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Sharp has recently developed a new chip, the LR388G9, which would make a dual-screen smartphone possible. A device using the chip would be able to have two LCD screens running at a resolution of 1024x480 simultaneously, an industry first. This has implications not only for smartphones but e-readers, netbooks and digital photo frames. The chips also supports full HD output to an LCD TV or projector.

The chip is the successor to the LR388D8 which could control an internal and external display and could manage high speed data transfers up to 400Mbps between the LCD screen and the MSM chipset. The new chip will feature faster data transfers up to 800Mbps using MDDI 1.2. It will also include a number of other interfaces for devices such as cameras and memory cards. The chip measures 8x8mm, can support of maximum colour depth of 24bits and has 32Mb of built-in video memory.

Dual-screen portable devices are already available, such as Toshiba's Libretto W100, the Kno tablet, a netbook known as the Onkyo and Nintendo's DS console. The new Sharp chip could add smartphones to the mix, opening up new opportunities for innovative designs and form factors in a market which is dominated by similar looking devices.

Dual-screen clamshell phones with the external screen for displaying caller information have been around a while but having two high-res colour displays next to each other in an ebook-like arrangement would definitely be something new. The possible 1024x480 resolution would not only match the iPhone (though not the iPhone 4) it would also allow for widescreen displays.

Samples of the chip are already available a cost of $27 (2,400¥) and it will go into production in September shipping in 100,000 units.

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COMMENTS

Posted by langkamp on Friday 30th July, 2010

I used to work with a big-brain UI guy who advocated that usability/cognition would be greatly improved if devices had a screen for input and a screen for output -- instead of putting soft keys and output in the same display. Maybe his vision is arriving (20 years later).

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