Pixel Qi's Mary Lou Jepsen answers your questions in a new video

[Charbax]

Mary Lou Jepsen, the inventor and CTO of the Pixel Qi 3Qi screen (and
OLPC) is back in Taipei from the SID conference. She answers some
of the user questions posted on some of the blog threads in this new video http://techvideoblog.com/computex/ma...user-comments/

There is also a second cool new HD quality video comparing Pixel Qi
3Qi screen to the Kindle, to the Toshiba R600 Protégé transflective
screen and to a regular resistive tablet laptop at
http://techvideoblog.com/computex/pi...ar-lcd-tablet/

The third video is also awesome, but it is still uploading and
processing on Youtube and should be available in a couple of hours (or
a bit later) at http://techvideoblog.com/computex/ma...sens-home-lab/ also in HD quality filming
right from Mary Lou Jepsen's screen lab putting and testing a 3Qi screen in OLPC XO 1.5 among other things.

[mobelby]

wow

just put a pixel qi screen on a viliv x70ex and we're done. That's my dream reader

[wallcraft]

What I got out of the videos:

~200 ppi monocrome (I have also heard 205 ppi)
~120 ppi full color

Low cost, i.e. $200 for an entire device not the screen. However, they are interested in high volumes.

Looking into a way to get the screens to those who want to retrofit their existing laptops.

Initial production run, this fall, will use existing electronics and so won't save much power. Lower power next year. The last video cut off before the actual power savings this year was made clear. Presumably, the monochrome mode will save power due to no backlight.

Touch screens don't seem to be on their radar. It is clear that a resistive touch screen would be a bad idea, but Mary Lou was non-committal about other touch screen technologies. It may be that touch is to some extent orthogonal to the screen improvements.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Charbax

Mary Lou Jepsen, the inventor and CTO of the Pixel Qi 3Qi screen (and
OLPC) is back in Taipei from the SID conference. She answers some
of the user questions posted on some of the blog threads in this new video http://techvideoblog.com/computex/ma...user-comments/

Did everyone else notice the Mobileread forums scrolling by on her laptop?

[Andybaby]

I didn't watch the video, but company cred just went up by 100% for most of the readers here. means they are listening.

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Did everyone else notice the Mobileread forums scrolling by on her laptop?

12:35 into the first video she specifically says: "This is from Mobileread ..."

[Charbax]

So what do you say, isn't this front page material?

Yup she specifically answers a few of the comments from the mobileread forum thread on the first video that was sent during computex.

I think that she said touch screen are totally doable, it's up to the manufacturers if they want to implement it. She does not recommend using specifically the resistive touchscreen technology though, even though it's the cheapest. Though there are 200 other touchscreen technologies. I would think that a stylus-only touchscreen technology like Wacom would be great enough, since I wouldn't so much need finger touchscreen capabillity on the 10 inch screen, but rather use the stylus to select text, mark text, scribble stuff on texts, handwrite some comments and stuff like that. And have those stylus handwritten stylus inputs be uploaded and shared with other users who are reading the same content while in sharing and collaboration modes.

[Who are you?]

She says colors are 40% of the NTSC gamut, that seems quite low for indoor use like watching movies. I hope they can get that up to make it a complete replacement for old fashioned LCD.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Who are you?

She says colors are 40% of the NTSC gamut, that seems quite low for indoor use like watching movies. I hope they can get that up to make it a complete replacement for old fashioned LCD.

watch it again, that's not what she said. She referenced that she had not calibrated the display on that particular system yet so the gamut was not correct.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Charbax

So what do you say, isn't this front page material?

Yup she specifically answers a few of the comments from the mobileread forum thread on the first video that was sent during computex.

I think that she said touch screen are totally doable, it's up to the manufacturers if they want to implement it. She does not recommend using specifically the resistive touchscreen technology though, even though it's the cheapest. Though there are 200 other touchscreen technologies. I would think that a stylus-only touchscreen technology like Wacom would be great enough, since I wouldn't so much need finger touchscreen capabillity on the 10 inch screen, but rather use the stylus to select text, mark text, scribble stuff on texts, handwrite some comments and stuff like that. And have those stylus handwritten stylus inputs be uploaded and shared with other users who are reading the same content while in sharing and collaboration modes.

That is what I got from the video as well. Great job BTW!!

I got that here were some potentially viable pairings out there but that give these were the first seven displays to exist there has obviously not be any time to do more than casual investigation.

Anyone with the ability to solve a doorknob should know there will and must be a touch version of these screens to make them more than a curiosity. Touch is going to be completely independent of the display itself, just as with LCD's today.

I agree too that touch would only be needed for notes, scribbles and such...at least at first. I sorta felt either a genuine Wacom of some offshoot is the most reasonable approach initially. Isn't one drawback to Wacom the cost of the digitizer itself though? Heck, it might be more costly that the display panel. I wonder though if a deal is worked out with Wacom to produce some huge number of digitizers to be packages with the display panels could significantly drop the price?

[rjfarrell]

Andybaby is famous now....I saw his name several times as she was scrolling thru.

[junkyardwillie]

Pixel Qi owned Toshiba and that tablet. I think I'd get one even before they come out with the tablet version. I'd love to have the functionality of a tablet but I want one of these so bad I don't think I'd be able to wait another year or so for them to figure out the right technology to get it working.

Seeing this device working gives me hope that they will be able to get this on out before the end of 2009, I wonder if they could drop one of the screens in a smartbook?

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

What I got out of the videos:

~200 ppi monocrome (I have also heard 205 ppi)
~120 ppi full color

Low cost, i.e. $200 for an entire device not the screen. However, they are interested in high volumes.

Looking into a way to get the screens to those who want to retrofit their existing laptops.

Initial production run, this fall, will use existing electronics and so won't save much power. Lower power next year. The last video cut off before the actual power savings this year was made clear. Presumably, the monochrome mode will save power due to no backlight.

...

I do not believe that is what she said or will be the case. Pixel Qi makes the panel then the mfg's will need a firmware mod to take advantage of the power modes. From what she explained it is really that simple. She even mentioned the only goal they were unable to achieve was that 3rd one where the power control was independent of the device. Hence the need for a firmware mod will be required. This should be very trivial for the mfg's.

Where the industry might have a problem is adoption due to existing purchase contracts between panel makers and device brands/mfg's. I am willing to bet that there is not a laptop maker/brand out there which would not like to increase their "potential" run time using existing batteries from 4-6hrs to 10-12hrs with a fully usable outdoor mode simply by using a different display which will cost at worst the same but likely less than the current display panels being used.

One potential motivation for change now, is that the same panel mfg's like say, Samsung, can in-place switch to 3Qi production at what seems to be, no added cost to them. This could induce the panel makers to rework deals with the laptop brands in order to help boost what have to be sagging sales right now and keep product at current levels or, hopefully increase them.

[Who are you?]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

watch it again, that's not what she said. She referenced that she had not calibrated the display on that particular system yet so the gamut was not correct.

That's exactly what she said.

Gamut has nothing at all to do with gamma. The gamma is incorrect as she said due to spacers, but also at 9:20 she says the gamut is 40% of NTSC, which is pretty poor.

Originally Posted by brecklundin

[kacir]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Did everyone else notice the Mobileread forums scrolling by on her laptop?

I was practically jumping around from excitement.
The industry IS listening.

Let me repeat myself:
I want one of those as my main 22 inch monitor. For vast majority of work I do on this computer this would be just awesome. And If I need to see my design in full colors, I switch on the backlight to take a peek. No more staring into brightly lit thing for 10+ hours a day.