Front Light vs. Backlight

Stop fighting the power

Backlit LCDs and OLED displays fight the sun and lose. In direct sunlight, these displays are difficult to see and quickly drain the battery. They work best in unrealistic pitch black conditions, not devices that need to work in various lighting conditions, including outdoors and in bright light environments.

On most devices the backlight is as powerful as a car headlight, and uses most of that energy fighting light sources it could be using. But there is another, much more efficient display light. It does, however, work differently than a typical transmissive backlit display.

Front Light vs. Backlight

The differences in displays

Backlit LCDs and OLED displays fight the sun and lose. In direct sunlight, these displays are difficult to see and quickly drain the battery.

Both backlit LCDs and OLED displays are very difficult to read in direct sunlight, and the only screens that don’t fight the sun are ones with reflective technology.

Reflective Display

Reflective

Can use ambient light off the front of the display. And in low-light situations, the Azumo front light turns on.

Transmissive

Light is beamed from behind the display directly into the viewers’ eyes.

Emissive

Light emits from the pixels in the display (e.g., OLED or MiniLEDs). While there is no backlight in these devices, durability and sourcing continue to be an issue.

Thinner, more invisible, more accurate lighting on the front.

A reflective LCD with an Azumo front light can push your device beyond its current limitations. Make your device last longer, have a smaller form factor, and go places it previously couldn’t.

Battery Life

Longer battery life

Reflective displays offer 10x the power savings over traditional transmissive LCDs.

Ambient Light

Sunlight readable

Reflective displays don’t fight the sun, and look fantastic in bright ambient light.

Lowlight Visibility

Low light visibility

With a proper front light, reflective LCDs are easy to read in low- or no-light conditions and are safer than backlit LCDs in the dark.