Originally shown at CES a couple of years ago, Qualcomm’s Mirasol display technology promised to bridge the gap between LCD and e-ink display technology. And even though Qualcomm dumped a lot of money into building the infrastructure to put the displays into production, their arrival has been very, very slow.
Mimicking the iridescent nature of a butterfly’s wings, the Mirasol display technology sips power like an e-ink display but still delivers full-motion video and animated UIs. And also colour. But colour that looks like the faded signs in the window of your local convenience store.
Playing with one of the first ereaders to use a Mirasol display, the Korean Kyobo, the colours were unfortunately a bit on the disappointing side. There’s a considerable amount of dithering going on, which is a technique used to reduce the banding seen in gradients on colour displays with a limited bit depth. And while the Mirasol can indeed handle full-motion video, there was the occasional dropped frame and tearing, but that could also be related to the processor used on the Kyobo. So it seems that in order to really take advantage of a Mirasol display, a tablet device will have to be equipped with a fairly capable processor, which could reduce some of the excellent battery life the technology promises.
By this point I had hoped that Mirasol displays would be popping up in far more devices than just a Korean eReader, but it’s clear that the technology isn’t exactly the perfect hybrid of e-ink and LCDs. In fact, while I was originally very excited about what Qualcomm had cooked up, I’m starting to get the same sinking feeling I had with SED display technology that never came to be. [Qualcomm]
MotorMouth
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 12:37 PMMaybe you should look at it as an alternative to the colour supplement in the newspaper, which is always a pale imitation of a glossy magazine, yet still perfectly adequate for most needs. A little bit of colour in my eReader is certainly better than none.
IJustKnowStuff
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 12:51 PMI wouldn’t expect the vibrant colours of an LCD with e-ink. As MotorMouth says, if it’s like colour on newspaper I would consider that still good. Especially if the new tech removed the whole flashing that is currently required for e-ink displays. I would buy a LCD tablet if I wanted full colour, but I just want something like a newspaper….without the paper :D
daffy
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 1:07 PMThe technology has to start somewhere. It doesn’t matter that the colours aren’t as good as an LCD yet. This is the first generation. I’m excited and hope this will mature quickly. As the others say, I’ll take this washed out colour over no colour any day.
light487
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 3:58 PMAhh that’s a shame about the dithering.. I wouldn’t mind “washed out” colours.. infact I kind of like the idea to be perfectly honest.. but dithering and pixellation.. ergh..
Dan
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 4:29 PMMight be good for colour publications, I wouldn’t watch video on it.
The name is very similar to Kobo, who also make eReaders.
阿江
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 9:53 AMhttp://www.the-digital-reader.com/2011/11/27/another-look-at-the-kyobo-ereader-wmirasol-screen
The processor isn’t the issue. It’s the programming that went into the device. Horrible coding (or maybe even publisher demands to protect the contents) that that makes it so slow. The color… Well… It’s first-generation. Maybe it’ll get better?