Pixel Qi introduces 10 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel sunlight viewable displays

Pixel Qi’s display technology combines some of the best features of an LCD screen with those of an E Ink display. With the backlight on a Pixel Qi display can handle a full range of colors and full motion video. Cut off the backlight and you get a high contrast display that’s almost black and white and which you can view in direct sunlight. Oh yeah, killing the backlight also reduces power consumption by about 80 percent.

The company has been showing off 7 and 10 inch displays for the last few years, but so far only a handful of products have hit the streets with Pixel Qi technologies such as the Notion Ink Adam tablet and Clover SunBook netbook. And while we saw a 7 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display prototype in January, so far the only panels showing up in the market are 10 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel screens. While that’s still the resolution used by most netbooks, most 10 inch tablets running Google Android 3.x have higher resolution screens.

So as expected, Pixel Qi is now showing off a new 10 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display. Engadget reports that the new screens look a lot sharper, as you’d expect. But they’re also not as bright at the moment, although Pixel Qi is still working on display brightness. The new screen is also thinner than the company’s earlier models. It’s expected to ship toward the end of 2011.

Pixel Qi also expects to start shipping samples of its 7 inch display during the third quarter of the year.

Charbax from ARMDevices caught up with Pixel Qi founder Mary Lou Jepsen and shot a hands-on video with the company’s latest displays. You can check it out after the break.

Posted on Tuesday, May 31st, 2011, 7:50 am by Brad Linder | 11 Comments

Michaelpaulpenang

Unless the big boys like Asus and Samsung adopt Pixel Qi technology, I doubt this great technology will ever survive.

Brad, how many people have really bought Notion Ink’s device? And would you buy a netbook from Clover as opposed to from Asus?
http://ARMdevices.net/ Charbax

CMI is one of the biggest screen makers, and CPT is also one of the top medium size screen makers, those are big and serious factories. And Pixel Qi is in talks to get a third major screen maker on board.
Uncle Warthog

I suspect the chance of seeing this vaporware hit any actual shipping product is close to zero.
Someone

Pessimist. The other screens are in actual products… Just not very main stream ones, sadly.
Someone

Hey since you’re commenting here, and played with them. What were the viewing angles like on these screens? At all comparable to IPS screens from other manufacturers? I’ll head over to watch the videos on your sight tonight, but they’re blocked at work, whereas Liliputing isn’t for some reason. I’m just curious since I’m not overly worried about the brightness issue, that seems like something that could be worked out, viewing angles on the other hand may be more inherently limited by the tech involved so I would love your opinion on this.
Anonymous

The screen market isn’t like the rest of the market, progress is measured in years. Like look at OLED displays and how long it took them to be used in any significant number of devices.

So while many of us would like to see much more rapid adoption, it’ll probably be a few more years before we know if they will really become mainstream or remain a niche product.

Mind other screen technology is also improving with some of the ultra thin displays promising up to a 40% reduction in power usage. So there is competition to consider as well.
http://ARMdevices.net/ Charbax

I don’t think that there is any brightness issue. That 1280×800 screen is the first sample they got, it’s not got a full brightness or full colors yet. It’ll be as bright, as saturated, as good or better viewing angles than the latest IPS screens, by the time it’s released I think she said Q4 around there.
Noitatsidem Eht

Yeah, you know, the ones people care about.
Dave Marney

I bought a Pixel Qi screen and retrofitted it to my Samsung NB30 netbook. The performance in daylight is stunning; it really has to be seen to be believed. Being able to go anywhere probably increases the utility of my netbook by a third or more.

Even though they can’t help but be pricey at quantity 1, I’m looking forward to buying the latest generation when it becomes available.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Nicolas-Gonzalez-Oddone/671055194 Nicolas Gonzalez Oddone

Actual users don’t have very high opinions of current implementations (Notion Ink Adam tablet for example), i’ll bet mirasol tech might make it happen
4r4nd0mninj4

I hear they sold about 2k total between PO1, PO1.5 and PO2.

Pixel Qi introduces 10 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel sunlight viewable displays

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