What is the current state of Color eInk Research?

[tnforpaul45]

Thanks all for the posts, really informative! Some of this I never knew. I guess one of the main debates that I've heard previously is "Why have a color e-ink reader when you can have an iPad/Tablet instead?" which is usually made by people who are not especially keen on eReaders in the first place (or so I've noticed - subjective).

I come at this from the perspective that the delay in color eInk is the major bottleneck holding back mass eTextbook adoption in schools, both nationally (U.S.) and globally (doing better overseas, though). A 9" or 11" color eInk device, though initially expensive, would really fill that niche. Kids dont want to read their school stuff on iPads, they want to play on them, and black-and-white textbook readers really don't let the textbooks become fully immersive (no color, no shiny/jingly).

I guess my whole point to this thread is that we need an innovative leap forward in eReader technology. the Kindle and Kobo OSes are great, but they are still awkward, and epub/mobi formats are not as aesthetically pleasing as to format as they could be, if that makes sense. Its feels like the technology has hit a wall across all vendors and they are fine tuning within the box instead of breaking out of it and going over the wall to the next generation.

The nice thing about this, though, is that we are here to witness this innovative leap, when it does happen. And it will

[Barty]

The problem with current color e-ink is not so much that color rendering is poor but it also degrades gray scale text. So you sacrifice your main strength for a dubious gain in functionality. Just a lousy trade-off.

[pdurrant]

I must admit that back in 2010 I thought that we'd have some good colour E-Ink-like displays by now. But I'm hopeful we'll see something (i.e. Liquavista) in the next couple of years.