Transreflective
A transreflective , also called transflective property mostly refers to a TFT or LC display of a digital device (monitor, camera, PDA , mobile phone ), which also uses the ambient light or sunlight through partial reflection as a light source and thus optimal readability, depending of the given lighting conditions.
The advantage is that the technology saves electricity and also allows use under direct sunlight. Purely backlit displays become practically blind (black) under sunlight, and you can no longer see anything on the screen. Displays for a bright environment without direct sunlight can alternatively be anti-reflective using the technology of optical bonding , without the need for a transreflective panel.
However, transflective displays often have the disadvantage that they are not illuminated as evenly as exclusively backlit displays. The color brilliance can also be lower than with backlit screens; the reflective film used can make the display appear less contrasting and a bit washed out.
There are three different types:
- Reflective (retroreflective): Reflective displays are used in environments with a high proportion of ambient light or in applications where there is not enough energy to feed the background lighting.
- transflective (semi-transparent): Transflective displays have the option of working both reflective and transmissive and have good viewing properties. Transflective displays can be viewed in direct sunlight and, together with a backlight, even in low light. Transflective screens, which are also a touch screen, are much more difficult to read when the background lighting is switched off because the ambient light has to pass through the touch screen layer twice.
- transmissive (permeable): Transmissive displays always require backlighting and have the comparatively greatest contrast. They are suitable for applications in which direct sunlight does not normally interfere.