Pixel Qi screens to be used by a major manufacturer in 2010
By Joanna Stern 
posted January 8th 2010 3:37PM
posted January 8th 2010 3:37PM
We've been waiting and waiting to see Pixel Qi's 3Qi e-paper screen in a device, and we were hoping to see some sort of solid announcement at CES, but looks like we will still be waiting. Though the company has ramped up production on its E ink killer, which allows you to turn the backlight off on an LCD screen, they're still working with its half a dozen partners. We were told that within the year we will see a manufacturer that "everyone is familiar with" announcing a device that uses the technology. No word on if it will be a netbook, e-reader or tablet.
Though we've seen prototype devices before and the Notion Ink Adam here at the show, we got another look at it today from PixelQi founder Mary Lou Jepsen herself. The high resolution display was hacked into a Lenovo IdeaPad S10, and with the backlight on the color LCD screen looked crisp. We did notice that while watching a video clip on the screen horizontal viewing angles were poor in some lighting, but text and the rest of the OS was clear as day. Similarly, when we turned the backlight off, which switches the display to just a monochrome mode, the viewing angles on a movie weren't great, but a PDF looked just as good as it does on an Amazon Kindle. Regardless, we continue to be impressed with the refresh rates of the display considering you can't do anything like it with E ink or any other reader on the market. Hit the break for a quick video.
NUMber ONe?
sweet i did it, i feel all good now. pertaining to the article looks like an old newspaper i guess
Say it with me now... iSlate!
Of course, I'm probably wrong, but we'll know in a few weeks.
@foxh8er2
I'm guessing you are wrong because the speculation is that the iSlate will be priced under $1000. This screen cannot be cheap right now.
@NaJaKwa The beauty of using existing LCD tech is that this IS dramatically cheaper to produce than eink screens are. Last I read, this was no more expensive to produce than any other LCD, though certainly some research cost went into creating the reflective layers.
Apple would completely revitalize themselves in my eyes if they used pixel qi. eink is dramatically over-rated, too expensive and far too slow. Something like this would keep a multimedia tablet a tablet, still allow excellent battery life, and keep costs down. If their alleged tablet uses the iphone OS, then that means apps for B&N, Kindle, AND eReader will available for it, to say nothing of the ever-popular stanza. I'd never buy an iPhone, but a pixelqi iSlate with the iPhone OS... maybe.
@foxh8er2
Apple will likely be going with tried and true technology and not some upstart company. Too big a risk if you ask me. Apple's device will probably focus more on video media than merely the conventional book, magazines, newspaper stuff. I doubt if PixelQi displays are meant to handle gaming frame-rates.
I hope to see more Tegra 2 powered Qi based tablets. I loved the features of Notion Ink tablet, but the prototype surely lacks in the looks department. Hopefully the industrial design when mass produced would fix that ...
@Rex The glossy screen really bothers me on the Notion Ink Adam. I mean wtf? Great daylight reading IF you can see past the fraking glare. Hopefully that's not in the final design.
Video not available....
Anyways I'm hoping Engadget posts an article that reviews ALL the different e-Readers that were announced at this even cuz right now it just seems like one big giant clusterfuck...
Add in all the tablets that also could be e-readers my mind is spinning.
All I know is that the Kindle is fugly and the HP tablet doesn't look like anything special....
Of course Apple has me dying to know what they've got in the woodworks and chances are it could be the best thing since sliced bread.
All this anticipation is killing me though...
Could be Apple, anything is possible ..
@Aziz S
Can they cure cancer?
@paul34
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8443541.stm
Maybe?
i am overly excited what Apple is going to present to the World end of the Month.
But if the "Tablet whatever" is going to have this kind of tech, implemented in perfection. Featuring Multitouch and all the stuff. And if they would then be starting to sell books via iTunes. Kindle would most certainly suffer and depending on Apples pricing this suffering will end in a painful death.
@iRACK
Eh, there are those of us who find Apple products to be entirely frustrating, so I don't think they can just kill the Kindle with a product that costs 3 times as much.
@CtrlBurn Thats why i said "depending on Apples pricing" ... But i Agree it will not be for everyone... The iPOD doesn't appeal to so many does it? Ok well to most the People in the world but that is not everyone ;-)
Downrating imminent.
@CtrlBurn
You find computers frustrating? Or is it that you struggle with unix?
Kindle 3?
@Rick James Is a good guess to i think. Lets just wait (cant no more) and see what the Year will bring.
I must admit, this kind of hybrid is going to be the Future and i LOVE it. Always hated to read long texts on LCD´s, and that is not only me but millions. I should get stock from Qi... if they are listed.
@Rick James I'd rather see it on more open devices first. A pixel qi kindle would still limit you to OTA shopping from Amazon alone. A pixel qi Windows/Linux/iPhone OS/Android present more book choice more conveniently to the user from apps that directly connect to several major stores.
@Rick James
>Kindle 3?
That's what I've been hoping.
@Rick James
It would need to be thicker than its predecessors, and wouldn't get the same kind of battery life.
@iRACK
first thing i did when i heard about what this company was developing was look to see if they were publicly traded. too bad they're not :-/
you better believe i'm picking up some stock tho if they do go public!
"With the backlight on the screen color looked crisp though horizontal viewing angles while watching a video clip on the screen were poor in some lighting."
Ow, my brain.
Whatever... Just announce this in a netbook already so I can buy it. The battery life savings alone would make me buy this thing....
@GadgetGeeks There was once some tentative talk about pixelqi conversion kits. If you have a particularly popular netbook already, you might someday have the option to convert it yourself.
I have an AAO, not the greatest netbook ever, but very widely sold. I'm hopeful that Pixel Qi follows through on conversion kits.
I'd also like to see this in a netbook. With Windows you literally have support for every ebook format there is (without the mess of converting and/or DRM stripping).
Methinks ASUS - it could be Lenovo; it won't be Samsung - they are THE LCD people. Might be HP, but my money is on ASUS.
The Pixel Qi screens are supposed to be very cheap. They are built in existing LCD fabs using existing LCD processes. There's no need to think the devices incorporating them will be expensive. Mary Lou did come from the One Laptop Per Child group, keeping things inexpensive runs in her blood :-)
I'm really excited for these screens because they promise the power of a computer with the battery life of an E-ink device.
No matter how cheap the displays actually are, I can almost guarantee OEMs will inflate their prices. Milking us early adopters.
Ah..., this is it. An all-in-one, dual-mode convertible Tablet PC + e-Reader. Swappable between the two uses.
Ectaco jetBook e-readers use a similar non-backlit LCD screen, and get good battery life with a low-power processor.
Make it thin and light, with SSD, and dual boot capable to a simple power-saving OS for when e-reading. Then when your PDF doesn't look so good on the e-reader screen, swap to your full OS. Or when you're running low on battery power, swap to e-reader mode.
Maybe two years away?
Dear LCD manufaturers,
Please stop this 16:9 nonsence. This screen format is not suitable for every situation. This is specially true for tablets.
Why should I need a long device when format that mimics a paper is more suitable for this?
Hopefull they will sort it out soon.
Dear LCD manufacturers:
Love the 16:9, keep it up. It's a wonderful AR for the large variety of media a tablet can handle AND it's a near approximation of legal paper and the ever handy 8x5 notepad formats.
As I recall the main reason manufacturers switched to 16:9 (ditching the taller 16:10) was so they could share part of the manufacturing process with their LCD TVs.
Interesting stuff to be sure.
Probably the most anticipated tech for this year by me personally.
BUT - I want to see some actual productions units and some in depth testing and review talking about the contrast vs e-ink while in reflective mode.
This vid wasn't that impressive but then you are seeing it through a camera and with sunlight backlighting it - not actually lighting it through most of the vid.
So, I am still quite hopeful for it.
@savagemike but by comparing it to the kindle, you could see that it wasn't far off, both are dark and blurry on the crappy video, but by comparison there is probably not enough of a visual dropoff with the Qi to overcome the fact that it's color and has a refresh rate high enough to play video. The battery life would be longer too, but enough to be mentioned against the kindle's
this is some exiting stuff. :) Make a tablet of this screen and it's going to be HAWT!!!
Say it with me people: needs to be dual screen and the other screen can be full LCD tech with a backlight and touch for all I care. We only really need one reflective screen. That's why I think a true e-ink is still better than these hybrid techs, we usually switch between image and text anyway, so there isn't a problem if the youtube vid is on one screen while the comments are on another.