ClearBlack

Nokia has been known to do some very innovative things with their phones especially in creating new technology (see their flexible display).  So it's with great interest to see them explain their "ClearBlack" screen system to the masses--or at least attempt to.

For those who don't know, Nokia uses ClearBlack screens on a few of their phones, including the Lumia 710, 800 and 900 series. In simplest terms, it's a circular polarizer that sits between the GorillaGlass and LCD/AMOLED screen, resulting in glare-elimination, higher contrast and better readability due to the elimination of reflected light. It is similar to wearing polarizing sunglasses and that effect but is much more complicated.

In the post on Nokia Conversations, they explain the multiple layers in ClearBlack and what they do:

ClearBlack

There’s both a linear polariser and retardation layers between the surface of your phone and the display. When light hits your screen, this is what happens:

  1. It hits the linear polariser, this vertically polarises the light. (Polarising means – roughly – aligning the wave vibration in a particular direction).
  2. Then it hits the circular polariser retardation layer. This converts the light again, making it right-circularly polarised
  3. Then it hits the screen and bounces off it, switching the rotation of the light to leftist.
  4. It goes back through the retardation layer. When this happens, the light becomes horizontally polarised.
  5. Finally, it hits the linear polariser, since the light is horizontally polarised at this point it can be blocked entirely by this optical solution.

We almost wrapped our head around that explanation. It's certainly complex and from our usage, we really like the result--seriously, go check out the Lumia 710 at your local T-Mo store to get an idea.  Anyways, it's great to see such unique and proprietary technology coming to Windows Phones.

Source: Nokia Conversations; Thanks, Residing, for the heads up