Look out, Pixel Qi, Liquavista are looking to take on your 3qi indoor/outdoor viewable displays with some slick multi-mode panels of their own. The company has been demonstrating their new LiquavistaVivid technology, a dual-mode display which can automatically flip between a paper-like monochrome setting – ideal for ebook reading indoors and out – and an LCD-like full color video-capable setting.
Meanwhile it’s also more power frugal than regular LCD, with Liquavista claiming users will see up to 4x the battery life compared to traditional panels. It’s based on the company’s electrowetting technology which, while sounding like the experience you’d have losing bladder control while lying on an electric blanket, is actually a manufacturing technique that is 100-percent compatible with traditional LCD production.
Unfortunately, while Pixel Qi display panels are expected to show up in devices on the market soon, Liquavista’s LiquivistaVivid displays won’t be commercialised until 2010/2011. Possible products include ereaders and notebooks, though there’s no word on which manufacturers Liquavista might be working with.