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Pixel Qi Demos 10" 1280x800 Pixel Screens

Posted by timothy on from the because-the-xoom-hates-the-light dept.

Compared to their dumber e-ink cousins, tablets with LCD screens suffer at least two notable disadvantages: their batteries last hours or days, rather than weeks (or months), and they're notoriously hard to read in the sunshine. Neither of these problems are likely to be licked soon, but the gap may be shrinking: Mary Lou Jepsen's OLPC spinoff Pixel Qi has now shown off a 10", 1280x800 panel. Pixel Qi's screens are well-known, though not currently widely adopted, for their ability to run in a high-contrast, low-power greyscale mode as well as a still-frugal color mode. Though the company is currently showing prototypes rather than a shipping version of the new high-resolution screens, it's reason to renew hope for a long-lived color-screen tablet that's comfortable in the sunlight.

4 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. Dear PixelQi: by Ender_Stonebender · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Dear PixelQi guys:

    Please make a screen suitable for smartphones. There is a lot more need to use a smartphone than there is to use a laptop, as you can't control when you get incoming calls.

    Thanks,
    Ender Stonebender

    --
    Loose things are easy to lose. You're getting your hair cut. They're going there to see their aunt.
  2. Re:Great! by TD-Linux · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or 640x400, at the rate that laptop resolution is going.

  3. Re:Great! by Mitchell314 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or 2560 x 400, at least screens are getting wider.

    --
    I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  4. Not really "high contrast" by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Informative

    Pixel Qi's screens are well-known, though not currently widely adopted, for their ability to run in a high-contrast, low-power greyscale mode

    No, they're not.

    I own a Notion Ink Adam - one of the few devices on the market today which ships with a Pixel Qi screen. And I can tell you this - the contrast in that low-power mode is horrible. If you expected something like modern eInk readers - say, Kindle 3 or the recent Nook - forget about it. It's actually worse than my first eInk reader that I bought back in 2007!

    The contrast is low enough that reading from Adam inside during the day with no light source shining directly at the screen is impossible. Outside, it's okayish... except still not particularly bright, and glossy screen kills the image. Either way, it's nothing to boast about - sure, it's better in the sun than TFT, but still... And the technology is not free - in "normal TFT" mode, its contrast and colors are less than average TN panel.

    Frankly, after seeing it for myself, I understood why there isn't a long list of devices announced to use the tech despite it currently being in production. Right now it's a pretty huge trade-off that probably doesn't make sense for most users.

    Here is a video where you can see some comparisons, and there are plenty more on YouTube. See for yourself.