Power efficient and easy-to-read 3Qi screen to appear at Computex
If you’re at Computex this week, try to make an appointment to check out Pixel Qi’s new product. The company is currently working on screens for netbooks and ebook readers and plans for them to be available for a mass audience by the end of 2009. Their first product the 3Qi (which we wrote about earlier) is a 10.1” screen designed for netbooks,and the company says we should seem them on netbooks by the end of the year.
What’s so special about these screens? Among other factors like saving battery life, they solve my biggest problem with screens today: they make it easier to read documents both indoors and outdoors.
Benefits of the Pixel Qi Screen
1. Works in three modes:
- Black & white e-ink mode for reading text documents and ebooks. The backlight is shut off in this mode, thereby saving a lot of power.
- Color mode designed for use indoors making screens more suitable for web surfing and video playback
- Color mode for bright sunlight ☺
2. Fast video refresh rate
3. Low power consumption – using ½ to ¼ the power of a regular LCD screen. Pixel Qi claims this will increase battery life by 5-fold – sounds like a bold promise, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Screenshots
In color mode with the backlight on, in epaper mode with the backlight off, and outdoors in epaper mode. Check out how readable the screen is in the outdoors shot!
The screens cost a bit more than normal LCD screens, and to date there is no news about which netbook manufacturers might team up with Pixel Qi.
By upgrading to Pixel Qi’s epaper screens, netbooks will be able to compete directly with ebook readers (like the Amazon Kindle) in time for the holidays. Especially since both netbooks and ebook readers are so similarly priced: the Asus 1000HE, Dell Mini 10″ series and the Kindle all fall within the $350-$400 price range.
I really hope Pixel Qi’s screens take off. If they do, we’re looking at screens that are easier on the eye, and netbooks with way longer battery life. I’d take it over an ebook reader any day!
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Filed under: Netbooks
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