E Ink display
From MobileRead
Contents |
[edit] E Ink Display Specifications
Updated for E Ink Vizplex imaging film.
[edit] Optical
| White State Reflectivity: | 40% (typical) |
| Contrast Ratio: | 7:1 (typical) |
| Viewing Angle: | 180 degree |
| Grayscale Capability: | 4-bit (16 gray levels) |
| Image Update Time: | 740 ms (grayscale mode) 260 ms (1-bit mode) |
In actual practice the grayscale capability is up to the controller hardware and can range from 4 levels to 16 levels in currently shipped devices.
[edit] Mechanical / Dimensional for 6" Display
| Pixel Count: | 800 x 600 (SVGA) 167 ppi |
| Pixel Size: | rectangular, 151 x 153 micron |
| Active Area: | 122.4 x 90.6 mm (4.8" x 3.6") 152.3 mm (6 inches) diagonal |
| Display Thickness: | 1.25 mm |
| Display Weight: | 35 g |
There are other display sizes available.
- 10.2" (207 x 155 mm, 8.15" x 6.1") 1280 x 1024 pixels, 158 ppi
- 9.7" (202.9 x 139.5 mm, 8.0" x 5.5") 1200 x 825 pixels, 150 ppi
- 8.0" (162.6 x 121.9 mm, 6.4" x 4.8") 1024 x 768, 160 ppi
- 5.0" (101.5 x 76.1 mm, 4.0" x 3.0") 800 x 600, 200 ppi
For more details see: http://www.eink.com/products/matrix/High_Res.html
[edit] Environmental
| Operating Temperature Range: | 0 — 50 C |
| Storage Temperature Range: | -27 — 70 C |
[edit] Electrical
| Supply Voltage: | 2.7—3.3 V DC |
| Power Consumption: | Active update peak: 1800 mW Active update typical: 750 mW Standby typical: 1 mW |
[edit] E Ink controllers
The current controllers
- Apollo is the original controller and is still popular and used on many readers.
- IRex builds their own custom controller offering 16 levels of Grayscale.
- Metronome controller currently used on the PRS505
- Epson controller available in late 2008 with improved features. Used on Sony PRS700, Amazon Kindle 2, Kindle DX, Hanlin V5, and others.
- Marvell builds a custom controller for their line of ARM processors.
Here is a discussion of interfacing to these controllers for Linux applications.
[edit] Notes on earlier E Ink devices.
The older display technology has 4 level gray scale and slower update times of 1000 ms for gray scale and 500 ms for 1-bit mode. These were primarily 6" devices. They also had less reflectivity. This causes these devices to appear less white (light grey background) and have less contrast.
The iRex iLiad, on the other hand, uses a custom display controller that achieves 16 levels of gray scale. They are also using an 8.1" display featuring a 1024 x 768 pixel display.

