Do I really need... a super-bright screen?

What does it do?

Screens like that of the LG G7 Thinq phone (see page 24) deliver extremely high brightness when turned up – about four times brighter than a typical desktop PC monitor.

Why would I want it?

The transmissive screens we mainly use today, which emit light to produce an image, work well in fairly dim environments, including most interior settings, and are great for watching a film in the dark, making notes in a conference or checking Facebook in bed. Outdoors, though, they struggle to compete with sunshine, so the more we all carry our computers around with us, the brighter our screens need to be for legibility.

What’s the catch?

High illumination uses a lot of battery power, which forces you to choose between your screen adjusting its brightness automatically or not. One solution is reflective screens, which rely on ambient light, like a paperback book. In fact, ebook readers, such as Amazon’s Kindles, are where you’ll see most reflective ‘electronic ink’ screens. These only use power when a pixel changes, rather than constantly to keep it lit.

Various companies have invented fullcolour versions, including chip maker Qualcomm. Its Mirasol technology was based on interferometric modulation, the phenomenon that makes a butterfly’s wings so colourful, but its screens looked more like a dead moth. A lot of work is still going into this area, partly with an eye to small, low-power ‘internet of things’ gadgets.

So can I do without it?

For now, to use your phone more comfortably outdoors, high brightness is the only answer. Ideally we’d have screens that can be both transmissive and reflective. Maybe one day.