On Pixel Qi and power consumption

Wired takes a pretty good in-depth look at Pixel Qi's technology. Pixel Qi claims they will ship millions of units in 2010, beginning with 10" Netbook displays:

“We are going mainstream in 2010 in millions of units and we are leading with netbooks,” says Mary Lou Jepsen, founder of Pixel Qi.

The screen technology claims three modes of operation:

• A full color LCD mode
• A low power, sunlight visible reflective e-paper mode
• A transflective mode, making the LCD visible in direct sunlight

The specs for the 10" screen sound okay at a 1024 x 600 pixels - nothing too impressive, but about average for Netbooks.

The problem seems to be power and possibly eye strain at least as pertains to use in an eReader. While the LCD consumes 2.5 watts, which is pretty impressive, the passive mode seems to still chew up .5 watts and have a constant refresh rate. 

The benefits of eInk style displays is virtually no idle power consumption, and reduced eye strain thanks to not using a backlight, and not having a constant 60hz refresh rate flickering - whether or not you actively see the flickering it's there. The question is, does this reintroduce some of those issues.