With every new portable on the market, manufacturers try to outdo their previous model and competitors when it comes to batterylifetime. Although the rage these days might be mostly centered around smartphones and tablets, digital cameras and other small portables are no exception to the rule and have long been increasing their quality while also giving better battery lifetime. Enter Sony’s new WhiteMagic LCD technology, which promises to give better brightness than any other VGA screen out there while also lowering the power consumption required. This new 3-inch panel is expected to be deployed on cameras and smartphones in the near future.

Part of the magic behind this new tech centers around the traditional RGB color spectrum. In order to boost brightness, Sony incorporated a W (white) pixel to the conventional RGB pixels, creating a new RGBW scale. With a new ‘low power mode,’ the new WhiteMagic LCD is capable of producing the same whites as traditional LCD screens while utilizing 50% less energy. For those looking to venture into the outdoors, the WhiteMagic LCD screen also delivers an ‘outdoors mode’ which is designed to boost the LCD’s brightness, allowing the user to view their content where other LCD screens might not be powerful enough. With an early October 2011 shipment, it’s doubtful that this year’s models of smartphones and cameras will see this new screen but with CES 2012 around the corner, expect the 2012 models of Sony products to incorporate this new technology.

After the jump, a full press release awaits you.

 Sony Corporation has succeeded in commercializing “WhiteMagic™ ”^*1, an LCD module for digital cameras that utilizes the newly-developed ‘RGBW method’.

“WhiteMagic™ ” incorporates a 3-inch VGA low-temperature polysilicone TFT LCD module that adds a white (‘W’) pixel to the Red-Green-Blue (‘RGB’) pixels. By improving the brightness of the entire screen, Sony has been able to develop a module that offers one mode to reduce the power consumption of backlight by around 50%, as well as another mode that approximately doubles the brightness to improve outdoor visibility. Even adding the W pixel, the analysis of the input picture data and Sony’s unique signal processing algorithm enable images to be displayed without any deterioration.

In recent times, devices such as digital cameras and Smartphones have been gradually calling for even larger screens and higher resolutions. There are also increasing demands to reduce the power consumption of the displays. The conventional RGB display, however, has a major difficulty in simultaneously achieving both high resolution and low power consumption.
By incorporating the newly-developed ‘RGBW method’ that adds a white (‘W’) pixel to the conventional RGB pixels, Sony has succeeded in enhancing the brightness of the entire screen of its new LCD module.
The addition of a white pixel tends to result in deterioration of the image quality. However, Sony’s “WhiteMagic™” analyzes the input picture data and performs suitable signal processing (using its new algorithm), thus enabling a deterioration-free display.
As a result, Sony has succeeded in equipping its LCD modules with a new ‘low power mode,’ which enables brightness equivalent to that of conventional RGB LCD modules, even the power consumption of the backlight is reduced by approximately 50%. There is also an ‘outdoors mode,’ which successfully improves outdoor visibility of the display by enhancing the display brightness to roughly double, even without the use of any additional power. Consequently, the ‘Low power mode’ increases the battery life of the devices, while the ‘outdoors mode’ facilitates focusing of the camera and/or checking of the images being filmed even under strong sunlight.“WhiteMagic™” is also applicable to displays for Smartphones. Sony hopes that “WhiteMagic™” module will meet the demands of customers across a wide range of mobile devices.Special features of this product & its technology

(1) ‘High resolution LCD’

Equipped with 3-inch 1.23M-dot full VGA LCD

(2) ‘RGBW method without deterioration in image quality’

By adding a W pixel to the RGB pixels as well as developing a new algorithm for image signal processing, Sony has succeeded in improving the brightness of the entire screen without any deterioration in image quality.

(3) ‘Low power mode’

Reduces the power consumption of the backlight by approximately 50%, with keeping the display brightness equivalent to that of conventional RGB LCD modules.

(4) ‘Outdoors mode’

Improves outdoor visibility of the display by enhancing the display brightness to roughly double, while using the equivalent power consumption of conventional RGB method displays.

(5) ‘Flexibility for mobile device displays’

Can be used in applications for displays of Smartphones and other mobile devices