Quote:
Originally Posted by Damætas
Hmm. Where are you getting your information re: Pixel Qi saying poorer contrast? My info is based on what Mary Lou said in San Antonio. I don't think that part is that revolutionary. After all, the older monocrome non-eink LCD display that the jetBook uses has better contrast than e-ink. See:
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Reflective_LCD
Since there are also already LCD screens that retain their image even when the power is off, I have no reason to doubt Pixel Qi on that either.
Edit: It seems others picked up on this feature as well: "Pixel Qi have finally demonstrated their clever 3Qi screen, which mixes together indoor and outdoor readability together with an e-paper mode. The same panel is used in both halves of this picture: on the left, it’s set to full color saturation with its backlight on, while on the right the backlight is off and the panel is in e-paper mode. The latter will be incredibly power-frugal, as e-paper only draws power when changing the display, not to maintain an image."
http://www.slashgear.com/tags/pixel-qi/ |
That
Slashdot SlashGear article is incorrect. Bistability is usually considered one of the defining characteristics of an epaper display, but then for this reason you could argue that Pixel Qi isn't a true epaper technology. And while there are LCDs that can maintain their image without any power (the Fujitsu Flepia uses such a display), they currently take about 5-10 seconds to actually refresh.
Now in the interview with Mary Lou Jepsen,
linked above, she pointed out that there is research being done within her industry into creating more stable liquid crystals. Potentially reducing the minimum refresh rate in the near future, which itself will greatly diminish power consumption (which is already fairly low on a reflective LCD). This research may also
eventually lead to bistable LCDs with decent refresh rates.