Mirasol displays could greatly improve Android battery life by second half of 2012
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Qualcomm's interferometric modulator display creates various colors by reflecting lights. As Technology Review says, "The Mirasol display makes color in the same way as the wings of iridescent butterflies or peacock feathers—by being an imperfect mirror that tunes the color of incoming light before reflecting it back to the viewer." This is done by with small cavities called interferometric modulators, placed tens of microns across and a few hundred nanometers deep, underneath the glass of the display.
The power consumption would be an amazing tenth or less than that used by a traditional LCD screen. Qualcomm bought the rights to this technology when it purchased Iridigm Display Corporation in 2004. At CES this year, Qualcomm showed off Mirasol and announced that a 5-7 inch e-reader would be produced using the display. Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs didn't like the product and canned it. Instead, Qualcomm is focusing on the next version of its screen.
According to Android and Me, the next version of Mirasol will support HD video thanks to faster response times; the screen also has better color reproduction and a backlight for those times when there is not enough ambient light for the screen. Technology Review's Tom Simonite visited Qualcomm and says that a factory in Taiwan will start rolling out large amounts of Mirasol screens in the middle of next year.
We could see Android devices with Mirasol screens as soon as the second half of next year, and it might come down to having to give up a little sharpness in return for a much longer battery life. Would you be willing to do so?
source: TechnologyReview via AndroidandMe
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42 Comments
1. biophone posted on 15 Nov 2011, 23:07 1 2
Yes I would battery life is always number one for me when buying a phone.
As a generel rule my wants go like this:
1.) Battery
2.) UI (Includes things like music player, app store, ease of use, and layout in genereal)
3.) Data Speeds
4.) Design
5.) Power
6.) Screen (includes sharpness and size)
7.) Thickness (flat back is a plus)
8.) Camera
So yea out of my eight most important factors 1 is battery six is screen so its worth it to me.
5. KingKurogiii posted on 15 Nov 2011, 23:31 3 1
the order of things for me would be...
1.) Power
2.) UI
3.) Battery
4.) Data Speeds
5.) Design
6.) Screen
7.) Thickness
8.) Camera
9. protozeloz posted on 16 Nov 2011, 00:24 1 0
To me it is
1.) Power
2.) Functionality
3.) UI
4.) Battery
5.) camera
5.) Data Speeds
6.) Design
8.) Screen
9.)Thickness
12. KingKurogiii posted on 16 Nov 2011, 01:08 2 0
well since we're adding things now. xD
i'd add Functionality to No. 2.
18. protozeloz posted on 16 Nov 2011, 05:54 2 0
:-P id take a functional OS over a pretty OS any day. Of course depends on how the functions work to my favor.
20. remixfa posted on 16 Nov 2011, 06:43 2 0
ooh ooh i wanna play! :)
1)PROCESSING power
3)screen
3)functionality/OS
4)battery
5)camera (im a dad yo, i take lots of pictures! lol)
6)data speeds
7) UI
8)design
9) thickness
10) yo mama
24. Trainer posted on 16 Nov 2011, 09:14 2 0
1) my mama (family first)
2) functionality/OS
3) screen
4) camera
5) memory
6) data speeds
7) battery (better be replaceable!)
8) design/thickness
27. biophone posted on 16 Nov 2011, 11:00 0 0
Great addition with memory but that last for me as i only use about 3gb. I never think about iy.
26. biophone posted on 16 Nov 2011, 10:58 1 0
Functionality i included in the ui in genereal but maybe it did deserve its own catagory. Anyway cool that everyone played my game lol. Im sure there is more cats i missed as erll.
32. protozeloz posted on 16 Nov 2011, 12:14 2 0
I personally always make a difference between UI (how the user navigates and goes though menus and stuff) and Functionality (what the OS is capable of doing)
my programming teacher tells us every time "Make it work then make it pretty"
34. remixfa posted on 16 Nov 2011, 13:07 3 0
Functionality i did Function/OS, because i was trying to show that it meant for the OS itself, not just for the skin on it. Like all the things android can do with our without a manufacturer overlay on it.
I also prefer a minimalist overlay, which is one of the reasons i dont get along with Sense. Touchwiz is fine, and the new TW4 actually adds a lot of useful stuff, but the closer to stock the better.. for me at least.
41. Birds posted on 21 Nov 2011, 16:08 0 0
For me,
1.) UI
2.) OS and Power
3.) price
4.) Battery
5.)design/ screen technology
6.)Camera
42. Commentator posted on 23 Jul 2012, 20:32 0 0
1) OS
2) Performance
3) UI Speed
4) Screen Technology
5) Build Quality
6) Screen Size
7) Physical Size
8) Battery
9) Camera
10) Data-speed/ Coverage (Because I'm within WiFi range 95% of the time anyways.)
43. Commentator posted on 23 Jul 2012, 20:46 0 0
Did NOT realize this article was 8 months old... Little late to the party.
3. denney posted on 15 Nov 2011, 23:24 2 0
It really is amazing how much goes into display. When I first obtained my HD7 the battery life sucked, even when WIFI and BT were off. Then I turned the screen brightness all the way down and it lasts about 15hrs of normal use with all location and data services turned on.
4. twenti7 posted on 15 Nov 2011, 23:27 2 0
For me personally battery life is one of my least concerns. When I purchase a new phone this spring/summer, my main concerns will be thinness, screen size/resolution, and what processor is on board. While I welcome any and all improvements to battery life (I agree that it is the greatest plague for smartphones), I am comfortable with a phone that gets around 10 hours or so per charge on fairly heavy use. After all, I do own the EVO 4G.
25. iamcc posted on 16 Nov 2011, 09:17 0 0
Agreed. I always buy a second battery when I get a new phone anyways, just to have a spare.
6. belovedson posted on 16 Nov 2011, 00:11 0 0
battery life has caught on. for some strange reason the dual core's seem to be more efficient than the single. battery tech is getting much better.
mirasol display has a huge fight on their hands. hd, amoled, slcd, are all predominant displays. there are various other displays thats supposed to take shape. the one by toshiba is an example.
unless the mirasol can approve the battery drastically with little sharpness loss its going to be obsolete before it comes out.
when i mean drastic im talking 16-20 hours of continuous operation or more. i highly doubt that's possible with current battery tech but im curious about this display
7. protozeloz posted on 16 Nov 2011, 00:18 2 0
Dual core are supposed to be battery efficient than single core because the stress on every core is much less than on single core.
8. daniyo posted on 16 Nov 2011, 00:18 0 0
for me its
Processor
Thinness
Power
Data Speed
Battery
Screen
in a pretty close tie.
10. Luuthian posted on 16 Nov 2011, 00:41 0 0
Depends how much sharpness we're sacrificing. If it looks as good as an iPhone 4 display, but not as good as an AMOLED display, I'd hardly complain. Between new screen tech and new battery tech... I think we've got winners on our hands. Now if only this stuff would come to market sooner...
11. taco50 (banned) posted on 16 Nov 2011, 00:55 1 11
Wow android may finally catch up to blackberry, windows and iOS in battery life.
What do you guys mean by power?
14. taco50 (banned) posted on 16 Nov 2011, 01:16 2 2
It's confusing because some people put processor and power on their list.
15. KingKurogiii posted on 16 Nov 2011, 01:23 0 0
yeah i didn't get that either.
19. protozeloz posted on 16 Nov 2011, 06:38 0 0
maybe processor as in the number of cores? and power as in the clock speed? its my wild guess
28. biophone posted on 16 Nov 2011, 11:07 0 0
Power and proccesing power i meant as the same thing. Power as whats under the hood ram and proccesor
17. protozeloz posted on 16 Nov 2011, 05:51 1 0
You haven't seen the nexus ;) hardware acceleration helps battery, too bad the nexus Uses LTE in US otherwise we could tell better
21. remixfa posted on 16 Nov 2011, 06:47 5 0
1) blackberry lost its battery life when it went touch screen. they are no different than any other touch screen phone.
2) iOS is having a lot of battery issues now that its starting to do SOME of what android has done all along.. and BTW Andriod caught up months ago and even passed the iphone in battery life. you need a new troll line.
3) windows phones generally have a crap battery life because HTC likes to put teeny tiny batterys in them.. and then pair them with a huge LCD screen and an S2 snapdragon which sucks boatloads of power.. The HD7 has what.. like a 1300mAh battery. The OS is decent on battery though.. just need to not have undersized batteries in it.
16. scnix posted on 16 Nov 2011, 03:28 0 0
Why does the screen colors look so dull? Like there's too much yellow or something.
29. MichaelHeller posted on 16 Nov 2011, 11:38 1 0
It's a drawback to hybrid screens that offer better readability in sunlight. Pixel Qi screens were the same, you could switch to eInk mode, but the LCD mode had washed out colors.
22. lukasound posted on 16 Nov 2011, 07:06 3 0
After owning an AMOLED device for about three years, first the Omnia HD (also not pentile), and now the SGS2, i couldn't imagine anything else.
Once you go pitch black, you never go back :)
When ever i hold a phone with a screen smaller than 4' and non-amoled, it feels weak and pale in comparison, no matter how powerful its inside.
Maybe if there were serious issues with the phone with AMOLED display, i would consider a worse screen, but since Samsung excels at preety much every aspect of a smartphone, there were no second thoughts when buying the SGS2.
And about a day of battery with average usage is enough for me. If i ever go camping i would take a 20€ phone with me anyways :) And it would last me a week.
23. jemolian posted on 16 Nov 2011, 07:18 0 0
combine with screen and battery developments, and we have a winner combo... :)
30. MichaelHeller posted on 16 Nov 2011, 11:40 2 0
We've been seeing Mirasol display demos since CES 2010, and still haven't gotten anything new. Now, we have a 2 and a half minute video that doesn't show the screen at all except the same demos that we already know.
I'd love to see this actually hit devices next year, but I won't believe it's anything but vapor until it actually happens.
31. protozeloz posted on 16 Nov 2011, 12:06 1 0
Double check, I\'m not crazy.... its hard to see an editor coment on anothers article in here, a good thing tho
Back to topic there are so many good concepts that haven\'t seen the light just yet and that I wish we could see
33. KingKurogiii posted on 16 Nov 2011, 12:23 1 0
yeah, Michael\'s cool. he likes to chat with us pretty often. (:
36. protozeloz posted on 16 Nov 2011, 13:28 0 0
OF topic
is it me or everyone has an "\" when they post w words like " I'll "
37. KingKurogiii posted on 16 Nov 2011, 14:23 0 0
yeah, they show up around apostrophes and quotation marks for some reason. o:
38. protozeloz posted on 16 Nov 2011, 14:41 0 0
Could it be a bug on the site? :-O
39. KingKurogiii posted on 16 Nov 2011, 15:27 0 0
i'm thinking so.
35. remixfa posted on 16 Nov 2011, 13:09 1 0
id like to see it in action. always curious about new tech :)
like anything the first gen will probably be so-so, but they will use the cash infusion from sales to make it better. Even the original Amoled screens werent all that great. Yea the colors were better but the outside usability sucked.. lol. Things get better with time.. and cash... lots of cash.. :)
