Epson Imaging Devices Ships Samples of a-TFT Photo Fine HR LCDs for Mobile Devices with Improved Outdoor Visibility

– TOKYO, Japan – Epson Imaging Devices Corporation (“Epson Imaging Devices”) today announced the development of Photo Fine HR transflective amorphous silicon TFT (a-TFT) liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for use in mobile devices. Photo Fine HR (High Reflect) enables both high visibility and low power consumption in a wide range of indoor and outdoor environments. Samples of two new displays equipped with this technology are scheduled to ship in late October.

Recent years have seen increasing demand for high visibility in handheld terminals, portable navigation devices, and other similar products that are frequently used outdoors, where their screens are directly exposed to sunlight.

The new transflective LCDs use a transmissive mode with light provided by a backlight in darker environments, while outdoors and in other well-lit locations their reflective mode harnesses the surrounding light, reducing backlight power consumption.

Photo Fine HR combines the high reflection technology that Epson Imaging Devices has developed over many years with an optical design that achieves dual transmissive-reflective functionality. This has enabled the company to produce displays boasting both a reflection ratio of over 6% and brightness of over 200 cd/m2, according to omnidirectional scattered light measurement. The result is seamless visibility unaffected by the surrounding environment.

The new Photo Fine HR-equipped LCDs come in two sizes, 3 inches and 3.5 inches.

Epson Imaging Devices will continue to develop clear, high-resolution displays that can be used anytime, anywhere and to pioneer new applications for its displays while creating products for a variety of uses and situations to meet its customers’ diverse needs.

Epson Imaging Devices will exhibit these LCDs at the Epson Group booth at FPD International 2008, which will be held from October 29 to 31 at Pacifico Yokohama, Japan.

*Photo Fine and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation in Japan and other countries.

About Epson
Epson is a global leader in imaging products including printers, 3LCD projectors and small- and medium-sized LCDs. With an innovative and creative culture, Epson is dedicated to exceeding the vision and expectations of customers worldwide with products known for their superior quality, functionality, compactness and energy efficiency.
Epson is a network of 88,925 employees in 109 companies around the world, and is proud of its ongoing contributions to the global environment and to the communities in which it is located. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corp., the Group had consolidated sales of 1,347 billion yen in fiscal 2007.