Qualcomm’s next-gen Mirasol display goes Retina

By Saul Berenbaum Published May 22, 2013

Qualcomm Snapdragon — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Today, Qualcomm showed off its next-generation Mirasol display, by way of a few mock-ups. They showed off a potential smartwatch design, and two smartphones with 1.5-inch rear-displays with the upcoming reflective screen tech.

Engadget posted a hands-on video of a 5.1-inch panel with the Mirasol technology’s 2,560 x 1,440 pixel (577 ppi) resolution, but does come with a few drawbacks. Most notably, there is a silvery tint and lack of color brightness on the screens. Some glow is also noticeable on the edges, but the benefits are clear. Glare is reduced and battery life is improved by about six times, compared to the LCD and OLED screens found on most smartphones and tablets today. Though it’s not as vivid as an LCD screen, we could easily see it being adopted by a number of devices, and it could open the gates for other new types of displays.

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Unfortunately, the technology still needs a few more years of R&D.

This next-gen Mirasol technology has a higher pixel density than what we (at least currently) refer to as “Full HD,” and is reasonably close to the Ultra HD resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels or 4096 x 2160 pixels. This screen resolution is better than what most movies are still being shot in, and certainly most games. Though with UHD TVs starting to hit shelves and the available ouput for 4K on both the PS4 and Xbox One, knows when we might see those standards change.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Saul Berenbaum has been writing film and gaming reviews since college. Recently, he contributed to HardcoreDroid. Now he…

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