Clear screens have been used at trade shows for years, but I still don’t understand why you’d want one

Andy Edser, Hardware writer

This month I’m testing: Laptops and flight sticks once again, focusing on a few RTX 4090 mobile beasts. I still think the RTX 4080 mobile is a much better product for a laptop GPU, but some will always opt for the biggest GPU you can buy, even if it has serious drawbacks.

Tech trade shows are where companies can showcase not only their latest consumer products but also wild, weird, and futuristic excesses. We’ve been seeing see-through displays and see-through display technology being used at many of these events for a while now, but it seems like these have been a few years away from being released.

But the tide is starting to turn, and some of these devices look excitingly close to launch, while others are planning to launch very soon.

Samsung made headlines at this year’s CES for claiming the world’s first transparent Micro LED display, which showcases impressive color reproduction and brightness, as well as greater transparency that lets you see more of what’s on the other side. Meanwhile, LG has introduced the world’s first wireless transparent OLED TV, which it says will be available for purchase this year.

We also covered some leaked images of Lenovo’s transparent laptop concept that will be unveiled at MWC; This looks like an attempt to show a use case of the technology coming to your home devices in the near future.

The problem is, I still can’t see From where you would want one.

Commercial use is one thing. Samsung’s huge Micro LED displays look beautiful and impressive, and this would be a great thing for a luxury hotel lobby. Visiting guests were oohing and ahhing over the technology, children were running around looking at each other through glass, and everyone was feeling confident that they had spent large sums of money very wisely in choosing their high-tech accommodations. They can stay during their travels.

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So, at home or on your lap? I’m not quite convinced. To start, let’s talk about the big horn elephant standing right in the middle of our transparent room: visual fidelity and readability.

In my opinion, the purpose of the exhibition is to show you something. Things you want to see, things you want to read, things you want to dive into, in detail. Up to this point, display technology has focused primarily on presenting visual information to the user in as clear, crisp and legible a way as panel technology can deliver, because that’s ultimately why you want to spend your money. You want to see things and you want to see them as well as possible.

So what does transparency bring to the party? I must admit that I have rarely seen a document or web page on a transparent screen, primarily because that is almost never what was shown on trade stands. There are always fireworks over the cityscape at night or fish swimming merrily in a bowl. With a solid background helpfully rendered behind the text or some heavily adjustable transparency settings, it’s hoped that this will be an excellent usable experience, comparable to the readability of a regular panel.

However, all the attempts I’ve seen at creating an opaque block on one of these displays don’t look as clear as on a conventional display, with green fringing, blurry pixels, and weird distortion effects. All these issues, is it really a good choice for the ability to look through the panel?

Another LG CES reveal came in the form of the Dukebox, an “innovative audio product” concept that features a gorgeous-looking, adjustable transparency OLED display in front of pretty glowing valves, complete with the suggestion that it could be used to watch a movie. .

I mean, I’m sure it could happen, but given the problems we’ve seen so far, the question is: would you really want to?

LG’s transparent wireless OLED TV has two different display modes, for what it’s worth. You can view your content in transparent mode or press a button to raise the contrast display behind the screen to create an “engaging and atmospheric effect”; This helpfully transforms it into something a little more like a regular TV.

LG claims that since it’s a large clear glass panel, in transparent mode you can place your TV in the middle of the room as a huge screen for photos and artwork. As you can see, it’s much less obtrusive than a regular screen, that big piece of glass.

Still, good luck keeping your kids or visitors from getting fingerprints or dust accumulating on both sides of the panel. Keeping a large, prominently placed glass panel clean on both sides may seem like a headache, but given the likely pricing of such cutting-edge technology, perhaps keeping your screen clean yourself won’t be much of a problem for your average first-time user.

And then there’s the Lenovo laptop called Project Crystal. When we first covered the leaked images, there were some suggestions in the comments that a transparent screen was used that could only be seen on one side, and that the assumption might be that you could view it from the back and have everyone read it. public emails (albeit in reverse) were premature. You are right.

However, it made its debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ​​and I’m sorry to tell you this, but…

Although Lenovo says it’s working on potential features that will cover the back of the screen, this transparent laptop doesn’t add much to the table but provides an aesthetically pleasing look. And while I appreciate it as a visually interesting concept display piece, it doesn’t seem like anything significant is added to the usability of the device by making it transparent, other than perhaps making it more attractive, because it obviously costs a lot of money.

Before I let this column get too cranky, I have an important confession to make: Transparent displays can be incredibly beautiful. We reviewed an aquarium-shaped PC case with a curved LED crystal film display that MSI displayed at its CES booth, and even I was impressed with the visual result.

It took our attention. It drew us in. It forced us to pay attention to the screen, if only to witness the novelty of a beautifully rendered image on glass, while still being able to see what was behind it. When we got there, it was in the hope that show attendees would check out the other products, which we dutifully did, but I want to point out that we did so for comprehensive journalistic coverage and not just out of interest. Flame to shiny things like moths.

That’s all very well then as a selling point technique to attract the public’s eye, but novelty, whatever its value, is temporary. If transparent displays become mainstream, the brightness will likely soon disappear and most people will ignore the visual clutter in the hopes of getting something important.

But do you have one in your home? Are you buying a clear panel not just because it’s distractingly pretty, but because you want to use it on a daily basis as a meaningfully useful device that you’re willing to spend some serious money on?

Count me out so far.

However, get ready to marvel at the spectacular sheer displays at public demonstrations near you. Shout at them if you want, I’ll be there with you. But for me and my personal devices, I’ll take my displays traditional, to hell with the sci-fi aesthetic, if the rest of you don’t mind.