Friday, May 24, 2013: Sharp Microelectronics’ diagonal Memory LCD will be featured in the new smartwatch to be released by Secret Labs. The watch called AGENT will enable 3rd-party apps, Bluetooth 4.0 (allowing connection to iPhone, Android or Windows phone), wireless charging, notifications, smartphone music control, and more – with battery life of up to a week in full operation and up to a month in standby mode.
The Sharp Memory LCD embeds 1-bit memory in every pixel, which enables each pixel to hold state while requiring very little current. This aids the AGENT’s advanced power management system in delivering an “always on” display that uses little power (only a single supply voltage is required), even when updating images.
The display’s technology also eliminates key issues such as flicker and image retention. The Memory LCD’s response time makes it fast enough to display video, and crisp, monochrome images are delivered in high-resolution.
“A truly smart watch needs an outdoor-readable, always-on display,” said Chris Walker of Secret Labs. “E-paper displays met our ultra-low power requirements, but they lacked the animation and backlight capabilities of traditional LCDs. Sharp’s Memory LCDs provided the perfect solution, combining the best features of both technologies. Using the 1.28-inch Memory LCD, our users experience a beautiful and responsive interface—with battery runtime measured in weeks instead of hours.”
AGENT’s dual-processor design includes the latest Atmel Cortex-M4 microcontroller, running apps powered by Microsoft’s .NET Micro Framework. The smartwatch’s elegant design is a collaboration with NYC’s House of Horology.
