Ereader screens are about to get a big upgrade

[JSWolf]

https://www.techradar.com/news/eread...BT=94351463061

The company that makes the screens for the most popular ereaders has just announced a new technology that will make reading on electronic paper displays a better visual experience, while also possibly bringing down the cost of the devices.

E Ink's new On-Cell Touch ePaper is a module that comes with the touch sensor built into the screen itself. Before this, the touchscreens we're so familiar with on ereaders had the touch sensor laminated above the E Ink displays – working as a separate component of the device.

This small change, according to E Ink, will make ereader screens a much better visual experience, with text becoming sharper, clearer and with better contrast.

[Sirtel]

That's good news.

[tomsem]

This is the actual E Ink news release:

https://www.eink.com/news.html?type=...ar=2021&page=1

In terms of optical performance, black and white ePaper display modules with E Ink's On-Cell Touch see a 30% increase in the contrast ratio of black and white content, providing readers with clearer text content. When used with E Ink Kaleido™ Plus, the color contrast ratio and color saturation increase by 40% and 15% respectively, providing an enhanced display for color eBook and eTextbook content.

[hobnail]

Hopefully the price won't be a lot higher.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by hobnail

Hopefully the price won't be a lot higher.

They are saying BOM will be lower.

And maybe Kaleido screens will finally be good enough for Amazon and Kobo to release a color device.

[Pajamaman]

It says touch is integrated directly into the e-ink panel so producers won't need to add a touch layer. It will already be there, so it will save on cost, and the lack of the extra panel will make the screen clearer. I guess it might look like an IR touch screen, which IMO are clearer than capacitive.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

It says touch is integrated directly into the e-ink panel so producers won't need to add a touch layer. It will already be there, so it will save on cost, and the lack of the extra panel will make the screen clearer. I guess it might look like an IR touch screen, which IMO are clearer than capacitive.

But they are still adding a layer, which would make it theoreticaly look worse then IR?

[John F]

They used the terms ereader and enote; has enote been msntioned before?

[Quoth]

It can't be as clear as IR, because NOTHING is there with IR.
Based on difference between original Aura HD H2O and Kobo Libre (or Kindle PW3) all of which I have I can't see this being as good as the "original Aura HD H2O", but no doubt a little better and cheaper than a separate touch panel as there would be one less layer.

So a small incremental improvement compared to best capacitive touch eink. You won't notice any difference if you use the front light and I doubt it will make ereaders any cheaper. The capacitive touch layer isn't expensive, so a small saving to OEM.

I welcome this, but it's a small incremental improvement and the figures are suspect compared to a decent touch panel. There is no doubt that the PW3 and Libre are not as bright with no front light as the IR based "original Aura HD H2O" but both are better than the PW4 in ambient indoor light.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by John F

But they are still adding a layer, which would make it theoreticaly look worse then IR?

They claim it is 30% better contrast. If there’s a layer, it is not occluding the display, which is the existing Carta/Kaleido (maybe it is below that layer).

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by John F

But they are still adding a layer, which would make it theoreticaly look worse then IR?

Yes, it WILL be poorer than IR. But IR is expensive, slower, less resolution and more power consumption. It's amazing it works as well as it does. Originally only used for tile sized user selection on CRT based retail displays.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Yes, it WILL be poorer than IR. But IR is expensive, slower, less resolution and more power consumption. It's amazing it works as well as it does. Originally only used for tile sized user selection on CRT based retail displays.

My H2O's (6.5 years old) battery is still doing pretty well. The IR Touch works very well.

[JSWolf]

The thing I question is this only a color screen or is there a version without color?



This shows a color layer. There is no picture without a color layer.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by John F

They used the terms ereader and enote; has enote been msntioned before?

Enote seems to be a reference to larger screen modules.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The thing I question is this only a color screen or is there a version without color?

Attachment 187356

This shows a color layer. There is no picture without a color layer.

The press release clearly mentions black and white:

In terms of optical performance, black and white ePaper display modules with E Ink's On-Cell Touch see a 30% increase in the contrast ratio of black and white content, providing readers with clearer text content. When used with E Ink Kaleido™ Plus, the color contrast ratio and color saturation increase by 40% and 15% respectively, providing an enhanced display for color eBook and eTextbook content.

They don't show a picture of the B&W screen but wouldn't look much different, just remove the colour filter layer.