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iPad Anti-reflective iPad/iPhone innovation

Yr Blues

Yr Blues

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jan 14, 2008
2,807
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There's 1 innovations that I really want from Apple. iPad/iPhone using ant-reflective coating for direct sunlight usage. That will totally negate e-ink's superior outdoor viewing. Great for in-dash cars, too.

This would also essentially stretch the battery life, possibly doubly or tripling the normal 10 hour average.

Gorilla already has a coating that's shown here. Apple has a patent, as well.

corning-antireflection-580x289.png
 
This would be really great, but are there any drawbacks? Too expensive, affects how it looks indoors, affects how the glass feels to the finger, etc?
 
Yr Blues said:
There's 1 innovations that I really want from Apple. iPad/iPhone using ant-reflective coating for direct sunlight usage. That will totally negate e-ink's superior outdoor viewing. Great for in-dash cars, too.

This would also essentially stretch the battery life, possibly doubly or tripling the normal 10 hour average.

Gorilla already has a coating that's shown here. Apple has a patent, as well.

Image
Click to expand...

Sorry but thats a hole cut in the glass.
 
ZipZap said:
Sorry but thats a hole cut in the glass.
Click to expand...

I thought so too, until closer inspection of that little bottom fourth of the circle. Is that grass just a different shade, or is that an ever so slight reflection off of the "coating" mentioned?
 
Yr Blues said:
This would also essentially stretch the battery life, possibly doubly or tripling the normal 10 hour average.
Click to expand...

How so, please explain how a piece of plastic or coating on the glass will improve the battery life.
 
You could reduce the display's brightness and still be able to see the display contents. That's the only way I see this anti-reflective glass positively affecting the battery life. But I think the whole point of this tech is to maximise the viewability, so you shouldn't want to be doing that.

Also, reducing the display brightness would be bad for your eyes when outdoors on bright sunny days due to the huge contrast in the display's light levels and the ambient light levels (same reason why you shouldn't use a computer in a pitch black room). Ideally you want the same light levels coming from the display as the light levels reaching your eyes when you look away from the display. And even with the display on full-brightness on a typical current-day LCD, I belive the light levels are still a lot lower than the outdoor ambient light levels, so you'd still definately want the display on full-brightness when under bright sunny light levels.

I remember reading that this tech is still a few years away from hugging our device displays, so don't get too excited.
 
Last edited:
deeddawg said:
Screen coating doesn't change the backlight intensity, thus doesn't change the brightness of the screen relative to the environment.
Click to expand...

I think you're missing the point. If you're not overcoming the reflections on the glass you should be able to run the brightness at a lower level.

This would seem especially true if you were in shade on a sunny day where you're really not trying to overcome the sun's brightness as much as the reflection of your brightly colored yellow or white shirt on the screen.

I think this looks like great tech, but there must be a drawback (cost, clarity, etc.) or I'm sure some vendor would be using it.
 
a042349 said:
I think you're missing the point.
Click to expand...

Respectfully, I'm not. I'm looking beyond the reflections/glare to the root problem with backlit displays in sunlight. Perhaps my error is in not making my point sufficiently clear.

The issue in direct sunlight is the screen brightness relative to the ambient light levels. Even if you eliminate reflections from the glass, the sunlight is still impacting / illuminating the display elements. If the backlight is not sufficiently bright, the screen will remain washed out at best.

See http://www.displaymate.com/Tablet_Brightness_ShootOut_1.htm
 
deeddawg said:
Respectfully, I'm not. I'm looking beyond the reflections/glare to the root problem with backlit displays in sunlight. Perhaps my error is in not making my point sufficiently clear.

The issue in direct sunlight is the screen brightness relative to the ambient light levels. Even if you eliminate reflections from the glass, the sunlight is still impacting / illuminating the display elements. If the backlight is not sufficiently bright, the screen will remain washed out at best.

See http://www.displaymate.com/Tablet_Brightness_ShootOut_1.htm
Click to expand...

Well then we'll have to agree to disagree. I think if the reflections are eliminated you'll see the screen better in bright light. You may still want the screen at the highest brightness, but other than in direct sunlight you could probably get away with a slightly lower setting.

And no matter what impact it would have on brightness/battery it would absolutely make the screens easier to read in bright light.

I don't think that's a debatable point.
 
Anti-reflective iPad/iPhone innovation

deeddawg said:
Respectfully, I'm not. I'm looking beyond the reflections/glare to the root problem with backlit displays in sunlight. Perhaps my error is in not making my point sufficiently clear.



The issue in direct sunlight is the screen brightness relative to the ambient light levels. Even if you eliminate reflections from the glass, the sunlight is still impacting / illuminating the display elements. If the backlight is not sufficiently bright, the screen will remain washed out at best.



See http://www.displaymate.com/Tablet_Brightness_ShootOut_1.htm
Click to expand...


Years ago I had a window office. Everyday around 2pm the sun would shine on my monitor (CRT, like I said years ago). At max brightness it was barely visible. So I got an anti glare thing that hung over the screen. After that I had to turn down the brightness.

Wouldn't that essentially be the same principal?

Edit: I understand this will only matter in direct sunlight

----------

Oh this just reminded me. Remember those mirror screen protectors? You would need to keep the brightness near max all the time.

Shows the opposite end of the spectrum with a very reflective screen.

ydyjeba6.jpg


5y7ane4y.jpg
 
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