because they bought poor quality monitors [..] the apps put enough controls and toolbars up that maximizing is the only way to comfortably work in the software.

Let me guess - the thought that a user might actually want to be able to see more content never, ever, ever entered your mind? AND that the major applications that many Windows users use (Firefox and Thunderbird) are completely cross-platform, look and behave similarly everywhere.

Although I personally find fullscreen document editing glorious in a "don't bother me" kind of way, shutting out everything but the task that I want to concentrate on.

Re:Self Defeating

[browngb]

I have two 19" monitors running dual display, because I decided I needed more desktop. Turns out I just have one app maximized to both monitors at once all the time, in stead of 60 small windows. The reason for it is pretty simple, I don't want to continually be scrolling. It's just much more comfortable to have everything laid out in front of me. If I need access to something else, Alt+Tab is just a click away.

in other news

[Anonymous Coward]

battery life of your cell phone can be extended by

TURNING THE FUCKING PHONE OFF

OLEDs

[stryck9]

Maybe if they put some money in OLED research, they wouldn't need to worry about backlights at all.

Well, but how really useful is this?

[kompiluj]

I don't know - is this a useful technique or just another trick? When the salesman tells you that laptop runs 6 hrs. on system battery, but only if you don't touch it - how useful is this for you?
Reminds me of other fallacies: the gigahertz myth, the LCD display reaction-time. myth

Tempting homebrew sol'n ; article unclear in part

[macklin01]

Reading the parts of the article on MP3 player displays really leaves me tempted:

Why not add a switch so that the display only shows when it's pressed? (I know that some players do this anyway, but not my Rio S10.) I rarely look at the screen anyway. I bet it wouldn't be that hard to open it up and solder one in ... (Then again, maybe it'd be better to just try a firmware hack instead ...)

I was a little fuzzy on the article on how they could dim parts of a normal LCD monitor screen, however. Isn't there only one backlight, so it's all or nothing? Are they proposing a grid of backlights instead of just one large one? Or is it that when the pixels are dimmed, the transistors use less power? That part wasn't very clear to me after reading TFA. -- Paul

Stupid question, but...

[Junior J. Junior III]

If this is really so important, why not switch to white text on black background for mobile devices? This would maximize the amount of dim pixels.

DVDs

[twelvemonkeys]

hmm... and how does this help me watch more DVDs on long flights?

OLEDs, STN, laptops and other silliness

[neurocutie]

While their efforts are all well and good, there doesn't sound like there is much substance there when you here that one of the ideas is to resort to an blinking LED when an email arrives.

1) Clearly moving quickly to a display technology that emits light efficiently ONLY WHERE YOU WANT IT, like OLEDs, is much smarter than the current backlit architecture, where you blast an array of FILTERS (devices design to THROW AWAY LIGHT) with a bright uniform backlight. The current LCD technology is about as stupid as it gets when it comes to energy efficiency.

2) I am constantly amazed that no laptop company has yet make a laptop with EXCHANGEABLE displays. There are times, in the dark, where you want a bright color display, BUT there are other times when you would be much happier with a passive/reflective/no backlight display, which, by the way, is far more energy efficient. If I'm working outside, for example, writing a paper or whatever, I really would be happier with a simple STN reflective, LOW POWER, NO BACKLIGHT, perhaps even monochrome LCD (the type on those old Palm V's would be perfect: very high contrast, very low power). So why not have a laptop that you can simply plug in different display screens, depending on your anticipated usage ? I would venture to guess that a standard modern laptop with a TFT and a battery life of 3 hours, would last 6+ hours using a passive STN display.

The fact is that in most daily human environments other than in a movie theater, it is expected that there will be sufficient lighting to read magazines, write postcards, etc, etc. So laptop displays need to take advantage of this, rather than the current (stupid) brute force method of trying to drown out the environmental lighting with a light-producing display.