Hands-on With Pixel Qi Screens In Full Sunlight 87
griffjon writes with this drool-inducing bit, describing a "side-by-side comparison of the OLPC's screen and an Acer with the new Pixel Qi screen installed, both of course sharing Mary Lou Jepsen's screen technology: 'The XO's dual mode screen still rules in terms of pixel resolution at 1200 x 900 vs. the Acer's 1024 x 600. It was amazing to see Windows 7, Amazon Kindle software, the New York Times web site and a QuickTime video in direct sunlight. Shades of gray and some color tints are visible. Besides the XOs and e-ink based Kindle ereaders, no other color screen device I own can be seen as clearly in sunlight. Not even the famed iPad. In the video, you can see that at a certain angle where line of sight and sun are aligned, the new Pixel Qi screen glows as if backlit!'"
Re:Uh... thanks, but no. (Score:2, Informative)
transflective displays are available (Score:4, Informative)
which are indoor / outdoor viewable.
The problem is finding units which have them --- picked up a Fujitsu Stylistic ST-4121 w/ one and it's perfectly readable in direct sunlight --- I use it as a map display unit on long trips.
Not many new units being made w/ such displays though.
Re:Outside, leave the laptop at home (Score:3, Informative)
If you're outside, you should, you know, be outside, doing outsidey kinds of things.
Laptops are only an "indoorey" thing because their screens are pretty crap in the sunlight. This fixes the problem, thus why shouldn't computers be an "outsidey" kind of thing?
I use my XO outside all of the time. It's great to sit on a quiet bench in a park, have some lunch, feed the ducks and hack on some Python :)