Color e-reader uses butterfly-based technology to save power

Oh, biomimetic desigin. Is there anything you can’t do? Well, at any rate, you’re doing this, which is cool enough for now. Qualcomm is putting out a new display technology they call “Mirasol,” which uses reflective bits of color to display an image, much like the way the iridescent scales on butterfly wings do. They claim it draws even less power than e-ink, which is really saying something.

The little prototype they use to demonstrate it is… just that: little. I wonder if that’s just a choice they made, or if the display technology is actually limited to smaller sizes due to some technical quirk. Who knows? It’s brand new at the moment and I’m sure we’ll be hearing more soon, so let’s not think too hard about it.