A novel nematic liquid crystal (LC) cell with splay structure exhibiting wide viewing angle, fast response time and high transmittance at the same time has been developed. With rubbed homeotropic alignment in parallel directions, the device shows bend alignment in the absence of vertical electric field. However, with applied high voltage in a pulse form, the LC shows a optically compensated splay (OCS) orientation such that the mid-director is parallel to a substrate and at both surfaces the LCs are aligned vertically in parallel direction. In the device, the birefringence of the cell becomes tunable with applying voltage, i.e., the amount of light passed through the cell can be controlled by controlling the orientation of the LC. Since the OCS cell has a self-compensation structure such that the LC has a mirror symmetry along the mid-director, the device shows a wide viewing angle with only a single domain and a fast response time.