Squint Your Eyes No More With World’s First Naturally Backlit Monitor

Image via Eazeye

What a bright idea! Eazeye is the world’s first naturally backlit monitor, aiming to tackle problems associated with traditional LCDs.

Standard LCD devices rely on artificial backlighting, which can lead to issues such as eye strain and excessive energy consumption. In response to these challenges, Eazeye has introduced an eco-friendly approach that utilizes ambient light instead of artificial illumination, creating a solution that functions just like a conventional display but without the discomfort.

To achieve this feat, Eazeye’s Hong Kong-based inventors ingeniously relocated the circuit boards to the monitor’s base, ensuring an unobstructed path for ambient light transmission. 

Further, displaying images on an LCD typically requires the light source behind the screen to be brighter than the viewing side. For an ambient alternative,  Eazeye designed a hinged reflector panel that redirects overhead lighting, effectively acting as a backlight. This panel’s adjustable angle allows it to function seamlessly with either overhead or rear lighting.

Image via Eazeye

Image via Eazeye

Eazeye’s monitor boasts a high-light transmissibility screen that’s brighter than most LCD counterparts, promising excellent visibility even in environments with limited natural light, the designers explain. Additionally, it incorporates a highly reflective coating, ensuring that more ambient overhead lighting can be directed into the panel. 

Image via Eazeye

The technology doesn’t rule out the use of LEDs completely, though. In scenarios with inadequate natural light, a built-in LED strip equipped with a light guide plate serves as a supplementary illumination source that pairs with the environment.

Drawing from lighting in your surroundings has its advantages. For one, unlike LED-backlit displays, the light source isn’t in direct proximity to the viewer’s eyes, providing enhanced comfort during prolonged use.

Image via Eazeye

Image via Eazeye

When in use outdoors, the monitor leverages the brightness of the environment, delivering vivid visuals even—and especially—when the sun’s glare gets too intense. In contrast, when you use your phone outside, you’ll often face the problem of the screen appearing too dim.

Image via Eazeye

Compared to a typical 24-inch LCD monitor, which consumes approximately 40 watts of power for backlighting, this option uses up a fraction of the energy traditionally demanded. According to Eazeye’s creators, the monitor dramatically reduces that power requirement to just five watts—saving a remarkable 35 watts.

Image via Eazeye

Currently in crowd-backing mode, Eazeye’s monitor has surpassed its funding goal by over 250%.

[via Eazeye]