14 DAY TRIAL // Tablets, with their higher prices and bigger form factor, can afford to crank a stronger battery inside them, which means that they somehow manage to pull off an acceptable battery life even in the presence of an LCD display. This can't, however, be said about e-readers, which, more than anything else, need to last for hours on end. This is why, so far, such products have used E-Ink screens that, although lacking color, consume very little power. Nevertheless, the desire for color capabilities is strong. Knowing this, Qualcomm MEMS Technologies has been working on a special technology capable of bringing high-quality color without the need for backlighting or color filters.
Some end-users may have already recognized said display as the Mirasol. It is based on a reflective MEMS-based technology, inspired from butterfly iridescence, called interferometric modulation, or IMOD for short, which “is both bistable, meaning it is both extremely low power, and highly reflective, meaning the display itself can be seen even in direct sunlight,” according to the official website. The fact that Mirasol's first launch has been approaching has been known for a while now and, according to Digitimes, it has already occurred.
The newcomer is a 5.7-inch XGA color display that should soon enter the e-reader market and even the tablet-PC market, where its low power consumption is expected to make waves. The report states that Qualcomm is already “working with several clients,” according to the company VP of Business Development, James Cathey. No further details on marketing plans are currently available, but, as far as manufacturing schedules are concerned, the 5.7-inch Mirasol will start volume production this year at the Longton, Taiwan-based 4.5G production plant, “ jointly set up with Foxlink.”
In order to propagate the display technology on other markets, additional Mirasol displays should make an appearance during the second half of the current year.