I was playing with the 10BII that I got as a door prize at HHC2007, and cranked up the contrast of the display to make it more readable on the airplane. i.e. the displayed numbers seemed much darker with respect to the background.
Then, I wondered if I had changed, for the better or worse, the power being used from the battery.
Does anybody know if or how the contrast affects power use by the display? I am under the impression that LCD characters are basically a static response to an electric field, so I'd guess that there is not much affect on power consumption. But, how do they actually change the contrast - a +/- voltage effect, or a phase effect (due to voltage?) in (one of) the polarizer(s)??