mirasol
A Bright Idea Inspired by Nature
A Very Visible Solution
Mobile phones today are being used as GPS devices, TVs, Internet access points, MP3 players, PDAs, cameras, camcorders, PCs, photo albums, email centers—they are truly an integral part of our daily lives in terms of management, entertainment, sources of information, social hubs and more.
What’s keeping people from fully enjoying the many uses for mobile phones is battery drain—all those features turned on and off all day long can quickly sap an average battery, rendering the phone lifeless. Moreover, LCD screens can be difficult to view in outdoor conditions, frustrating people and subtly discouraging them from using their mobile phones’ many features. Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, Inc. has addressed both of these issues with mirasol® displays—a very unique nature-based technology.
“ LCD screens wash out and are difficult to see or read under direct sunlight, no matter how strong the backlight is. Since mirasol displays use reflective mirrored surfaces, they’re easier to see in bright/outdoor conditions because they reflect light out. ”
- Cheryl GoodmanDirector of Marketing
Less Power Consumption, Longer Use Time
Every time a button is pushed on a mobile phone with a typical LCD display—whether a person is dialing, sending a text message, turning on the digital music player or surfing the Internet—the display backlight illuminates and uses energy. It’s no surprise that the greatest source of battery drain on a mobile phone is the display. (Research has found that when texting, 73% of the total power consumed is going to the display and the backlight; 50% when Web browsing.)
mirasol displays are nature inspired. They use the ambient light in the environment to generate color. This is in direct contrast to films, polarizers and many layers of materials used in standard display technologies on the market today. A mirasol display is inherently friendly to the battery as it uses near-zero battery power to maintain a static image and needs no backlighting. This allows consumers to use their mobile devices longer while using less power.
Jim Cathey, vice president of business development, explains the technology further and its ties to nature. “Imagine a butterfly. The wings of a butterfly are coated with scales. The scales have a small space between them. When the light around the butterfly enters that cavity, it is reflected back out and what we see—the human eye sees—are color and light. We’ve copied that with electronics.”
Seeing is Enjoying
Another benefit of mirasol’s reflective nature is visibility. Cheryl Goodman, director of marketing, says, “LCD screens wash out and are difficult to see or read under direct sunlight, no matter how strong the backlight is. Since mirasol displays use reflective mirrored surfaces, they’re easier to see in bright/outdoor conditions because they reflect light out. With mirasol, you don’t have to shield your mobile phone display from the sun in order to see who’s calling or texting you. mirasol displays don’t fight the sun, they use it.”
Goodman elaborates that even in dim conditions, mirasol displays appear as clear as they would under bright lighting conditions because they are like paper—a very efficient reflector of light. In complete darkness, where you would need to activate the backlight on an LCD, mirasol displays use a small, energy friendly front light.
Overcoming New Technology Challenges
One of the challenges that mirasol displays had to overcome was the perception that because the technology was so radical, it would require all-new equipment sets and processes and thus the costs would be passed onto device manufacturers and consumers.
The reality is that mirasol displays use many of the same processes as LCD fabrication plants. Says Goodman, “mirasol displays use a very similar toolset in the manufacturing process.”
In the Spotlight
Too bright of an idea to go unnoticed—mirasol displays had a breakthrough year in recognition. For its 0.9” color technology, mirasol displays were presented with PC Magazine’s 25th Annual Technical Excellence Award (display category), were a 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Design and Engineering Awards honoree (enabling technology category), and a 2009 Andrew Seybold Choice Awards winner (Most Innovative Mobile Technology). mirasol display technology was also a 2009 EDN Innovation of the Year winner (embedded technology category).
Bichrome mirasol displays can be seen now on Acoustic Research Bluetooth® headsets, Hisense phones sold by China Telecom, WCDMA camera’s in South Korea and more. To learn more about this eye-opening technology, visit www.mirasoldisplays.com.
