Here's a nice short video showing a 6" E Ink Pearl panel running on the Freescale i.MX50 EVK, showing the quick refresh rate possible with such a setup:
Fujitsu is showing a new color e-paper eReader prototype - with a 4096 colors, 8" display (157 PPI that offers 8:1 contrast ratio. This is a linux-based system with a new fast processor (refresh rate of 0.7 seconds) and ePub and PDF support. It weights only 220 grams.
This new prototype probably uses Fujitsu's "improved" e-paper technology announced back in May 2010.
It's been a while since we heard some news regarding AUO's Sipix e-paper technology. IRX Innovation tested the new panel and found it's fast enough for video (6fps):
In fact IRX engineers say that this could be improved to 10fps just by loading the images into a memory buffer. The panel on show offers VGA resolution (480x640), 100Hz refresh rate and 4 gray levels (although this will be improved to 16 levels). Here's a closeup of the panel:
Bookeen is showing some real time web page scrolling on an E Ink panel:
Pretty impressive, although they've already shown us smooth video playback on such a display. Now we're waiting for their upcoming fast e-reader...
E Ink's Sri Peruvemba says that there's generally a two-year cycle in E Ink technology as it takes some time to develop and test new generation displays. Sri says that we shouldn't expect a new monochrome E Ink display (to replace the Pearl) in 2011. I guess we'll have to wait till 2012!
What we are likely to see soon are speed improvements - full-motion video (24fps) using updated drivers and faster processors. Bookeen has already been showing about 10-15fps video on Pearl displays.
Back in January we saw an e-reader playing video (by Bookeen) - and today we found out that someone ported Doom 2 to an E Ink e-reader (a prototype PocketBook 360 Plus). Pretty neat:
Update: We just got word from Bookeen. They say that everything is done on components that are available on the market with Bookeen's software - and they expect such performance to be available on the next-gen e-readers to appear soon. The power consumption, interestingly, is said to be equivalanet to a non-backlit LCD while running videos. The video, by the way, is a standard H.264 with no special treatment needed.
Bookeen's R&D team has achieved smooth video playback on an E Ink Pearl display. They are using a TI OMAP 3621 CPU (with its embedded software controller) and show a H.264 encoded video:
We don't know what are Bookeen plans here - whether they'd want to release a video-enabled reader or perhaps license their new technology?
Bridgestone were showing their QR-LPD (Quick Response Liquid Powder Display) displays at CES. There are reports that the display is very dim and washed out, and the refresh rate is slow. They do support color, though. Here's a short video:
Vivitek is also showing two e-readers using the QR-LPD displays (made by Delta Electronics) one is a 8.2" and the other is a large 13.1" display.
Check out this video showing an e-reader (E Ink) platform based on Freescale's i.MX508 chipset. The page refresh rates are great compared to what's available on the market today.
A couple of weeks ago E Ink and Freescales announced that they will jointly develop a color e-reader platform based on the same i.MX508 chipset.
Seiko Epson has developed a new platform for e-paper display control that enabled high-speed refreshes for 300ppi resolution displays. The platform includes a display controller, application processor and power-supply chip and will be released in April 2011.
