New e-readers will end black and white era

[yagiz]

New e-readers will end black and white era

E Ink Corporation of Cambridge, Massachusetts, says it will be demonstrating a colour version of its e-paper at the Society for Information Display conference in San Antonio, Texas, on 31 May, and that products based on its colour e-paper will be on the market by the end of 2010

[DixieGal]

Great, but I'd be happy with black & white versus the current gray and dark gray.

[pking36330]

Good article which summarizes some of the emerging technologies affecting e-Readers> I say 'good article' since it reports facts and doesn't seem biased toward one approach over the other.

I didn't know "bendiness" was a word, so I learned something today. Now I have to add "bendiness" to my Microsoft Custom Dictionary because Microsoft didn't know it was a word either.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by pking36330

I didn't know "bendiness" was a word, so I learned something today. Now I have to add "bendiness" to my Microsoft Custom Dictionary because Microsoft didn't know it was a word either.

Be flexible.

Maybe English is a second language for the author.

[pking36330]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Be flexible.

Ahhh...I get it, I comment on 'bendiness' and you reply 'be flexible'. Very good!

I wasn't judging at all, and truthfully I can imagine that I've actually said that word or similar before, though seeing it in print was another thing. New words are fine as long as they accurately communicate the concept and 'bendiness' works. I personally don't feel constrained by a closed lexicon. And after re-reading some of my writings every day, its obvious I don't feel constrained by a single spelling of a word.

[Jaime_Astorga]

Well, it's good to have confirmation we will have this in the future (although looking at tech trends it wasn't hard to predict), but it will take years for it to become low priced and widespread. Outside of a small minority of eBook lovers and early technology adopters, I'd say widespread adoption of even black and white eBook readers has only been begun by Amazon's efforts at promoting the Kindle.

[khalleron]

Since the phrase was "the bendiness of paper", I actually think 'bendability' was the proper word choice. 'Flexibility' can also mean 'useful for many purposes', not just the ability to bend, but there was no need to make up another word, likeable as the word is.

[sirbruce]

'Bendiness' is a perfectly cromulent word. Its usage embiggens us all.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

'Bendiness' is a perfectly cromulent word. It's usage embiggens us all.

Jeremiah Springfield!

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Be flexible.

Maybe English is a second language for the author.

Well, the author also talks about flexible transistors. Perhaps science is a second language as well. There is no need for flexible transistors and I can't imaging flexing a transistor that is only only a few nanometers wide.

Dale

[IgnareAcademy]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Great, but I'd be happy with black & white versus the current gray and dark gray.

I would also vastly prefer real white now instead of dark colors replacing dark greys next year.
I will replace my Hanlin clone only with a device equipped with a screen as white as the pages of quality books.

[mjh215]

One thing I -don't- want to see is them abandon the monochrome displays before the colour screens have the same black (ok, gray) and white (ok, gray) contrast that the current screen has. Otherwise for probably 98% of the text in a book you'll read, even in a textbook or technical manual, it would be a step backward. I don't see the benefits of colour outweighing that.

-MJ

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by IgnareAcademy

I would also vastly prefer real white now instead of dark colors replacing dark greys next year.
I will replace my Hanlin clone only with a device equipped with a screen as white as the pages of quality books.

Then it is not likely to be e-Ink. The white of an E-Ink screen starts out with totally white Ink modules but the U-V screen and other protective screens between the ink and the user cause the graying of the ink. The E-Ink guy I talked to says they are trying to make it whiter but so far this is the best they have been able to do. It will likely never be as white as a high quality paper book. The reflective nature of the design where light has to pass through the layers of the screen twice is a good part of the problem. I suppose you could give up on UV protection if you wanted your screen to have a short life.

Dale

[IgnareAcademy]

Bad news for me but interesting!
I believe one of these technologies can help me be more satisfied later this year though:
http://www.epapercentral.com/epaper-technologies-guide

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

The reflective nature of the design where light has to pass through the layers of the screen twice is a good part of the problem. I suppose you could give up on UV protection if you wanted your screen to have a short life.

There can be some progress in making e-ink more UV-resistant, for instance.