Akuma no Houkon posted on May 4 2004 at 02:03 AM said:
5. I think so. Compare the GBA Afterburner screen (just like a FLU) to the clarity of the GBA SP screen (just like a BLU). Its not a huge difference to most people, but if you are the kind of person that every bit of clarity counts, then yes its worth it. Although you will get a decreased battery life...so it only worth it if it matters to you.
Nah, that's incorrect. Both the Afterburner and SP are frontlit. Backlighting isn't something you can directly compare using other products anyway, as there are a number of different methods, each with their own pros and cons.
The most common ways at this time are...
Modern Laptops and TFT flat panels use thin cold cathodes with a pure white diffuser plate to illuminate the screen. This looks awesome, but it is not at all reflective. Fine if you are mainly looking for indoor/no light use. You cannot see the screen at all in sunlight. This method definatly produces the best color quality, at the cost of extra power requirement. I was hoping for this kinda screen, but it is not looking that way now. Based on google translations from spanish websites.
Lately there is a trend using transflective backlit displays in PDAs. Take a look at the Zodiac for an example. It's nearly like a frontlight but the light guide plate is mounted on the back. This allows the use of a touchscreen that would otherwise not work with a frontlight. I assume this is the method the new GP32 is going to use. If this is the case, you should see a decent improvement in color quality because the light only passes through the LCD once (Frontlighting passes through the LCD panel twice so they generally duller and washed out). The benefit of this is that it will still be playable in direct sunlight, and the power consumption is not far off the frontlight method.
One extra advantage is that the BLU won't feature a crappy glued in switch on the back. Instead, you will have to hold the select button for 3 seconds to turn the light on and off.
