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.

Comments

Interesting technnology, +1 for open source

[symbolic]

Notice the movie they use for the demo - Blender Foundation's Big Buck Bunny.

Re:Interesting technnology, +1 for open source

[nurb432]

Better then being sued by sony for using a music video :)

Re:Interesting technnology, +1 for open source

[JohnBailey]

I've seen it in quite a few places recently. It's not a random choice. It's royalty free clip available in just about any format or resolution. So basically, do what you like so long as you don't claim it as your own work. And as it isn't advertising anything, it can be used by the BBC too. Even test clips can have some kind of copyright attached, and can bite you in the bum when you are demoing something on TV or in public. BBB is 100% safe to use for tech demos without paying a fee, or asking specific permission.

basement dwellers

[hort_wort]

Time to invest in those solar tubes to get the sunlight down into the basement for us then.

The Netherlands, how appropriate

[Arancaytar]

The Flemish artist Jan van Eyck is often (exaggeratedly) credited with "inventing" oil paint. He did greatly pioneer its use in the fifteenth century.

Cool

[nurb432]

If its low power and cheaper then LCD or E-ink, lets hope it continues. Might even be more earth friendly.

And hey, i see big buck bunny :)

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.

Where's the last breakthrough?

[russotto]

Last time I heard about such a technology, it was organic LEDs. They're finally available after many years, but still obscenely expensive. Why should I believe in this next breakthrough? I'm not holding my breath for this one.

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:Where's the last breakthrough?

[Yvan256]

What do you mean? An African or European blue?

display technologies

[svirre]

IEEE spectrum had a good article in march on display technologies:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/the-electronic-display-of-the-future/0

Electro-wetting?

[Compaqt]

Killer name.

Sounds like a combination of Cyberpunk and Depends

Eindhoven == Philips

[MonoSynth]

The guy in the video mentioned that the firm is based in Eindhoven, where Philips' headquarters are located. After some googling I found out that Liquivista is indeed a spinoff of this company and therefore not a 'real' startup.

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.

Electrowetting

[Anti_Climax]

After "Hot Electron Injection", Electrowetting has to be one of the sexiest technology terms I've heard in recent years...

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 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.

flicker-free?

[nanamin]

Would this be flicker-free? The article talks about refresh rates, but I'm not quite sure what this means in this context.

I have neurological problems and will lose consciousness if I look at any sort of flickering display, including CRTs. For some reason, plasma screen TVs also affect me (despite not "flickering" per se), and currently the only type of display I seem to be able to safely look at are regular LCD TVs/flatscreen monitors, with LED-lit screens giving me the least amount of trouble.

Even for people without serious, disabling problems like mine, displays that have (even imperceptible amounts of) flickering can cause various headaches, eyestrain, etc during prolong use.

My job involves web development and I'm a bit worried that some day the only display technologies available will be ones I can't safely look at.