AUO shows 15-inch multi-touch panel, more

AU Optronics today revealed a handful of new displays that it hopes will bolster portable devices. Although the company has already developed multi-touch displays, the Taiwan-area firm says it has developed a new 15-inch LCD with the technology built into the cells of the panel itself. The screen uses image sensing to recognize input and so is both responsive to not just fingers but light pens. AUO says this and new 12-inch and 4.3-inch panels with similar features could be used to add multi-touch input to notebooks and larger handhelds.

Besides the touch panels, the company also plans to introduce a borderless, 2.2-inch display (pictured) that can be used for cellphones, media players and similar devices. A larger 2.8-inch, 640x480 panel can recognize images and is detailed enough to capture fingerprints, turning the panel into both a security tool and a scanner.

Other inventions shown by the company include a 24-inch LCD that can include both 2D and 3D imagery at the same time without using glasses, a 7-inch 3D-capable panel, a larger 8.9-inch version of its curved LCD, and a 6.5-inch, 800x480 display with an unusually high 2,000:1 contrast ratio.

AUO doesn't say when any of the new screens will translate into production hardware, though the company regularly produces shipping products for electronics companies. HP has already said it plans to introduce touchscreen notebooks and hopes to introduce multi-touch input before Windows 7 makes it available to more PC builders.

2.2-inch borderless display