Pixel Qi displays, promised since June 2009, operate both in a standard backlit mode and a reflective mode, the latter allowing illumination to be supplied solely by the sun or other ambient lighting. As a result, it's said, Pixel Qi screens can consume 80 percent less power than standard displays.

Unfortunately for sun worshipers, the screens' journey to market has been a protracted one, as we review later in this story. Now, however, Clover Systems is offering its SunBook, the first netbook to come with a Pixel Qi display.

Clover Systems' SunBook

According to Clover, the SunBook (above) has a 10.1-inch screen with the typical netbook resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. But while it might sound ordinary, the dual-mode display allows the netbook to be used anywhere from pitch darkness to the brightest sunlight, the company says.

The SunBook display has a 165-nit brightness rating in a dark room, or a 235-nit rating when supplemented by typical room lighting, says Clover. Take the device out into the sunlight and you'll get a brilliant display rated to deliver more than 1000 nits, the company adds.

Clover says that when the SunBook's display backlighting is turned off, as it would be outdoors, battery life is doubled. This means the device is claimed to work for up to 12 hours on a charge.

Its display aside, the SunBook is an entirely standard netbook, with a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, and a 250GB hard disk drive. Fitted with a VGA-resolution webcam, three USB ports, and an SD/MMC memory card reader, it runs the Windows 7 Starter operating system, according to Clover.

A video demonstration of the SunBook
Source: Liliputing

Background

Pixel Qi (pronounced "Pixel Chee"), which describes itself as a "fabless developer of a new class of screens," was a spinoff from OLPC (One Laptop Per Child), where the former's founder Mary Lou Jepsen is said to have invented the XO-1 laptop's sunlight-readable display technology. Pictured below, the technology allows a portable computer's screen to be switched from a standard, backlit color mode to a reflective mode, saving power and allowing the device to be used even in direct, strong sunlight.

OLPC's XO-1 in color (left) and monochrome (right) modes
(Click either to enlarge)

Pixel Qi first showed off screens based on an evolved version of this technology at the 2009 Computex show in Taiwan, at which time it claimed the displays would be available in netbooks later in the year. The company also said that production would have reached "hundreds of thousands a month" by early 2010.

Notion Ink's Adam

None of that transpired, and, as far as we're aware, only one other Pixel Qi-equipped devices has shipped. That would be the Adam (above), an Android-based tablet from India-based startup Notion Ink. An early version of the Adam was shown at the January 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but the device only began shipping last month. (According to early reviews, battery life is outstanding, but some have complained of glitchy software and poor build quality.)

Pixel Qi says that unlike the electrophorescent displays already offered by E Ink Corporation, or the planned Mirasol displays created by Qualcomm's MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) division, its screens use conventional LCD technology. While this fact limits the power savings the devices can achieve, it was touted as allowing manufacturing partners to ramp up quickly using existing production lines.

Given that, the ongoing delays frustrated even steadfast supporters of Pixel Qi's technology. Jepsen (right) admitted in an April 2010 blog entry that "our initial manufacturing partner did get slowed down in the midst of the economic crisis," but added that Pixel Qi would reward the faithful by releasing kits allowing do-it-yourselfers to install the screens on their netbooks.

Last July, the company made a 10-inch screen available to the DIY community through O'Reilly Media's Make magazine and its online DIY store Maker Shed. Replacing a netbook's existing display with a Pixel Qi screen will likely void any warranty and is "a DIY project at your own risk," Jepsen warned. But, she claimed, "changing the screen of your netbook is easy; the process takes about five to ten minutes using a small screwdriver."

According to Maker Shed, the kits are guaranteed to work only with two netbooks, the Samsung N130 and Lenovo S10-2. A Make video (below), however, showed the PQ 3Qi-01 being installed in an Acer netbook, and described the process as being "only slightly more complicated than changing a light bulb."


Installing a Pixel Qi screen on an Acer netbook
Source: Make
(click to play)
At the time of the DIY kits' release, we expressed disappointment that their cost -- $275 -- was almost as much as the price of the netbooks likely to be used with the upgrade. Unfortunately, the cost of getting a suntan while you work has only gotten higher since then: Clover Systems wants approximately $800 for the SunBook, which is at least $400 higher than comparable netbooks with ordinary screens.

Further information

Further information on the Clover Systems netbook may be found on the SunBook product page.

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• Transflective screens finally shipping, Pixel Qi claims
• Reflective color displays are tablet-ready
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• Transflective netbook displays make Computex debut