color e-ink

[3bayjunkie]

Lets hear everyones opinion on the new color e-ink that is coming out. I think it will be very cool, however we will have to see what the contrast looks like. The one obvious downfall will be the fact that the resolution will be divided by 4. so your now, 600x800 screen would only be 300x400. This is just a practical example of course since the newer e-ink I am sure will have a denser technology (at least i hope) which could keep the resolution to the colored Kindle to the same 600x800.

Carry on then...

see the full article here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/14/colour_e_books/

Electronic ink is going colour - but you should probably wait a bit for your rainbow-friendly e-reader.

A year ago we looked at e-ink technologies, and suggested it would be 2011 before we saw colour e-ink devices on the shelves. On this occasion it seems we got it about right; though if you can wait until the latter part of the year, and are prepared to pay for it, then you'll get video as well, as e-ink and traditional technologies get closer together in good ways and bad.

On Tuesday E-Ink Corporation demonstrated its Triton colour screen technology, as well as announcing the first device to use it - from Hanvon and priced at around $440 for a 10-inch colour screen that only consumes power while its being updated. But Qualcomm would have us wait until January for the first product using its own technology, despite demonstrating it more than a year ago.

E-ink screens rely on reflected light, so work better in bright sunlight than under the covers; most of them can't be back-lit even if it were desirable, so a reading lamp is essential. They are also static - once an image is displayed it remains, as opposed to the constantly-updating LCD or CRT technology that can make even modern screens uncomfortable to use for long periods.

For an electronic ink technology, the most important factor is how much light the screen can reflect, or absorb on the black bits, and even modern electronic ink tends to be grey-and-slightly-darker-grey rather than black-and-white. The speed with which the screen can update is also important for usability, and overly-reflective glass can affect the users' experience too, but it is colour that everyone has been waiting for.

E-ink isn't just a technology, it's also the name of the E-Ink Corporation. Their greyscale screens already adorn e-book readers from just about everyone.

The latest incarnation, the E Ink Pearl, can be seen offering much better contrast in Amazon's Kindle 3, as well as Sony's latest generation of readers, though it still works on the same principle as earlier designs: tiny beads that are raised or lowered within a pixel to make white or black dots (or slightly raised to make grey):


The beads are suspended in goo, driven to the top by an electrostatic charge
Adding colour to that process is difficult, but can be done by putting different coloured filters on top of adjacent pixels. Make the pixels small enough and the human eye will blur them together to make colours defined by the relative brightness of the sub-pixels, which is what the E Ink Corporation's latest "Triton" screen that was demonstrated last week does:


The pixels are so small that they blur together
Obviously this reduces one's resolution by four, but that might be an acceptable price to pay for colour, which is hard to achieve any other way.

[OtterBooks]

If given the choice between a non-color and color, I would not compromise resolution for color since I only use the kindle for text. Assuming that compromise still existed in the final product.

[WS64]

Originally Posted by 3bayjunkie

The one obvious downfall will be the fact that the resolution will be divided by 4. so your now, 600x800 screen would only be 150x200.

I have no opinion (yet) on color E-ink, but a fourth of 600x800 is not 150x200 but 300x400...

[3bayjunkie]

Originally Posted by WS64

I have no opinion (yet) on color E-ink, but a fourth of 600x800 is not 150x200 but 300x400...

oh snap! you are right my brotha! I wasn't really thinking when i wrote that i was just making a point.

[DiapDealer]

As always... I have no use for a color reading device. Everything I read is black text on a light background. However, if they can guarantee that my boring black & white experience will not be compromised (or altered) in any way, shape, or form... you'll hear no complaints from me.

[kindlekitten]

I think I will wait 4 or 5 generations. I wouldn't mind eventually having a color device it would be nice to start getting all of my magazines electronically. (except National G and Skiing ;o)

[jgumphress]

I thought that I would like to wait for a Kindle color to come out. But with the other devices on the market like the Nook. I realize that the Kindle is mainly for reading. And can you realy read in color? I have an iPad and find that it is NOT good for reading. Granted the page is pretty and it is nice to see a pretty picture on you page now and then. But realy, when I want to just read a good book I read better withought those distractions. And then there is the eye strain reading on an iPad and other color devices due to the back lighting. I like my Kindle the way it is. One day if the technology improves to the point where the eInk in color works as nicely as the monotone eInk then it might be time for a new device.

[max99]

the colour technology doesn't interest me that much. i think many devices like the ipad which can play videos are just too distracting to use as a dedicated reader. what i like about the kindle is it's totally focussed on reproducing the classic experience of reading a book, and it does so brilliantly.

[3bayjunkie]

I am not sure why some of you are comparing the color e-ink to an ipad or any other lcd screen. it is in color but it is not back-lit and it is not lcd. so i think you are missing the point...

two words: magazines, comic books.

[DiapDealer]

two words: magazines, comic books.

Four words: I don't read them.

So like I said.. unless they can guarantee me that my current (perfectly satisfactory) reading experience will not be affected in any way, I'm just not interested.

If they can pull it off with no loss of contrast (or resolution)... great! Go for it. But if not, they're going to have to keep making a Greyscale model in order to keep my business (whenever my current Kindle fails).

[joblack]

The problem is not so much the resolution but the bad contrast.

[Barty]

Originally Posted by 3bayjunkie

I am not sure why some of you are comparing the color e-ink to an ipad or any other lcd screen. it is in color but it is not back-lit and it is not lcd. so i think you are missing the point...

two words: magazines, comic books.

Those are no fun to read on a 6 inch screen. At DX size, you're looking at iPad price, but with undoubtedly (for early generation) poor color rerprofuction, poor contrast, lower resolution. Might as well get an iPad.

[3bayjunkie]

Originally Posted by Barty

Those are no fun to read on a 6 inch screen. At DX size, you're looking at iPad price, but with undoubtedly (for early generation) poor color rerprofuction, poor contrast, lower resolution. Might as well get an iPad.

I will never buy an Ipad but I'll tell ya one thing. I bet in about 20 years we will be able to watch video on our colored Kindles =P

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by 3bayjunkie

I will never buy an Ipad but I'll tell ya one thing. I bet in about 20 years we will be able to watch video on our colored Kindles =P

(bold added) I think you're unduly pessimistic. I'd say that will be possible in less than five.

[3bayjunkie]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

(bold added) I think you're unduly pessimistic. I'd say that will be possible in less than five.

well that would be a bold quess. with slow refresh rate currently with e-ink. im not seeing that quick of a jump from one frame per second to 30.