Thanks for visiting us here at QuickLogic’s HotSpots…today’s subject is a few more of the frequently asked questions we regularly get on VEE and DPO technology.

Q: How does VEE work with curved cover glass displays?

A: Obviously curved cover glass is a potential trend in mobile phones, with it being used two recent Google branded phones, as well as rumored (along with the kitchen sink, among other things) for the new iDevice.  The good news is that we certainly support this trend.  VEE is completely independent of the curve, or lack thereof, of the glass on top of the phone, and will continue to offer the same viewability benefits as with ‘old-fashioned’ flat glass phones.

Q: VEE’s resolution…what are its limits?

A: The current VX2 (RGB –> RGB) works at 1366 x 768 (WXGA), and the VX4 (MDDI –> RGB) maxs out at 1024 x 600.  Both of these resolutions assume 60 frames per second at a 24 bits-per-pixel (bpp) color depth.  If the frame rate can be slowed, higher resolutions can generally be supported; also, a lesser bpp will generally allow higher frame rates or resolutions (or potentially both).

Now…those resolutions may not seem very high, but they support every current production tablet and smartphone in mass market production.  Will they support every future smartphone and tablet?  Not likely, which is where our next version of VEE and DPO (purposeful mention here) comes in.

Q: So…when are you announcing the next version of VEE and DPO?

A: We plan on a full announcement during Q4 of this year.  During the announcement (exact date forthcoming), we will detail full product specifications and improvements, as well as sampling and production dates.

Q: How are VEE and DPO different on pico projectors as compared to smartphones?

A: We start with the same silicon.  However, we differ in our approach immediately in that we target visual improvement in the projected image, and don’t aim for power savings.  The reasons are this: effective lumens are of utmost importance to the OEM/system designer.   We can run VEE at full strength in these applications, which does dramatically increase the viewability, especially when all the lights in the room are not off.  If we sacrifice a bit of VEE for DPO, we do get power savings…but our experience is that once the OEM sees what VEE at 100% looks like, they don’t want anything but that.  Our belief is that VEE gets them past a performance expectation level they wouldn’t have without us, and that this level is critical to them

And with that…again, many thanks for reading.  As always, happy to answer any questions you may have, and I will be taking requests as well.