It looks like many portable devices will soon be able to dramatically extend their battery life through the use of zero-power display devices. According to an article on connectitnews.com, the market is expected to grow more than 10-fold in the next 5 years.
For those not familiar with zero-power displays, they are basically display devices that are able to maintain an image for an extended period of time without consuming any power. Although not perfect for every application, a great deal of mobile device usage involves simply looking at information on screen.
A good example of the effect of zero-power displays on battery life is the Sony eBook Reader. Whether or not you think the Sony eBook Reader is a success as a product, it is definitely a successful demonstration of the value of zero-power displays - Sony says the eBook reader can display over 7,000 pages on a single battery charge.
What's so neat about that stat (7,000 pages) is that it's not time-related. Under normal usage, many different users of the eBook Reader can expect similar battery life, even if their reading speeds vary, because the display doesn't need to continuously consume power to show a steady image. In truth, the length of time that you view each page will have some impact on the battery life because the display does require periodic refreshes; just much less frequently than traditional displays.
We'll have to see how things develop over time but zero-power displays do hold some real promise as a great way to extend mobile device battery life.
For more information on the zero-power display market, see the connectitnews.com article.
Posted
Jul 11 2007, 08:29 AM
by
jim-wilson