What Really Makes A Mobile Device Screen Readable Outdoors?

By Patrick Seidensticker director, rugged mobility marketing, Dell, www.dell.com/rugged

Understanding the underlying elements of outdoor readable screens can help you to select the right mobile device for your operating conditions.

It’s just so tempting to think that creating an outdoor readable screen is all about brightness. When combatting the blazing light of the sun, what else is there to do but fight back? Fight fire with fire and make the screen brighter!

This approach is partly correct, but it’s definitely not the whole story. It is fundamentally correct that a brighter screen will be more readable; therefore, increasing the brightness of the screen is an essential part of the equation. However, increase it too much, and you run into several pitfalls. Most notably and predictably, increased brightness comes with a battery life penalty. Additionally, too much backlight tends to wash out the darker areas of the screen, reducing readability in normal conditions. For these reasons, it’s best to take a more balanced approach.