Technical / Research

E Ink has announced their next-generation display technology called Pearl. This new display has about 50% improved contrast ratio compared to the current E Ink (vizplex) displays, and also improved power consumption. The Pearl has 16 levels of gray.

The Pearl is the display used in Amazon's new Graphite Kindle DX, which will ship on July 2010, and cost $379.

Via E-Ink-Info

Hanwang (the leading Chinese e-reader maker, under the Hanvon name) will use Marvell's Armada 166E chips in their new e-readers. Marvell's chip includes an integrated e-paper display controller - and the new e-readers will offer better performance, more functionality and lower price points than previous e-readers.

The ARMADA 166E delivers best-in-class user experiences and support for the latest Android, Linux, and WinCE operating systems, allowing users to experience fast system performance and quick renderings of high-resolution PDF or ePub documents. The new chip is also said to be better on the battery.

The first models of Hanwang's next generation eReaders will be available from Hanwang in 3Q 2010.

Liquavista is showing new 8.5" full-color and monochrome displays, available across their entire range of platforms: LiquavistaBright, LiquavistaColor and LiquavistaVivid. The displays offer XGA resolution (1024x768).

Available to partners for evaluation through Liquavista’s partner program, manufacturers and product developers will be able to gain early access to samples.

Via E-Ink-Info

It turns out that Verizon and Google are jointly developing a tablet computer. We don't have a lot of details (like who's making it, timing or pricing info). It's likely that it will include e-reader software, as this tablet is rivaling Apple's iPad...

Via WSJ

Plastic Logic say that they will start making color E Ink displays towards the end of 2011. Mass production will begin in 2012. The panel will be based on technology the company already have “working at our Cambridge laboratory”.

Via Slashgear

Apple OLED rumors never die. Digitimes reports that Apple has started developing the 2nd-generation iPad, and they'll use an OLED panel. They want to launch it in 2011. Digitimes are skeptic though, because OLED Panel prices will still be too high.

Apple iPad

They estimate that the iPad's 9.7" LCD costs around $60-70. A similar OLED will cost about $500. That gap isn't likely to drop significantly by 2011.

Fujitsu is showing a new color e-reader prototype. Fujitsu are making their own color e-paper displays. They expect to launch a device based on this sometimes in 2010. There's not a lot of technical details...

Back in March 2009, Fujitsu launched their Flepia color e-reader in Japan. Beside the 8" (1024x768) touch color display it had Wi-Fi and an SD card slot and it used Windows CE 5.0.

via Slashgear