New displays to boost battery life of lots of gadgets

Currently, LCD displays use a backlight which drains batteries. A new technology called “mirasol” is looking to change all of that. The idea behind mirasol is by using mirrors the display can be lit with ambient light.

Another power saving feature is that the mirrors only have to move to reflect light when you move. If you place something like a digital picture frame with the mirasol technology, the mirrors can stay in position and use very little energy while still displaying the image.

The other good news about this technology is that it is not just another concept. Qualcomm set up a factory in Taiwan to put these displays together and we could see them in use this year. There are several devices that already use this kind of technology but they could not display full color. Mirasol will be able to show many colors and can display video and images.

No word on how this technology would operate with very low light situations.

Read: [MSNBC]