Archive for the ‘Color eReaders’ Category
SID 2011 no comments
The Society of Information Display International Symposium (SID) was held in Los Angeles this year and I got to spend a couple of hours exploring the exhibits. There were, as should be expected, quite a lot of tablet and ereader related display technologies on display at this year’s exhibition.
Mirasol
Qualcomm provided its Mirasol booth with a number of demonstration units at SID. This included the demo unit shown in the photos below that was connected to a multimeter to demonstrate its low power consumption.
Most of the videos you see of the Mirasol display are showing off its ability to display color images. At SID Mirasol also had a demo running a video loop of an ebook reading app that I caught on video.
As you are no doubt aware by now, the Mirasol display technology was originally inspired by the iridescence in nature of such things as butterfly wings and the feathers of peacocks. There is in fact a bit of an iridescent quality that is noticeable in the display. This slight metallic sheen is much more apparent to me when the demos I’ve come across are showing pages of text rather than color pictures.
Based on the demonstration units I’ve seen, I’m thinking that Mirasol may not be quite as good for ereading as e-ink displays are, though it will be far easier on the eyes than a backlit LCD screen. Of course it is hard to form an opinion with only limited viewing time on demo displays running video clips. We will have to wait for an actual finished product to see for sure. The reps at the Mirasol booth were quite confident that tablets and/or ereaders with Mirasol displays will be on store shelves by the end of the year, so we shouldn’t have long to wait.
E Ink Holdings
E Ink Holdings had the higher resolution epaper announced a few weeks ago on display. These were just static displays and I could not see any page turns. This is basically a Pearl display with a higher resolution backplane, which results in almost twice the resolution of the standard Pearl display. It is very good for viewing schematics and intricate line drawings. The photo below shows the two prototypes E Ink had on display.
You may recall a few weeks ago there was another rumor concerning the much speculated about Amazon Kindle Tablet? According to this particular rumor Amazon has placed orders for tablets to be manufactured by Quanta Computer. These tablets are said to make use of the FFS LCD display from Hydis, 
which is a division of E Ink Holdings.
This beauty was on display at the E Ink booth as well. The Hydis display has very vivid colors and comes in a variety of sizes. To the right are a couple of shots of a 7-inch Hydis panel. The color banding is from my camera.
This display would indeed make for a gorgeous tablet.
Samsung
Before SID began Samsung announced a new tablet display, an ultra-high resolution 10.1-inch WQXGA PenTile RGBW screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600. This screen uses 40 percent less power than legacy RGB stripe LCD displays. Comparing this display with the Hydis above, the Hydis FFA LCD seems to have the lusher colors, while the PenTile provides an exceedingly sharp image.
Samsung also had a 10.1 inch WXGA MEMS display at SID. This is the world’s largest MEMS display. Not sure if it will be coming to a tablet anytime soon, but it was impressive.
The photo below shows the PenTile screen on the left and the MEMS on the right.
Samsung also had a few demos of the reflective electrowetting display technology that came with its acquisition of Liquavista. In addition to a demo of the color electrowetting display, Samsung also had a couple of black and white lower frequency displays that sip even less power for applications where color or video are not needed. Liquavista’s display technology has the potential to be very power efficient by combining intelligent power management with the ability to dynamically adjust the frame rate depending on the requirements of the content being shown.
When I asked the Samsung reps when we might see products shipping with their electrowetting displays they really didn’t seem to have any idea, but the consensus seemed to be sometime next year. Personally, I’ve always liked this color display. The colors are not as vibrant as some of the competition, but it looks more paper-like to me — kind of like an older comic book.
Ricoh Color ePaper
Okay, I didn’t get to see this one. Ricoh’s press release says that they
introduced the technology at SID, but I don’t think there were actually any prototypes on display — Ricoh didn’t have a booth at the exhibition.
At any rate, the display Ricoh is working on looks interesting, though it looks like it will be some time before the technology can be used in something like an ereading tablet. The company has been working on this since at least 2009, when it developed the world’s first new organic electrochromic material that is capable of producing the three primary colors cyan, magenta and yellow.
Ricoh says that it has achieved color displays in still images that are 2.5 times brighter and have four times the color reproduction range of other color epaper technologies. Some other features include lower manufacturing cost than competing forms of epaper; the capability to be used on flexible plastic substrates; it also sounds as if this will be a bistable display — does not use power except when refreshing the screen — and so will be very power efficient.
Something to hopefully see at next year’s CES. The picture is from Ricoh, and you can read more of the details of how Ricoh’s epaper works here.
Below is a short video I made that shows a few of the displays mentioned above. Please note that the rather bad color banding in the MEMS display is the fault of my video camera, which also does not do close-ups very well — the text in the Mirasol display really is much better than my video shows. Also, that is not me in the background complaining because the electrowetting display has no backlight 
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Bridgestone/Delta color epaper news no comments
You may recall the QR-LPD color reflective display created by Bridgestone and to be marketed by Delta Electronics. Digitimes is reporting today that Delta, in spite of having invested up to over $100 million on epaper production facilities at its Taiwanese plants, will hold off on bringing an ereader using the technology to market.
According to the article, Delta will continue its epaper R&D program but will focus on larger format epaper displays for periodicals and signage. The main reason cited in Delta’s decision is the negative impact tablets have had on dedicated ereader sales (presumably this is referring to the Chinese market).
I have not been overly impressed by the QR-LPD displays I’ve seen at CES. The screen refresh on the demos I’ve seen in person and in videos has been too slow, resulting in page turns that are too slow and distracting to make an effective ereader. The touchscreens of the units I saw at CES 2011 also seemed to be not very responsive, although that may have been software or hardware problems unrelated to Bridgestone’s display technology.
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New Amazon tablet rumor no comments
Another day, another Amazon tablet rumor. Today’s buzz is somewhat more creditable-sounding — to me at least. DigiTimes is reporting that Quanta Computer, the largest ODM notebook manufacturer in the world, has received orders from Amazon for a tablet PC.
According to the report, Amazon’s tablet will feature an FFS LCD touchscreen from E Ink Holdings’ Hydis division. Like the IPS LCD display of the iPad, FFS (now usually known as AFFS — Advanced Fringe Field Switching) technology enables a wider field of view than a normal LCD. According to the Hydis website an AFFS LCD display is also capable of being readable outside in bright sunlight.
Digitimes sources report that Quanta is expected to start shipping the new tablet as soon as the second half of this year. The report goes on to say that E Ink has recently been trying to book up the production capacity of a Taiwanese small to medium size panel maker, which would add veracity to the story.
This could be just another rumor, but the fact that this type of LCD can at least be read out of doors does add some credibility, even though it is still a backlit display. From what I’ve seen I like Mirasol as a color display for the Kindle Tablet, but perhaps Amazon just does not feel it can afford to wait until Mirasol or another suitable non-backlit display can go into mass production.
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Intel invests in Kno no comments
It had seemed that the interesting but expensive Kno tablets were
DOA, confirming the skepticism they were frequently met with. Now it seems that Intel Capital has made a $20 million investment in the startup. So apparently Kno, the company, will live on in some form. While the Kno tablets looked quite good, especially for the educational market they were aimed at, it always seemed doubtful they could compete at the announced prices.
There were reports a couple of months ago that Kno was planning to sell its tablet hardware business and to then concentrate on its software. The press release below from Intel Capital appears to confirm this. The Kno website has been replaced with a simple page proclaiming “We’re unveiling something new.”
The Kno Blog has not been updated for almost three months.
The press release:
Intel Capital invests $20 million in Kno.
- Intel and Kno to work together to optimize Kno’s touch-based applications for Intel’s educational platforms.
- Intel continues strong support of 1:1 eLearning environments.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Intel Capital, Intel Corporation’s global investment organization, today announced a $20 million investment in Kno Inc., an education software company. The investment is part of a $30 million Series-C round led by Intel Capital, which includes participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Advance Publications, First Round Capital, FLOODGATE and SV Angels. Kno will use the funding to develop its innovative educational software solutions for multiple platforms, including Intel® architecture.
“Intel® AtomTM processors and the underlying technologies are well-suited for Kno’s touch-based applications, and provide the power-efficient performance and responsiveness today’s students have come to expect from tablets.”
Kno, short for knowledge, is an education software company on a mission to make learning engaging, effective and social for students. The companies will work together to address the growing interactive and 1:1 student learning environments by exploring opportunities to make Kno’s touch-based applications available for Intel’s educational platforms.
“The increasing consumption of digital content has primed the textbook market for disruption, creating an exciting opportunity for technology innovation to fundamentally change the way 1.4 billion students globally learn,” said Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital and Intel executive vice president. “Kno’s purpose-built education tablet, along with its unique software solution, delivers a learning experience that directly supports Intel’s 1:1 eLearning vision.”
"Intel and Kno have a shared goal of accelerating the global education technology market so we are very pleased to have Intel Capital’s support," said Osman Rashid, CEO and co-founder, Kno Inc. "Kno’s software makes learning more engaging, effective and social for students, which we believe has the power to transform how students learn."
“Intel technology is increasingly becoming a favorite in devices for consumers as well as vertical industries like education,” said Bill Kircos, marketing general manager, Intel Netbook and Tablet Group. “Intel® AtomTM processors and the underlying technologies are well-suited for Kno’s touch-based applications, and provide the power-efficient performance and responsiveness today’s students have come to expect from tablets.”
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Amazon tablet incoming? no comments
Lately there has been a resurgence of speculation that an Amazon tablet is imminent. This has been fueled in part by the launch of the Amazon Appstore for Android and the ongoing job openings listed for Lab 126 that would seem to indicate that Amazon is working on an Android device.
While I have no doubt that an Amazon tablet is indeed in the works, I don’t see it happening soon. A tablet from Amazon will be not just another me-too Android tablet; it will be a Kindle Tablet. This means it will not only be capable of video playback, running apps and doing the other things we expect a tablet to do, it will also be optimized for ereading — which means something other than a backlit LCD display.
The most likely display candidate would seem to be Mirasol. According to various reports, some stemming from comments dropped by Qualcomm staff working on the Mirasol project, Mirasol-based products should have been on the market by now. Last year I very over optimistically wrote that I expected we would probably have a color Kindle in the first part of this year, in part based on these reports. Obviously that was a bad call.
The most recent news that feels real to me (and is backed up by another Qualcomm press release) was that a Mirasol production facility was finally going to be equipped for mass production in the final quarter of this year and would then finally start producing Mirasol displays in quantity in early 2012. This facility, which was originally announced in a Qualcomm press release almost two years ago, has apparently only been capable of producing sample quantities until this upgrade. Reliable production of a sufficient quantity of displays will be required to meet the demand a Kindle Tablet would engender, and Amazon would not be the only device maker standing in line for the new reflective displays.
So, barring any further delays, it looks to me now as if sometime in the first half of next year will be the soonest a Kindle tablet will be shipping, although it might be announced by the end of this year and even possibly available for pre-order during the holidays. I hope I am being very overly pessimistic this time — I would love to have an Amazon tablet in my hands as soon as possible.
By the way, here is an intriguing possibility for the Kindle Tablet: Currently in the Amazon Appstore for Android you can get not only the Kindle app but also ereading apps from Kobo and Wattpad. There is no Nookbook app, although B&N may just not have submitted one yet. I wouldn’t hold my breath though — not only are Amazon and Barnes & Noble arch-competitors who share no love (but have exchanged lawsuits); B&N would look bad if their app was included in the Appstore and they did not reciprocate by having other reading apps available for the Nook Color when more apps are made available for it.
But the point is, if an Amazon Kindle Tablet were released tomorrow it appears that users would be able to not only use it practically off the shelf to read ebooks from the Kindle Store; they would also be able to access ebooks from at least some of the other ebook sellers. This makes sense, as any Amazon tablet powered by Android would probably be quickly rooted and given access to the Android Market and the ereading apps to be had therein anyway.
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Samsung opens LCD Netherlands R&D Center no comments
Samsung recently acquired Liquavista, the Dutch company that is developing a reflective color display based on electrowetting. 
Yesterday Samsung held the opening ceremony for the Samsung LCD Netherlands R&D Center (SNRC), which will be dedicated to developing electrowetting display technology as well as other new display technology.
The press release:
On February 15, 2011, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. held the opening ceremony of the Samsung LCD Netherlands R&D Center (SNRC) to strengthen its technology portfolio for the next generation display and its R&D capability in Europe. SNRC, as Samsung’s European display R&D center, will focus on developing future display technology including Electrowetting Displays (EWD).
Over 60 executives and staff members of Samsung Electronics and SNRC attended the opening ceremony, including the president of LCD Business Wonkie Chang CEO of SNRC Johan Feenstra and the senior vice president of the LCD Business Jootae Moon.
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Pandigital 7-inch Novel ereaders get major firmware update no comments
Pandigital has announced a major update for its 7-inch Novel line of LCD ereaders:
Starting immediately, the new Pandigital Multimedia Novel 7-inch Android tablet gives customers the ability to download and enjoy Android™ applications from their favorite sites. As a result, customers can personalize their Pandigital Multimedia Novel adding the applications that are most interesting to them and increase daily use of the device.
“The transition to a hybrid Android media tablet/color eReader was a natural evolution for the Pandigital Novel product line,” said Jason Topel, vice president, Pandigital. “The original version of the Pandigital Novel was a color eReader with Barnes & Noble content and packed with multimedia functionality found on many tablets. Conceived from the outset on the Android operating system, the Pandigital Novel was the first non-phone Android device of its kind in North America when it was launched last June. We wanted to take the product one step further by allowing our customers to personalize the product by downloading the apps they want.”
By updating the software of the existing product, the new 7-inch Pandigital Multimedia Novel tablet provides faster overall performance. Also, additional file compatibility is supported, including DOC, DOCX, TXT, XLS, XLSX, CSV, PPT and PPTX.
The device’s software upgrade will also provide customers with enhanced performance to shop and access content from Barnes & Noble’s expansive NOOKbook™ Store with more than two million eBooks, newspapers and magazines.
New customers will be able to purchase the 7-inch Pandigital Multimedia Novel with the new firmware already integrated. Existing customers who own the original 7-inch Pandigital Novel can realize all of the benefits of the Pandigital Multimedia Novel by visiting www.pandigital.net/Downloads to update their firmware.
The Pandigital Novel will still not, of course, be able to connect to the Android Market and not all Android apps will work with it.
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Liquavista acquired by Samsung no comments
There have been reports over the past couple of days by eReaders.nl that Samsung has acquired Liquavista. Today Liquavista released a press release confirming this:
January 20, 2011 – Eindhoven – Today, Liquavista BV., announced that it has been acquired by Samsung Electronics in a buyout of all shares from the past shareholders. Under the terms of this acquisition, Liquavista will be a fully owned affiliate of Samsung Electronics.
“We are thrilled by this event” said Johan Feenstra, Liquavista’s Founder and newly appointed CEO of Liquavista, “the outright acquisition of Liquavista by the largest electronics company in the world is the fulfillment of a strategy dating back to the original spin-out and, confirmation of the disruptive potential that our technology will have in the display market.”
The acquisition has also resulted in a number of changes in Liquavista’s management team. Johan Feenstra has succeeded Guy Demuynck as the company’s CEO .
“In the future, consumers will need products that not only support full color and video but offer readability in all lighting conditions and gives them ultimate freedom and portability.” Johan Feenstra added, “Being part of Samsung, we can all be sure that Electrowetting Display Technology will find its way to the market in the fastest possible time.”
Perhaps with Samsung backing the technology it will find its way to market sooner, at least one can hope. Reflective color displays have lots of potential uses besides ereaders (which market Samsung backed out of in the US after the Kindle and Nook price drops). Like Pixel Qi, Liquavista’s electrowetting displays can be made using existing LCD production facilities with some modifications.
In display demos I’ve seen, Liquavista’s display looks better than current color e-ink from E Ink Holdings and Bridgestone’s QR-LPD displays. Mirasol appears to trump all of them however, and should also get to market sooner than Liquavista.
Update: This is the press release from Samsung:
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a global technology innovation and digital convergence leader, today announced it has acquired display technology firm Liquavista BV. Samsung completed the acquisition of Liquavista, based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in December 2010.
Liquavista, founded in 2006 as a spin-out from the Philips Research Labs, offers a new type of electronic display technology known as electrowetting for applications in e-readers, mobile phones, media players and other mobile devices.
The electrowetting technology, which operates in transmissive, reflective, transparent and transflective modes, enables the creation of displays with bright, colorful images with dramatically reduced power consumption. Offering more than twice the transmittance of LCD technology and able to operate at low frequencies, displays utilizing electrowetting consume just 10 percent of the battery power of existing display technologies.
With the acquisition of Liquavista, Samsung aims to expand its leadership in next generation display technologies by pioneering the application of electrowetting in e-Paper and transparent displays. As electrowetting can be manufactured by modifying existing LCD production lines, Samsung will be able to realize significant synergies through the utilization of existing manufacturing equipment and capabilities.
In e-paper applications, the response time of the electrowetting displays will be more than 70 times faster than that of existing reflective displays, allowing for color videos, which was previously thought impossible. In future, the application of the technology is expected to expand to transparent, transmissive and transflective displays.
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eLocity A7 Tablet Unboxing and Review no comments
Steam Television’s eLocity A7 Android-based tablet finally started shipping a few weeks ago and I snagged one to review. Yeah yeah I know — another week, another 7-inch Android tablet, snore snore.
But the eLocity A7 stands out from the crowd of other 7-inch 
Android tablets because it is one of the first to ship with the Tegra 2 chipset from NVIDIA. I’ve found the eLocity to be quick and responsive – more so than the other Android tablets I’ve tried.
At first glance, the eLocity A7 may seem a little less elegant than some other tablets with its square edges. Rounded and beveled edges are more elegant, but probably harder to fit a lot of ports into. The A7 has both a USB 2.0 host and an HDMA port as well as earphone jack, AC power port, microSD card slot, SIM card slot and docking port. The SIM card slot is not currently supported and there does not seem to be a dock available yet. The eLocity has that now ubiquitous rubberized coating on the back and edges which does add tactile comfort.
The first thing I needed to do after unboxing the eLocity (after charging it – the battery was completely dead) was to install the latest firmware update. Before installing the update the A7 could not detect any wireless networks. To install the update you will need a microSD card and a card reader (if your computer does not already have one). You have to download the update and then from your computer transfer it onto the microSD card , which you then put into the eLocity to install the update. You can download the update and see the full instructions for installing it here.
This and other tasks involving sideloading things onto the eLocity would be much easier if there was an easier way to connect the A7 to your computer. The USB port is a host, so you will need to have a USB A to A cable to connect it to your computer. The unused docking port and pictures of the eLocity in a dock would seem to indicate that Stream TV will be releasing a docking accessory at some point. I asked Stream TV about this but have received no answer as of yet. In the meantime you will need a microSD card and a reader for your desktop.
The firmware update also adds a few more apps 
to the selection that was present on the eLocity pre-update. After the update there are 27 apps installed, including: Adobe Reader, Aldiko, Amazon shopping, Appoke and Getjar app stores, Documents To Go, FBReader, Kindle, OI file manager and Spare Parts.
The Kindle ereading app is installed with the update and you can get Kobo, Wattpad and Nook apps from Getjar. Except for the Kobo app, which I couldn’t get to work, the reading apps let me connect to the stores with my existing accounts and download my libraries. The eLocity will give you access to at least two of the major ebookstores (Kindle and B&N) plus Wattpad and hopefully Kobo at some point in the future.
I found the capacitive touchscreen of the eLocity A7 to be quite responsive, even at the edges of the screen. The eLocity does not support true multitouch, which may cause some games and other apps to not work on it. While the display does look quite good, I am a bit spoiled by the screen of the Nook Color, which has richer and more vibrant colors and a much wider viewing angle.
Battery life is nowhere near as good as the iPad, which is currently the gold standard. It seems to get around 5 hours, so you should be able to get a day’s use out of one charge, but if you let the eLocity go to sleep and forget about it the batteries will likely be drained when you go to use it again.
Typing on the virtual keyboard, even in portrait mode where the keys are smaller and close together, was quite easy with few mistaken letters. This can sometimes be challenging for my largish man fingers on some touchscreens — but not on the eLocity.
The Web browsing experience is quite good. The browser is fast and pinch and zoom is enabled but is perhaps not as smooth as on devices with true multitouch. Screen orientation changes automatically and quickly with the A7, which is handy when on the Internet.
I have some video files made from my DVD collection that I 
made to put on my older generation Archos media player. When I bought this several years ago it was one of the few devices that would let you carry your movies with you and use a patch cord to plug into a TV and watch them. Quite handy when travelling.
Now there are a number of devices that will let you do this. The eLocity A7 has an HDMI port and will output 1080p, so as long as you have access to a TV that is 1080p you can watch your movies on a bigger screen. Both the movie files and video from my Flip would not play on the eLocity (nor on the Nook Color) until I converted them using HandBrake — a free download.
After conversion the videos usually played well. The speakers on the eLocity are not very loud at all, as with most devices of this type, so you will want to use a pair of earbuds. A basic pair of earphones is included with the A7.
I’ve experienced almost no problems with the eLocity A7, but a couple of times it did balk at playing a video for some reason. After rebooting the video would then play normally.
When listening to MP3 tracks, I found the sound quality of the eLocity to be superior to that of the Nook Color, except that there is a very faint background hiss always present when using earphones.
eLocity A7 vs iPad vs Kindle vs Nook Color, etc.
The eLocity A7 is no iPad, but it is cheaper and more portable. It is great for web browsing and watching videos. YouTube videos look much better on the eLocity than they do on the Nook Color. As long as games don’t require true multitouch they should also work well on the eLocity. For ereading, you will have access to at least the Kindle Store and Barnes & Noble.
The eLocity A7 leaves the less expensive Android-based 7-inch tablets I’ve tried in the dust. It is much faster and the touchscreen more responsive. It also seems to be less buggy.
Of course, at $299 it is also quite a bit more expensive. Because of its price, I think that it is most competitive with the Nook Color. I found the A7 to be better for watching video and slightly better for web browsing than the Nook Color. It also seemed to me to have better sound when listening on earphones – if you can overlook the slight hiss. The Nook Color wins when it comes to the sheer beauty of its screen. The Nook Color is overall a more physically attractive device. B&N’s customer support, while nothing to cheer about, is also better than that of Stream TV.
If you want more tablet in your tablet, then the eLocity A7 makes an alluring alternative to the Nook Color for not much more money. The A7 will also give you access to not only the B&N ebookstore, but the Kindle Store as well. While the eLocity does not have access to the Android Market, there are a number of games and other apps available for it.
Of course, it is now easy to root the Nook Color, which will also give you access to the Kindle Store – as well as giving you access to the Android Market. On the downside, you will probably have to redo this every time B&N releases a new firmware update.
Actually, we should soon have a version of Android that will be optimized for tablets and will bring access to the Android Market. When that happens, all of the current tablets that can’t upgrade are going to be looking much less appealing.
You can currently buy the eLocity A7 at Amazon and elsewhere for $299. The user reviews at Amazon are mixed, but many of the negative reviews are from before the first firmware update of Dec. 24, 2010. After the firmware update I have had no problems with the Wi-Fi. As you see in the video, I was also able to install one of the free versions of Angry Birds as well. Before the update Angry Birds would not install.
eLocity A7 tablet cases & covers
So far the choices are limited when it comes to cases and covers for the eLocity A7 tablet. CaseCrown has a faux suede sleeve
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Looking for color ereaders at CES 2011 no comments
I just got back from spending a day and a half at CES. 
The disappointing news was that there was no new color ereader announced that would be hitting the shelves here soon. I did get to see demos of three color ereaders using reflective display tech: Mirasol from Qualcomm, Hanvon’s color ereader using a color e-ink display from E Ink Holdings, and the color ereader manufactured by Delta Electronics using Bridgestone’s QR-LPD (AeroBee) display. Curiously, Liquavista did not seem to have a display this year, and the company has not even sent out any recent press releases.
Apologies on the quality of the videos – CES is extremely crowded and noisy. It also didn’t help that I started loosing my voice by the end of the first day.
Qualcomm’s Mirasol display definitely looks like the best by far of the reflective color display technologies for dedicated ereaders. The colors on both the color e-ink and QR-LPD displays were very muted. The QR-LPD display took a long time to refresh and the color e-ink seemed slower than the monochrome version as well. The QR-LPD based ereader has a touchscreen that requires a stylus. At times it seemed not very responsive, but this could have just been the demo unit – these things take a lot of abuse.
Vivitek will be distributing the Delta Electronics/Bridgestone ereader in China this year. At the booth I was told that they hope to bring it to the US in the second half of 2011. There are two sizes: an 8.2-inch model and a 13.1-inch model that seems more targeted at business users. The resolution of the QR-LPD displays is not very high: 480 x 384 for the 8.2 inch and only 800 x 600 for the 13.1-inch display. Bridgestone’s display technology will also be used for signage.
Hanvon’s color ereader will be available in China in a few months and most likely come to the US later this year.
We should see Mirasol-based ereaders some time this year from some as of yet undisclosed ereader maker (quite possibly PocketBook). Of the other technologies, I like the Liquavista display demo I saw last year better than either the color e-ink or QR-LPD solutions.
As expected there were tablets galore at this year’s CES. I really liked the Motorola tablet shown in the video below. Its guardian at the Motorola booth said that the Xoom is what the engineers at Google have and are using to develop Android 3 (Honeycomb) on (not sure if it is the only tablet they are using). This is also one of the few new tablets that comes close to matching the iPad’s battery life. Verizon will be the service provider for the Xoom tablet and it is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2011.
Another very interesting tablet from an ereading perspective is the Android-based LT-W Cloud Communicator from NEC. This is a dual 7-inch screen device that is very portable and versatile. When web browsing you can display one page in either portrait or landscape mode across both screens or have separate windows open in each screen. You can also do things like show a whole document on one screen while zooming in for a closer view on the second screen. The dual displays can either work together on one project or on separate projects. When reading ebooks the LT-W displays one page on each screen just like an open pbook. I was impressed with the LT-W and will do a separate post on it.
And finally, a couple of small bits of news I heard while touring the booths:
I was told at the M-Edge booth that the company presently has no plans to produce the waterproof Guardian Case for the Kindle 3. They were eager instead to focus my attention on their new product – MyEdge – a new service that will let you design and personalize your own Kindle and Nook jackets for about $40 and iPad jackets for $50.
At the OverDrive booth I was told that an iPad optimized version of the OverDrive Media Console that will include support for ebooks should at last be available by the end of Q1. In the meantime you can of course use the iPhone app, but it is not optimal.
