14 DAY TRIAL // Apparently, those attending the Consumer Electronics Show in January, as well as those that end up following the news for updates on what is happening, will be able to see a demo of one of the now reasonably famous Pixel Qi displays.
Since their inception, displays have been plagued by what is known as zero or very low visibility under sunlight, or perhaps even artificial light.
LCDs (liquid crystal displays) are definitely one of the more unfortunate type of screens, as they can be completely useless outdoors because of this effect.
Fortunately, certain researchers and developers have been doing their best to come up with a solution, and the Pixel Qi screens seem to be one of those that will show up sooner rather than later.
Basically, this screen can operate in a reflective mode, for low-power and e-reader applications, during which the backlight is turned off.
In this stage, the display practically absorbs ambient light and, thus, is perfectly clear even under direct sun rays.
Now, according to the product page, there seems to be a possibility that samples of the 7-inch Pixel Qi display will make it to the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January.
Commercial availability should come around later on, by which time the final specifications should be established.
Of course, some of those specifications can be guessed in comparison to those of the 10.1-inch model.
That screen has a brightness of 165 nits in a dark room and 235 nits at room lighting, though it jumps to over 1,000 nits when under sunlight.
Among the operations that the Pixel Qi display can accomplish are full-motion video and graphics, even at much lower power consumption than any LCD panel.
Tablets are most likely to benefit from the 7-inch version, as are e-readers, though there are, as of yet, no hints as to how long it will be before any makers of such gadgets opt for it. Whether such plans are already in motion will probably be revealed at CES.