Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

I'm not an engineer or a PDA expert for that matter but I've been wondering about this:

You just got your new VDx... way cool and so on. All of a sudden it decides to jump off the desk and onto the floor. If you're lucky, nothing happens, but in my world, the screen glass goes "crack"!!! Way cool becomes bummed out...

Why is it that something like Lexan or another polycarbonate material is not used for these displays? Is glass the only answer? (and I do realize this opens up the door to the whole scratching thing...)

Enquiring minds want to know...

[This message has been edited by MarkEagle (edited 12-29-1999).]

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
Posts: 26

My understanding of this is...
the manufacturing process involves depositing conductive (metal) traces on the glass, and that is done at temperatures that plastics can't handle, or at least can't handle without expanding or deforming.

(I'm not a mechanical engineer, so this is a 'laymans' word)

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

Sounds good to me...

(also a layman... )

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 13

I read something about cell phones having foam tape in between the screen and the glass& how most PDAs don't have this. This sux, because obviously a PDA is *at least* $100 more than a cell phone, and infinitely more important. I wonder if there's a way to get some foam tape stuff for PDAs...........

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 41

Can you put L.C.D. in plastic screens??????

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 13

Do you mean replacing the glass in the Visor with plastic? I don't see why it couldn't be done. As long as we're talking about the screen, I have a question. The review of the Visor Deluxe says it has the same screen as the Palm V. Does this mean it can support the higher resolution images that the V can?

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Posts: 406

If by 'Resolution' you mean higher bit depth greyscale images. then yes. The Visor can show up to 16 shades of grey at a resolution of 160x160. The Palm 3 has 4 shades of grey. And the PalmPro and earlier have just 'black and white'. But all palmpilots have a display that is 160x160 (I'm not sure about the TRGPro however, since I remember seeing a picture of it with the graffiti area lighted up with the backlight)

Registered: Nov 1999
Location:
Posts: 10

My assumption on Lexan LCDs is this- LCDs are made of glass because the Liquid Crystals are placed between the two glass layers and that gap should be pretty precise. They use micro-spheres as spacers to keep the two glass layers apart. I would assume that glass is nice and hard and so keeps a pretty precise gap. Plastics would probably deform around the micro spheres and give a pretty poor separation. This would result in splotchy images- sort of like when you touch the LCD screen of a laptop (which I'm sure no one would like, given everybody's whining about image streaking).

Yes, the glass also has a conductor sputtered on the surface for pixel address, but that same thing can be done on plastics- the digitizer has a flexible layer of polyester that also has a conductor sputtered onto it (as does the glass backing of the digitizer).

Admitedly, the digitizer could be mounted to a layer of Lexan, but then it would need two layers of polyester (like the original Pilot 1000, I believe). This would have been nice since last month I dropped my Visor and broke the glass on the digitizer, but not the LCD- I ended up cannibalizing the digitizer off a PPPersonal but needed to do a bit of jumpering inside the Visor to compensate for the different pinouts of the two digitizers.

Thinking about it again- making a digitizer with a plastic backing and two polyester layers is a QA nightmare because trying to adhere a polyester layer to the plastic backing would result in some amount of rejects with bubbles and other deformations in the polyester or adhesive.

Maybe the conductor could be sputtered onto the plastic backing, but then there might be signal routing and manufacturability issues that I'm unaware of.

-mark

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 5

For Huie,

Bro if your not working R&D for someone, you should think about it.

D.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Posts: 247

I have to mention here that the screen for the Palm IIIx and Palm V are NOT the same - if you don't believe me, try to install AlbumToGo (www.clubphoto.com)on both a Palm V and a Palm IIIx.

If you look at pictures on the Palm IIIx, you will notice a sort of "blinking" effect or a moving wave effect which is NOT present on the Palm V with the same photos. I only managed to get around this by changing the refresh rate on the Palm IIIx with NoStreakHack

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 8

Is the VDx supposed to be immune to the "blinking" effect? I installed Mahjong on mine and noticed that the middle two greyscales appear to be blinking or wavering a bit. Is this not normal or is anyone else expierencing this?

Just wondering,
Tango

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Posts: 247

Anyone out there tested whether the "blinking" effect is present on the Visor with AlbumToGo? If it is, then it is the same screen as the Palm IIIx and not the Palm V (damn!) You can get around the problem with NoStreakHack - however, it's not a prefect fix - to stop the blinking for the Palm IIIx screen, you have to set NoStreakHack to "maximum streak"...which means that you get no blinking but the streaking effect that the hack is supposed to fix is more apparent.

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 10

Just installed Album-to-go. NO problem with the installed photos on my visor. No waves no blinking.
-Richard

[This message has been edited by sac84371 (edited 01-06-2000).]

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 48

Ditto what sac says. I love ATG and get some great resolution on the pictures.

------------------
What if your sole purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others?

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Beaverton, OR USA
Posts: 87

I see the flickery screen when using ATG. I have a new Visor coming within the next few days, so I'll be interested to see if the display is the same.

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Mark N.

[This message has been edited by mtn (edited 01-07-2000).]