LG Display has introduced a new display for laptop computers that allows users to block others from peeking with a touch of the screen. / Korea Times |
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Slacking in the office is about to get a lot easier. LG Display, the world's second-largest liquid crystal display (LCD) provider, introduced a new display for laptop computers that allows users to block others from peeking with a simple dab on the screen.
The 14.1-inch panel, featuring LG's latest advancement in viewing-angle image control (VIC), supports a viewing angle of up to 175 degrees with no color shift. However, a touch on the screen reduces the field of visibility to 60 degrees on each side, thus blinding anyone further than 30 centimeters away from the edge of the screen.
So it seems that the time-honored technique of holding down ``Windows Key'' + D to hide your computer screen from your intrusive boss, as you chat with the girl you met last night, has finally become outdated.
LG officials said the new laptop display will be ideal for businessmen who are on the move and forced to do much of their work on trains and planes. Users will also be less worried about privacy when they use their laptops for important office work or financial transactions such as Internet banking.
``It's a lot better than spending 50,000 won to 100,000 won to buy laptop privacy filters, which darken the screen and need to be removed whenever somebody else has to look at the screen as well,'' said an LG spokesman.
``Even after the viewing angle is reduced, the brightness of the screen doesn't change by much, which makes it convenient for the user,'' he said.
Conventional LCDs have sub-pixels for the three primary colors ― red, green and blue (RGB) ― but LG added what it calls as a ``VIC'' sub-pixel as a fourth. Switching the VIC sub-pixel on and off, by dabbing the screen, has basically the same effect as attaching and removing a privacy filter, company officials said.
LCDs with VIC capability have been produced in smaller panels for mobile-phone displays, however, these required double panels, making them thicker, heavier and more expensive to produce.
LG's recent laptop display marks the first time a VIC screen has been produced in a single panel, the company said. The company, which has been investing in developing VIC technology since 2005, said it has more than 90 related patents listed here and abroad.
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
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