LCD displays are pretty much the de-facto standard for netbooks today, while e-Ink displays dominate the eBook reader space. While LCD screens look great indoors, have fast refresh rates for playing video, and support full color, e-Ink screens use significantly less power, have a high-contrast quality that makes reading text easy, and are easy to read outdoors without a backlight.
There are a few companies working on displays that offer the best features of both display types. Pixel Qi has gotten a lot of attention for its dual-mode LCD screens which offer a high-constrast, nearly black and white view for use in direct sunlight, and a full-color LCD view indoors. But another company called Liquavista is working on its own solution, with the first Liquavista displays due out in 2011.
Liquavista uses a technology called electrowetting, which basically involves using electrical charges to rearrange colored oils. The company’s displays are color screens which can be easily read outdoors without a backlight. Indoors, you switch on the backlight and the screens look more like typical LCD displays.
Eventually Liquavista expects the screens to be used in phones, notebooks, tablets, and possibly even televisions.
via Slashdot
Sooner rather than later please, can’t stand those glossy screens that do not work in anything but a dark room…