E Ink
From MobileRead
Developed by the MIT Media Lab, E Ink technology is proprietary to E Ink Corporation and allows for a new generation of battery-powered portable e-book readers to display text and graphics with a high resolution, while not consuming power to maintain the display. Tiny black particles represent the pixels by their proximity to the surface of the screen. Near the screen, they are seen as a small black dot, much like the screen process for printing black and white photographs. This technology allows portable readers, such as the Hanlin V2 and Sony Portable Reader PRS-500, to consume power only when advancing pages, or zooming in or out.
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[edit] For more information
- E Ink display specifications
- E-paper general technology
[edit] Available e-book products
Currently available products that incorporate E Ink High Resolution Displays include:
- Amazon's Kindle, Wireless Reading Device and the Kindle DX
- ARINC's eFlyBook, General Aviation eReader
- BeBook's BeBook
- Bookeeen's CyBook Gen3
- Emano Tec's Medtab 100
- iRex Technologies' iLiad and Digital Reader
- Jinke's Hanlin V Series eReader
- Polymervision's Readius
- Sony's Personal Reader (PRS-505) and the Personal Reader (PRS-700)
Samsung Electronics achieved a world's first at the SID event with a largest-ever high resolution E Ink Vizplex imaging film at 40" diagonal - the size of a large flat-screen TV, which consumes very little power: 300mW at one frame per minute, or 1/500 that of a conventional LCD display. Such a display using electronic ink would be appropriate for digital signage and office information applications.
[edit] Available products (other than e-book readers)
Currently available products featuring E Ink Segmented Displays include:
- ART Technologies, Ltd., Phosphor Innovation Electronic Ink Watch
- Lexar's Jumpdrive Mercury and Secure Plus II USB memory sticks
- Funkwerk Information Technologies Karlsfeld GmbH's Pariflex DRFID (bar code Display on a RFID tag) Smartlabel
- Motorola's MOTOFONE F3, GSM Mobile Phone
- Seiko G300, Ladies Electronic Ink Fashion Watch
[edit] Available development kits
Currently available development tools:
- E Ink AM200 Prototyping Kit in 5", 6", 8", 9.7" panel sizes
- Seiko-Epson, Segmented Display EPD Evaluation Board
- Prime View International, High Resolution Prototype Development Kits
[edit] Roadmap
During the Society of Information Display (SID) 2007 E Ink demonstrated their latest advances in e-paper.
"Our research team is demonstrating here an ultra-bright ink that is approaching 50 percent reflectance of ambient light compared to 35 percent in shipping monochrome products," said Dr. Michael McCreary, vice president of Research and Advanced Development at E Ink. "Moreover, the advanced ink is capable of high switching speeds. We have put it all together and today we are unveiling our first-ever color research prototype that can play smooth color video."
E Ink has a color video prototype with a 6-inch diagonal display with 300x400 resolution and RGBW sub-pixels that is capable of switching at up to 30 frames per second. It is expected that the video switching capability may require several years to reach the market.
