Barnes and Noble confirms COLOR e-book reader for Spring 2010 [INCORRECT]

[Kali Yuga]

I think the B&N guy (Joresson) is just mistaken about the Plastic Logic device being color.

PL uses eInk, which is nowhere near mass-producing color screens, and the B&W PL device is due in Spring 2010. PL has said nothing about producing a color screen, and if they can do color right now I am sure they would trumpet that fact well far and wide.

Plus, I cannot imagine that they could decide now to switch to a new screen technology and still have it out by Spring 2010 -- especially given the amount of time it's taking them to produce the B&W eInk version.

Declaring "PL has color!" is merely the consequence of high-velocity fact-check-free blog-style reporting.

[rcuadro]

I want one

[rcuadro]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

I think the B&N guy (Joresson) is just mistaken about the Plastic Logic device being color.

PL uses eInk, which is nowhere near mass-producing color screens, and the B&W PL device is due in Spring 2010. PL has said nothing about producing a color screen, and if they can do color right now I am sure they would trumpet that fact well far and wide.

Plus, I cannot imagine that they could decide now to switch to a new screen technology and still have it out by Spring 2010 -- especially given the amount of time it's taking them to produce the B&W eInk version.

Declaring "PL has color!" is merely the consequence of high-velocity fact-check-free blog-style reporting.

This is right from the Platic Logic website...
http://www.plasticlogic.com/about/faq.php#color

When will a color version be available?
The Plastic Logic Reader will initially be available in grayscale. We think color displays based on plastic electronics are around the corner. We are actively working on it and we expect to be first to market with a large, flexible color display. Sign up to receive information and updates on the Reader.

[badbob001]

Some blogs are saying that the next BN ereader is in color and runs android OS. Could someone just have all their facts mixed up? In the video with the BN guy, he mentions that you will be able to read books on your iphone, blackberry, and motorola cliq, an android device. You can get the BN ereader application for the iphone and blackberry now, but not android, so this sounds like a news item.

Imagine this scenario:

BN guy walks by BN development cubicles and asks, "What cha' working on?"
Dev person, "Ebook reader for android."
BN guy, "So is it going to be black and white like the Kindle?"
Dev person, "Eh, it's in color."
BN guy, "Ch-ching! Color BN ebook device running android! Got to go!"

or perhaps this scenario:

BN sale person 1: Crap, irex announced their reader that makes our unannounced reader look like, uh, crap!
BN sales person 2: What do we do?
BN sales person 1: Uh, uh, just make stuff up!
BN sales person 2: Grey is a color right? Ours has COLOR! And the light that blinks when you press a button... we'll call that the optical bio-feedback indicator. Heck, lets just dumb it down to 'L.A.S.E.R.'. And as for the multi-frequency invisible spectrum tuner...
BN sales person 1: That blogger streaming to youtube is here! Lets just go with the color spin.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

PL uses eInk, which is nowhere near mass-producing color screens, and the B&W PL device is due in Spring 2010. PL has said nothing about producing a color screen, and if they can do color right now I am sure they would trumpet that fact well far and wide.

My understanding is that PL uses their own design and manufacturing plant. They do not use eInk/PVI screens.

They have been saying color will come out a year or two after their grey scale unit since they first started talking about their device and tech.

BOb

[ahi]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

My understanding is that PL uses their own design and manufacturing plant. They do not use eInk/PVI screens.

They have been saying color will come out a year or two after their grey scale unit since they first started talking about their device and tech.

BOb

What is it like? Similar to eInk, or transflective LCD, or what?

- Ahi

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by badbob001

Imagine this scenario:

or perhaps this scenario:

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

My understanding is that PL uses their own design and manufacturing plant. They do not use eInk/PVI screens.

That's true, but they do use eInk technology.

iRex are saying 2011 for their colour device, which sounds a lot more realistic.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by ahi

What is it like? Similar to eInk, or transflective LCD, or what?

- Ahi

It is an "ePaper" very much like eInk screens. It may even be similar tech... but they are the manufacturer not PVI. (AFAIK)

From their website:

Plastic Logic features a plastic display, which is based on the Company’s pioneering plastic electronics technology. This makes the Plastic Logic Reader unique among competitors (whose displays are all glass based) and allows us to make such an ultrathin, lightweight device with the industry’s largest screen for excellent readability. Read more about the Plastic Logic display technology.

BOb

[giddion]

it's basically the same technology as eink but in a different medium. They've always touted more flexibility then the e-ink screens. Though at the press conference where they demoed actual devices (ie more then 1) and let the press handle them they indicated that they built the device frame less flexible because in their user testing users found a fully flexible screen to be too awkward to read on long term.

It maybe that with how much e-ink has moved forward and the merger they decided that they only way they could compete was to push forward on the color technology.

[Over]

Originally Posted by HarryT

iRex announced a colour device quite a while ago. What is it about this device that makes it more "game changing" than the iRex one, do you feel?

Well, I might be mistaken, but I think iRex colour device will be released 2011. B&N's 2010. So it seems that it will be B&N's ereaedr that will be more "game changing" next year.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Perhaps in the US, but don't forget that B&N don't sell internationally.

No? I've imported books from them in the past. Or do you mean that they will do with their ereader the same Amazon did with the Kindle? I hope not.

Originally Posted by neilmarr

This 'advance', I must confess, leaves me cold. I can get colour newspapers, magazines and what have you on my PC, laptop or netbook -- even at the local news stand. My edbook reader is for ... please excuse me ... ebooks. And apart from the covers (which I see when I buy the books), they're in black and white.

Hey, please forgive me; I do realise that there are avid bookworms out there who do also want colour newspaper and magazines and documents on the train to work, so this ain't meant as a dig. Just that I don't want to see a hike in reader prices when the competition decides to chase colour.

Cheers. Neil

I would like to read manga and comic books in ereaders too. And many more technical (e)books certainly would benefit greatly from colour use. Colour would be useful indeed.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Over

I would like to read manga and comic books in ereaders too. And many more technical (e)books certainly would benefit greatly from colour use. Colour would be useful indeed.

I totally agree. As a developer we have gotten very used to seeing our source code colorized in todays modern IDEs and even text editors like VIM, TextMate, Notepad++, e colorize your code.

Someone got the bright idea to product a programming book with the code samples/snippets colorized. It was a revelation... made the book so much better. Now many publishers are moving to do this. So, being able to have the same color in the eBook version will make them that much more readable.

I also agree with Zelda, for Kids books this is a must. Of course, we are probably talking 10 years away until readers are so cheap and ubiquitous that they replace kids picture books.

BOb

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

My understanding is that PL uses their own design and manufacturing plant. They do not use eInk/PVI screens.

Check out the e-ink website section on flexible displays, which mentions that plastic logic is still using e-ink: http://www.eink.com/technology/flexible.html

What makes current displays inflexible is the rigid lcd-style backplane that manufacturers add to e-ink's layer to control the pixels. Plastic Logic has developed some process so that the backplane is made of flexible organic transistors. There is a press release link in the above page that gives more details.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by badbob001

Check out the e-ink website section on flexible displays, which mentions that plastic logic is still using e-ink: http://www.eink.com/technology/flexible.html

When you say "eInk" are you being generic or do you specifically mean that they are using the same patented technology which they are licensing from eInk?

BOb

[sforce]

Originally Posted by HarryT

iRex are saying 2011 for their colour device, which sounds a lot more realistic.

Plastic Logic has some big money partner/investors. Perhaps the hype generated by the Kindle has loosened the purse strings a little further, and they achieved a breakthrough?

http://www.plasticlogic.com/about/investors.php