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Sharp and Qualcomm to join IGZO and MEMS display tech in 7″ Android tablet

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Sharp has partnered up with Qualcomm to bring a first-of-its-kind display to tablets, sooner than expected. The 7″ tablet will sport an IGZO-MEMS TFT display, which promises the full color range of regular LCDs with the power-efficiency of MEMS displays.

To achieve that the screen will have grayscale and black and white modes for reading while sipping power.

IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) displays are made by Sharp, their pixels update much faster than those of regular silicon-based LCDs. The fast switching also promises to cut down power usage. Those have been employed in phones, tablets and even TVs.

MEMS (aka Mirasol) is a display tech developed by Qualcomm so far only used in the company’s Toq smartwatch. They are reflective – that is use ambient light instead of a backlight – making them similar to eInk displays, comfortable to read on and no need for a power-hungry backlight. This tablet will be the first device where the two approaches are combined.

The screen will have 1,280 x 800 resolution – lower than we’re used to, but this is to be expected with brand new tech. The tablet itself will run Android 4.4 KitKat on a Snapdragon 800 chipset, offer LTE connectivity and IPX7 water-resistance certification.

The IGZO-MEMS packing Sharp tablet will be made available next year.

Source (in Japanese) | Via

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