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Nathan Collins
10 October 2024
Not all devices require screens. Some rely on web-based user interfaces or smartphone apps for control and interaction. But if your product needs a built-in screen and you need to decide which to get and what to do with it, the rest of this blog is for you.
It’s important to choose the right graphics capabilities for your device's UI – especially if you need advanced features like smooth animations, high frame rates, sophisticated rendering, and high-resolutions. Managing these countless pixels often means offloading a lot of the rendering to a GPU in order to enhance performance and ultimately improve the overall UX. In some cases, you might also need dedicated display memory for bigger or more vibrant displays with max color depth.
Ultra-powerful smartphones continually raise the public’s bar on UI expectations, which in turn drives a need for better graphics capabilities. Make sure your hardware can handle both increasing customer expectations and your product’s future requirements. Older GPU technology and limited memory bandwidth can severely restrict the performance of even simple interfaces on high-resolution displays. In such cases, even extensive software optimization may only yield limited improvements. Investing in better GPU capabilities now can provide future proofing against growing UI demands.
Most user interfaces don’t need anything more than 2D. And a lot of 3D can be simulated with pre-rendered images or 3D-like design elements for those that do. However, certain devices such as manufacturing equipment, 3D printers, medical equipment, or CNC machines can benefit significantly from 3D visualizations. Applications for these devices often require rendering complex 3D scenes, potentially involving up to 250,000 triangles (or more) and requiring high refresh rates and larger screen sizes. This places substantial loads on the GPU, CPU, and memory pipeline. Many embedded processors can struggle with these demands. It's advisable to test several evaluation boards with a prototype of your application to identify the most suitable hardware. Consulting with experts who have experience in 3D rendering on various platforms can also provide valuable insights into making the right hardware choice for 3D capabilities.
The appropriate screen for your device depends on its intended application. Characteristics such as refresh rate, temperature range, contrast, and visibility are crucial and vary significantly based on the environment – whether it's a round-the-clock industrial controller or a handheld device used outdoors in sunlight.
For portable devices, power consumption is also a critical factor. Different display technologies have varying impacts on battery life. For instance, while OLED screens offer vibrant colors and don't require a backlight, they typically consume only slightly less power than standard TFT LCD screens and may have shorter lifespans, which could be a drawback. On the other hand, ePaper displays excel in power efficiency with minimal current draw but are limited in color range, resolution, refresh rate, and overall readability under certain conditions.
Opting for an established graphics framework is more efficient than developing a custom one. The choice of framework should match your project's needs – whether you require comprehensive support for multiple operating systems and programming languages or prefer something more specialized for web and mobile applications. What should you look for in your GUI framework?
Choosing the right framework involves balancing many factors so it can support both consumer and technical requirements. Several frameworks are well-suited for embedded, web, or desktop development. For a list of some we recommend, see our Best Practices guide on screens.
About KDAB
The KDAB Group is a globally recognized provider for software consulting, development and training, specializing in embedded devices and complex cross-platform desktop applications. In addition to being leading experts in Qt, C++ and 3D technologies for over two decades, KDAB provides deep expertise across the stack, including Linux, Rust and modern UI frameworks. With 100+ employees from 20 countries and offices in Sweden, Germany, USA, France and UK, we serve clients around the world.