Sunlight readable colour LCD displays (without using backlig

M

Mikc

Guest
Is there such a thing?

When searching for a mapping GPS I did my research, looked at numerous video
reviews and picked one with a colour display and wow, talk about disappointed.
Under typical bright Aussie sunlight conditions it's almost unusable unless the
sun is directly overhead or I use the backlight which seriously reduces the
battery life. Even with the backlight on it's still a struggle. I tried an
anti-reflective screen protector and that just made it worse.

After carefully reviewing the videos I now realise this is par for the course,
and wasn't just an artifact of the Youtube video compression as I had previously
thought.

What do the military use, are there super high price military spec colour
displays that are still to trickle down to the domestic market, or is that it?

The greyscale GPS market looks like it'll be extinct within a year. Worse is
better?

m
 
On 13/1/2012 12:40 AM, Mikc wrote:
Is there such a thing?

When searching for a mapping GPS I did my research, looked at numerous video
reviews and picked one with a colour display and wow, talk about disappointed.
Under typical bright Aussie sunlight conditions it's almost unusable unless the
sun is directly overhead or I use the backlight which seriously reduces the
battery life. Even with the backlight on it's still a struggle. I tried an
anti-reflective screen protector and that just made it worse.

After carefully reviewing the videos I now realise this is par for the course,
and wasn't just an artifact of the Youtube video compression as I had previously
thought.

What do the military use, are there super high price military spec colour
displays that are still to trickle down to the domestic market, or is that it?

The greyscale GPS market looks like it'll be extinct within a year. Worse is
better?

m
Almost all consumer color LCD displays are designed for use with
Click to expand...
backlights. But there are are some which are transflective, ie will
take incoming light and reflect it back thru the LCD. There are some
limitations, like viewing angle and so on, that make this more
difficult, but it can work. The Garmin Vista HCx is at least one
commercial unit which is reasonable.

The military probably dont care about battery life, and just use more
power, at least in fixed installations. No idea what they use in the
handhelds.

Some of the OLED displays are bright enough to be sunlight visible -
some phones use these. Lifetime is still an issue.

I also saw a Hummingbird depth sounder for marine use with a *very*
bright display, about 10" screen, and with excellent color. But it
draws a couple of amps at 12 volts.

Still waiting for someone to develop a color version of the E-ink
technology used in those book readers.

Other than that, I agree, I would rather have a readable monochrome
display, than an unreadable color one.

--
Regards,

Adrian Jansen adrianjansen at internode dot on dot net
Note reply address is invalid, convert address above to machine form.
 
"Mikc" wrote in message news:9vntg7dm9ubvaejmjq32ein8hq16jakek3@4ax.com...


Is there such a thing?

When searching for a mapping GPS I did my research, looked at numerous video
reviews and picked one with a colour display and wow, talk about
disappointed.
Under typical bright Aussie sunlight conditions it's almost unusable unless
the
sun is directly overhead or I use the backlight which seriously reduces the
battery life. Even with the backlight on it's still a struggle. I tried an
anti-reflective screen protector and that just made it worse.

After carefully reviewing the videos I now realise this is par for the
course,
and wasn't just an artifact of the Youtube video compression as I had
previously
thought.

What do the military use, are there super high price military spec colour
displays that are still to trickle down to the domestic market, or is that
it?

The greyscale GPS market looks like it'll be extinct within a year. Worse is
better?

m

Fairly skimpy research.
The garmin oregon 450 and family is absolutely brilliant in full sun.
In fact it is better in full sun than in the shade of trees where the
backlight is not quite bright enough.
I have no idea why this is so but it is different to other lcd screens I
have seen.
This is reasonably well reported in any of the user forums.
Earlier models were hard to read but the 450 and 550 series are very good.
This was particularly important to me as I use it outdoors quite a bit.
 
On 13/01/2012 1:40 AM, Mikc wrote:
Is there such a thing?

When searching for a mapping GPS I did my research, looked at numerous video
reviews and picked one with a colour display and wow, talk about disappointed.
Under typical bright Aussie sunlight conditions it's almost unusable unless the
sun is directly overhead or I use the backlight which seriously reduces the
battery life. Even with the backlight on it's still a struggle. I tried an
anti-reflective screen protector and that just made it worse.

After carefully reviewing the videos I now realise this is par for the course,
and wasn't just an artifact of the Youtube video compression as I had previously
thought.

What do the military use, are there super high price military spec colour
displays that are still to trickle down to the domestic market, or is that it?

The greyscale GPS market looks like it'll be extinct within a year. Worse is
better?

m
My Garmin GPSMAP 76CSX is quite readable in sunlight without a back-light.
Click to expand...
 
On 13/01/2012 9:07 AM, Adrian Jansen wrote:
On 13/1/2012 12:40 AM, Mikc wrote:

Is there such a thing?

When searching for a mapping GPS I did my research, looked at numerous
video
reviews and picked one with a colour display and wow, talk about
disappointed.
Under typical bright Aussie sunlight conditions it's almost unusable
unless the
sun is directly overhead or I use the backlight which seriously
reduces the
battery life. Even with the backlight on it's still a struggle. I
tried an
anti-reflective screen protector and that just made it worse.

After carefully reviewing the videos I now realise this is par for the
course,
and wasn't just an artifact of the Youtube video compression as I had
previously
thought.

What do the military use, are there super high price military spec colour
displays that are still to trickle down to the domestic market, or is
that it?

The greyscale GPS market looks like it'll be extinct within a year.
Worse is
better?

m
Almost all consumer color LCD displays are designed for use with
backlights. But there are are some which are transflective, ie will take
incoming light and reflect it back thru the LCD. There are some
limitations, like viewing angle and so on, that make this more
difficult, but it can work. The Garmin Vista HCx is at least one
commercial unit which is reasonable.

The military probably dont care about battery life, and just use more
power, at least in fixed installations. No idea what they use in the
handhelds.

Some of the OLED displays are bright enough to be sunlight visible -
some phones use these. Lifetime is still an issue.

I also saw a Hummingbird depth sounder for marine use with a *very*
bright display, about 10" screen, and with excellent color. But it draws
a couple of amps at 12 volts.

Still waiting for someone to develop a color version of the E-ink
technology used in those book readers.
Click to expand...
It's already done!

http://www.eink.com/display_products_triton.html

Other than that, I agree, I would rather have a readable monochrome
display, than an unreadable color one.
Click to expand...
Cheers,
Chris.
 
On Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:16:57 +1100, Chris <c@b.a> wrote:


Still waiting for someone to develop a color version of the E-ink
technology used in those book readers.

It's already done!

http://www.eink.com/display_products_triton.html
Click to expand...
Fujitsu Next Generation Color e-Paper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VmCrblDMlc
wow!

Ectaco jetBook Color eInk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViZnxN0lidc

Looks like it's going to be available this year.
 
On 16/1/2012 10:16 AM, Chris wrote:

It's already done!

http://www.eink.com/display_products_triton.html

Other than that, I agree, I would rather have a readable monochrome
display, than an unreadable color one.


Cheers,
Chris.
Click to expand...
Hmm,

When I read this:

E Ink has partnered with tier-1 companies such as Epson, Texas
Instruments, Marvell, and Freescale Semiconductor to provide a
best-in-class ecosystem of supporting electronics products. Our partners
are working towards enabling E Ink's newest generation of ePaper
displays with solutions like dedicated discrete ePaper controllers and
display power management integrated circuits. E Ink has continued to
advance the state of the art and provide design flexibility to product
manufacturers.

And the "Technical Specifications" sheet, I suspect this product has a
way to go yet before reality.


--
Regards,

Adrian Jansen adrianjansen at internode dot on dot net
Note reply address is invalid, convert address above to machine form.
 
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