Archive for the ‘flexible displays’ tag
Plastic Logic launches new ereader for Russian educational market no comments
Plastic Logic has launched a new ereader designed for use in schools. Like the Que, Plastic Logic’s original ereader that was cancelled just after the iPad launched, the new Plastic Logic 100 utilizes a lightweight and shatterproof plastic display.
The Plastic Logic 100 features a large 10.7-inch screen that is designed to display digital textbooks full-size. The company is one vendor candidate that will be participating in a trial etextbook program set up by the Russian government that will be running in selected Russian school systems.
Plastic Logic is now taking orders for the new ereader and expects to start shipping later this month. The Plastic Logic 100 is so far only available in Russia, where it is priced at 12,000 rubles (just under $400 USD).
Some of the features of the Plastic Logic 100:
- 10.7-inch PlasticPaper display; touchscreen.
- Study tools include annotations and note taking.
- Resolution: 1280 x 960; 150ppi.
- Dimensions: 216 x 280 x 7.65 mm (8.5 x 11 x .3 inches); weighs 475g (16.75 ounces).
- CPU: 800Mhz.
- Operating system: WinCE.
- Memory: 4GB.
- Battery life is said to be about a week.
- Micro USB port.
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Last week Richard Archuleta stepped down as CEO of Plastic Logic; a position he held for four years. His replacement is Indro Mukerjee, whose resume includes a stint as CEO of C-MAC MicroTechnology and a number of executive positions at Philips Semiconductors BV.
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Polymer Vision releases new video no comments
As of yet no ereader with a flexible, rollable display has been shipped from Wistron-owned Polymer Vision, but the company is still working on something. To prove this a new video has been uploaded to YouTube. This one demonstrates the unbreakable nature of the company’s display technology by dropping a ball on it. Should be nice — if we ever actually see a shipping product.
Actually I don’t see how anyone can, at this time, put out an ereader with a new cutting edge flexible display that could successfully compete with the very good ereaders that are already available for $130 -$140. I would think the technology would have to debut and be successful in other gadgets first until the price becomes lowered to a point where it could be introduced into ereaders without dramatically raising their selling prices. Perhaps if the iPad had been introduced a year later than it was the prices of dedicated ereaders might have held up longer — not good for consumers’ pocket books or ebook sales, but better for hardware innovation and richer features involving new tech like flexible displays.
P.S. I don’t mean to imply that I wish the iPad hadn’t been released, were released later or that ereaders were still priced at $300-$500. Now is a good time to be a reader — in large part because of the iPad. The iPad forced the prices of dedicated ereaders down, making them more affordable for more people. The resultant surge in ebook sales means that most newly published books and many from the backlists are being published in digital format.
I do think that flexible display technology was killed (or at least set back several years) before it was really born by the iPad. It is interesting to speculate that if the iPad would have been released today or early next year instead of early 2010, it might possibly have featured a lightweight plastic display rather than its current heavy glass screen. A flexible screen that might have first gone into mass production for ereaders, which would have been a good vehicle for the technology.
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Plastic Logic and Rusnano to make plastic ereader displays no comments
The FT is reporting that Rusnano has approved plans and funding for a joint project with Plastic Logic to produce plastic ereader displays. The plastic displays will be produced in Russia and then will be sent to Taiwan for assembly into ereaders, which will be sold in the US and Russia. The project is expected to begin in December.
Let us hope that the price of any ereader incorporating this screen is lower than that of the cancelled Que ereader.
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Liquavista Announces Flexible Display Prototype no comments
Liquavista today announced the creation of the first flexible electrowetting display prototype.
“We’re really excited to be able to demonstrate yet another significant benefit of electrowetting display technology with the development of these prototypes.” Said Guy Demuynck, CEO Liquavista. “Bringing to market a unique display that can run video in color at low power and has the added advantage of an unbreakable screen which is lightweight, thin, flexible and robust will enable consumer electronics manufacturers to increase the durability of devices, reduce manufacturing costs and create new product designs to open up new markets.
“This new prototype is a first important step in paving the way for high volume manufacture of displays on flexible substrates” added Johan Feenstra, Liquavista’s CTO and Founder, “This clearly demonstrates that electrowetting technology is not only compatible with standard glass substrates but can in fact be manufactured on any substrate. The pace at which we have been able to continue to show advanced technology features is further proof of the simplicity and versatility of our technology.”
Liquavista’s displays are based on the principles of electrowetting and bring bright and colourful images and video that ensures excellent indoor and outdoor readability but uses dramatically less battery power. The technology is uniquely suited for colour and video electronic paper displays because of its very high reflectivity and its intrinsically fast video-rate switching speed. It is ideal for manufacture on flexible substrates as it does not require high temperature processing, has no demanding encapsulation requirements and is independent on cell gap variations.
In the future, consumers will want products that not only support full color and video but offer readability in all lighting conditions and gives them the freedom and portability of paper. Liquavista’s displays possess all the features to fulfil this desire.
Below is a video form Liquavista of their flexible display prototype.
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LG Display Shows Tabloid-Sized Flexible ePaper no comments
Korean company LG Display revealed a much larger epaper panel based on the
same TFTs on metal foil technology as that used in the Skiff ereader.
LG says that the 25cm x 40cm screen is the largest epaper display yet produced. The display is only .03mm thick, which is much thinner than other types of current ereader screens.
This type of large flexible display could potentially be used as a replacement for dead-tree newspapers and could be updated on the go and possibly even display video and multimedia.
LG plans to have 11.5-inch flexible epaper screens in mass production within the next few months. So far no pricing has been announced for the new screens.
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