Yes, color e-readers have been done before — see Pandigital’s Novel e-reader or Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color, available later this month — but when E Ink, the pioneering Boston firm whose display technology is used in Amazon’s Kindle, joins the fray, you pay attention. Today, E Ink will be unveiling its full-color “Triton” e-paper technology at Japan’s FDP International trade show.
E Ink promises a full month of battery life with their new technology, as well as 20% faster performance than previous generations of E Ink. As anyone who’s experienced the messy black-and-white artifacts that occasionally plague the Kindle can tell you, performance speed is one of the nagging little problems with e-ink as we know it today, so this is welcome news.
At today’s trade show, a Chinese company called Hanvon will be unveiling the first full-color e-reader powered by E Ink’s new technology. The 9.68-inch color touchscreen tablet will go on sale in March for little less than the cost of an iPad — starting at $440 as compared with the iPad’s $590 sticker price in China — and could migrate to the U.S. if successful.
Press release and demo video below:
November 10, 2010 – ‐ E Ink® Holdings Inc., the leader in electronic paper display technology, today announced the release of its next generation display technology, E Ink Triton. Triton enables color ePaper solutions, enhancing the visual experience for ePublishing markets.
“E Ink Triton marks a major milestone in the eBook revolution,” said Hanvon’s Chairmain Dr. Liu Yingjian. “E Ink has the right technology, manufacturing capability, and know- ‐how to transition Hanvon’s product vision into reality. With E Ink Triton technology, Hanvon is enabled to release the world’s first color eBook reader today.” “E Ink Triton is a response to market need for a color ePaper display that mimics the printed paper experience“, said Scott Liu, Chairman of E Ink Holdings. “Triton will compliment our monochrome product line to enable new markets. ”
“Color ePaper will enable richer content in eBooks, as well as enabling a broader array of other reading devices, for content such as magazines, newspapers, and educational materials” according to Paul Semenza, Senior Vice President, DisplaySearch. “We foresee market demand for ePaper displays in these applications reaching $5 billion by 2016”.
Enhanced with Color
For image- ‐rich information applications showing charts, graphs, maps, photos, comics and advertising, color displays made with Triton Imaging Film enable ultra low power and high mobility devices with a paper- ‐like experience. In addition to 16 levels of grayscale, Triton is capable of displaying thousands of colors. And just like E Ink’s grayscale ePaper products, Triton’s crisp text and detailed color graphics are fully viewable in direct sunlight.
Faster Performance
Displays made with Triton, as well as the recently launched Pearl, can perform up to 20% faster than those made with previous generations of E Ink Imaging Film. Whether turning a page, selecting a menu, taking notes, or viewing simple animations, Triton’s update performance will satisfy today’s user- ‐ interface product needs. This expands the ePaper experience and display more dynamic content for signage or advertising.
Proven Technology
The E Ink Triton design leverages the patented two pigment capsule platform found in millions of E Ink enabled eBooks. This technology offers unparallel image stability; pictures and text can be maintained on the screen even when the power is turned off. With this proven bi- ‐stable technology, devices using E Ink Imaging Film have demonstrated both long life and high reliability, leading to the development of a whole new class of consumer products over the past few years.
