E Ink: no improved monochrome displays this year

Emil

Posts: 152   +0

As e-readers keep selling and start to form a (niche?) market, it's worth looking forward to what's next. When it comes to E Ink, there's apparently nothing cooking for 2011. We'll have to wait till 2012 to get monochrome improvements.

"We're generally on a two-year cycle with our e-ink technology," Sri Peruvemba, vice president of global sales and marketing at E Ink, told CNET. "It takes some time to develop and test the next generation."

E Ink is a proprietary type of electronic paper manufactured by E Ink Corporation, which was founded in 1997 based on research started at the MIT Media Lab. The company's latest and greatest e-ink display, which goes by the name Pearl and was released last year, is in the Amazon Kindle and Sony Readers.

We can still expect the first color E Ink screen to arrive this year, but since color isn't as important in reading as it is in media entertainment and gaming, this just isn't as exciting. Most of the improvements in electronic paper over the next year will be around performance: the same Pearl display in new devices but faster processors and upgraded driver software to quicken refresh rates.

Peruvemba also said the next generation of electronic paper will be capable of running full motion video. That likely won't be enough to satisfy Amazon, however, if current rumors end up coming to fruition.

Amazon may be building an Android tablet to sell alongside the current Kindle e-book reader. The Kindle is the best-selling product on Amazon, and the company likely wants to keep pushing forward. In addition to the Kindle ecosystem, the company has the Amazon Android App Store, its Cloud Drive service, and is in the meantime making sure to support its Kindle app on tablets.

This is really part of a broader market question, but will e-book readers be around for a long time or will they just end up being swallowed up by tablets? E Ink is going to have to innovate much quicker than every two years if it wants to survive.

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I know that versatility is the big selling point, but the more I think about it, I really would prefer to buy a standalone e-reader that I can't play games on or surf the web on, with the exception of Wikipedia maybe in order to look up some things.

A 10" color e-ink screen for about a $100 bucks, and I'm sold.
 
There's something appealing about a device that:
can run for weeks on a charge
that you can read without bugging your eyes out
and read comfortably in the great outdoors
holds all my books
simple
light
inexpensive
eschews mind-irritating distracting hyper-media (movies, internet etc) and interactivity, the spacious relaxed environment of the written word and a sketch or two has shown itself to be conducive to awakening the imagination and cultivating inner peace and greater happiness.

Often, less is more when it comes to long-term happiness.

So, I don't agree with the Author's conclusion.
 
If I wanted to read from a tablet/computer screen, I would... as it were, I don't. So if I'll ever buy something to read eBooks, it'll be a Kindle or similar product. Seriously, I don't see why anyone would want to read books from a normal LCD/LED display.
 
Guest said:
There's something appealing about a device that:
can run for weeks on a charge
that you can read without bugging your eyes out
and read comfortably in the great outdoors
holds all my books
simple
light
inexpensive
eschews mind-irritating distracting hyper-media (movies, internet etc) and interactivity, the spacious relaxed environment of the written word and a sketch or two has shown itself to be conducive to awakening the imagination and cultivating inner peace and greater happiness.
I agree with all those points. I like the e-ink screen for reading. Its so much nicer on your eyes. I borrowed a friends kindle for an afternoon and it was great. Sadly most of the e-books I have looked at are the same prices as the paper backs and that puts me off getting a kindle or something similar of my own. With no manufacturing cost for e-books I think your standard paperback should come in more around ~ $4.99 not $7.99. Thats really the only thing holding me back from getting a e-reader with an e-ink screen.
 
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