
DIY Pixel Qi screens - available now - ph0rque
http://pixelqi.com/blog1/2010/07/01/diy-pixel-qi-screens-available-now/
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sireat
While the price of $275 seems pretty high, it is still much lower than what
you could get e-ink display as a developer.

The big question is, can this screen serve its stated dual purpose as an
excellent e-reader screen and a general purpose netbook screen.

As for the resolution, my wild guess is standard 1024x600 which the Lenovo
S10-2 they are marketing as a replacement screen has. Frankly $275 is a bit
high for 1024x600.

Interesting though is this note: "The e-paper mode has 3 times the resolution
of the fully saturated color mode"

So this e-paper mode is something like 1536x1200 or more like 3072x1800
(unlikely as it seems)?

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cjbprime
No, other way around. The monochrome mode uses a 1-1 pixel mapping, so it's
true 1024x600, but the color mode uses a novel pixel layout that does not have
each color component in every pixel:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XO-1#Display_resolution>

So, while the resolution always remains 1024x600 as far as software's
concerned, the _effective_ resolution is a third when using color.

(Note that the new screen is, I'm sure, not identical to the XO-1 screen, so
you can't assume that the Wikipedia description will be accurate for it.)

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ajkirwin
So the ACTUAL color resolution is what, about 340x200 or something? Or is it
just a vertical/horizontal thing, or?

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evilduck
Without having seen it, or even good pictures of it, I would assume the color
mode would still have full resolution, but that colors would appear "wrong"
but not neccessarily less detailed.

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buster
You guys do know that there is no full color pixel? At least when i look at
the recent display comparisons, it's always a matrix of different red, green,
blue pixels:

[http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2010/06/25/retinal-
scientist-p...](http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2010/06/25/retinal-scientist-
puts-iphone-4s-retina-display-under-the-microscope/)

~~~
evilduck
I'm guessing this screen uses something like this:
[http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/03/secrets-of-
the-n...](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/03/secrets-of-the-nexus-
ones-screen-science-color-and-hacks.ars/)

A matrix of color pixels is less noticable when you have 200-350PPI, vs
something like 80PPI on a netbook.

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guinness
The price tag seems high. As previously mentioned it might be because of, low
inventory volumes, new tech., etc.. What baffles me is that this technology
was developed with OLPC in mind. How can you hope to sell a 100$ laptop
(original price target) if a 10" screen with the same technology is 275$?

OLPC didn't have insane production volumes to begin with yet shipped for 150$
which is less than this screen. Moreover, it was specifically designed to be
able to use existing LCD manufacturing technology which should keep the
production cost low.

I predict that this price is inflated for early adopters since they will
probably be selling all their inventory anyways. They are hopping to have an
extremely high profit margin to recoup original investments.

~~~
wmf
Development kits always cost 10x the volume price of the part. $275 tells you
nothing about the actual cost of the screen.

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RodgerTheGreat
I'd love to see what Rossum (<http://rossum.posterous.com/>) could do with one
of these.

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patrickgzill
This is excellent news; the Kindle and other e-paper devices are too limited,
while reading on LCD screens gives me eyestrain.

~~~
henrikschroder
Well, this is also an LCD screen, so chances are pretty high you'll get
eyestrain on this one as well?

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pyre
Eyestrain comes from viewing something with a backlight. As I understand it,
Pixel Qi displays have the option of turning off the backlight and enabling
their tech that reflects light back through the LCD (like a piece of paper,
etc).

~~~
henrikschroder
Ah, ok. My Nokia phone has a reflective screen, but I've never really thought
about the difference in eye-strain when I look at it indoors and in direct
sunlight. Hm, I have to go test it. :-)

~~~
pyre
You'll still have some amount of eyestrain, but no more than reading text on
paper, or looking at photos, IIRC.

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illumin8
Based on other comments I read here, it seems that the screens are 1024 x 600.
Why are they so expensive? Apple probably only pays $50 or less for the IPS
screen in an iPad.

~~~
regularfry
New tech at low volumes. Of _course_ it's going to be expensive.

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hackermom
Nowhere in the announcing article on pixelqi.com, or on the linked Maker Shed
product page, can the resolution of the display be found. What an awkward
blooper.

~~~
bombs
1024 x 600, based on specs reported by tablets and netbooks that use them,
e.g. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_tablet>.

