Colour eInk in 2020?

[sun surfer]

I'd still like one, but I'm not holding my breath. I used to want one for integration with the internet as well as being an e-reader (think reading longer articles on webpages, how much nicer it'd be on e-ink). But I gave up that dream a long time ago because internet connectivity or rather internet power and speed on e-readers will never be good enough for it. Also, now I've settled into the pretty Kindle walled garden and I'm happy with the birds, flowers and fountains here, so even if colour e-ink does come I'll probably have to wait until Amazon adopts it.

There are still some things I'd like colour for specifically. First, it'd mean we could customise our reading experience a little better with background and text colour similar to phone/tablet reading apps. Second, we could see colour book covers which, while not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, would just make things so much nicer. We who spend a lot of time reading on e-ink see those covers a lot. Third, things like coloured photos, illustrations, maps, etc. included in some ebooks (especially non-fiction) would be so much nicer to look at in colour. And finally, I do read the odd graphic novel and would like the option to read them in colour on my ereader.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

There are still some things I'd like colour for specifically. First, it'd mean we could customise our reading experience a little better with background and text colour similar to phone/tablet reading apps. Second, we could see colour book covers which, while not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, would just make things so much nicer. We who spend a lot of time reading on e-ink see those covers a lot. Third, things like coloured photos, illustrations, maps, etc. included in some ebooks (especially non-fiction) would be so much nicer to look at in colour. And finally, I do read the odd graphic novel and would like the option to read them in colour on my ereader.

I'm going to disagree with you on much of what you wrote. Even when I read on a tablet, phone or laptop, I seldom go for background and text colours as I find them annoying and distracting. As for the book covers? At this time, my ereader does a random selection of M. C. Escher images as the screen saver so the only time I see a cover image is when I skip by it a I start reading a book.

I agree for some photos, illustrations and maps, colour would be nice. OTOH, I would give up colour for higher resolution images since all too many of the maps are best viewed at thumbnail size (one recent book had 200x300 images for the maps though the author had large images available for download on his website. I downloaded those and added them to the book which jumped it's size from 1.4MB to 48MB. I would also agree on graphics novels/comics since most have a limited colour gamut which would be a decent fit for colour e-Ink.

[AnimalOfArt]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

and if goodereader says it, it probably won't happen.
See the Voyage 2 for an example

This time goodereader "stole" the news from cnTechPost. So I guess this is real.

Originally Posted by eReader fan

Thanks for the explanation!
My opinion is we are going to have 4000 colours eInk on 2021.

I guess both chinese eReaders (each of both has 4,096 colours) will come out this year. Maybe Onyx Boox and/or Boyue will release a color reader greater thatn 6 inch too, this year. And If we have a little luck, Kobo might release a new flag ship with color eink also in 2020.

[AnimalOfArt]

It's getting real

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEkeI1TXkvM

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by AnimalOfArt

It's getting real

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEkeI1TXkvM

From Plan 9 From Outer Space, considered by many people to be the worst film ever made. Monologue spoken by Criswell:

"Greetings, my friends! We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friends; future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown, the mysterious, the unexplainable; that is why you are here. And now for the first time we are bringing to you the full story of what happened on that faithful day. We are giving you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimonies of the miserable souls who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places, my friends, we can not keep this a secret any longer; let us punish the guilty, let us reward the innocent..."

...and yet another story about self-styled ebook readers with color...[Haven't stories like this been around for close to 10 years?]

[AnimalOfArt]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

From Plan 9 From Outer Space[...]
...and yet another story about self-styled ebook readers with color...[Haven't stories like this been around for close to 10 years?]

you are overexaggerating

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by AnimalOfArt

you are overexaggerating

A quick search of MR finds posts going back to 2003 talking about color e-ink. Posts from 2005 and 2007 speculating color e-ink readers on the market by 2012.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

A quick search of MR finds posts going back to 2003 talking about color e-ink. Posts from 2005 and 2007 speculating color e-ink readers on the market by 2012.

There have been colour e-ink readers on the market based on the E-Ink Triton technology. PocketBook and JetBook produced and sold them in 2013. They weren't very successful, but they did exist. So, those posts predicting products in 2012 weren't far wrong.

[Quoth]

It's easy to do color eink. Passive (ambient light illuminated) color electronic text will look rubbish until some new display technology is invented. You'd need Cyan, Yellow and Magenta layers that are either coloured or transparent. The R G B approach used by OLED, LCD and even CRTs* is simply far too lossy for ambient light. About five times dimmer than monochrome, also the RGB approach needs 900 x 300 or 600 x 600 dpi to give 300 dpi.

It's basic mathematics and physics. Unless there is a massive power of front illumination, and four times better resolution (for sub pixels) the colour eink will continue to be rubbish.

Mirasol isn't eink. It was in two products, but overhyped and too expensive, so if people wanted color the LED / LCD was a better option.

(* There was a nearly flat mono CRT, Sony and Sinclair. In theory a 5" colour model is possible, it used a screen at an angle to the electron beam) VFD graphic panels exist. They are rather power hungry and quite low resolution but bright and probably work from -60 °C to over +200 °C. Plasma panels are limited in minimum dot size and were last used portably in military laptops (orange only, but colour possible) about 30 years ago.)

[eReader fan]

Sorry but... Why the hell is anyone talking (nor answering my question) about the Hisense colour filter?? Before we get the million coloured eink in 2035, it could play a very good role giving 4000 colours to my 8" and 10" devices.

So I am going to try again: Does anyone how this bloody thing can give colour to a monochrome screen? I guess it will only work with certain devices with certain functions, specially designed for it, but any info or idea it would be welcome

[pdurrant]

iReader C6 will retail for 1,499 yuan (ca. $210/£170).

It should start shipping at the end of April.

[pdurrant]

It seems these new ereaders use a new display technology from E-Ink called Print-Color ePaper

December 2019 report

I had thought that this was completely different from the old E-Ink Triton display technology which had greyscale pixels overlaid by a RGB filter.

But E-Ink's press release seems to confirm that this is another colour filter over black & white technology, just improved.

They do have "Advanced Color ePaper" that does provide all colours in every pixel, but the last I saw, the refresh rate for this was in the tens of seconds, making it suitable for signage only.

[Quoth]

Did you read what I said about the basic mathematics and physics of adding colour to eink? It's physically impossible to do it with any sort of quality except with a front light about x5 brighter, minimum, than decent ambient light.
The theoretical minimum loss for a perfect filter with good colour saturation is about x3!, i.e. each pixel gets 1/3rd of the daylight = x3 loss or more. BUT, the filters are lossy even to desired colour, and the light is reflected, so reduced twice. Really good R G B filters would reduce the light even more.
Then you need three inline pixels for each new pixel (R G B), or a square of 2 x 2:
B G
G R
layout works.
So for 300 dpi colour you need either 600 dpi mono, or 900 x 300 mono.
This is the reality for LCD, which compensates with a backlight, so eink loses TWICE the light as LCD as it's reflective rather than transmissive. Of course the polarisers and metallisation for addressing and TFTs also reduce LCD brightness a bit.
You'd thus need a very bright even front light (negating the ambient light advantage) and higher resolution than any current eink.

[norweger]

Hisense will launch the World’s first color e-ink screen phone on April 23

https://www.gizmochina.com/2020/04/1...e-on-april-23/

[binaryhermit]

If color eInk is anything like the screen was on the Pebble Time, meh.

(The color was very not impressive)

Not to mention other potential issues...