Electronic Reader Displays - E Ink
Since late 2008 one of the biggest and most talked about consumer products have been electronic book readers. Beginning with the Sony PRS-500 Reader and followed closely by the original Amazon kindle, electronic readers are revolutionizing the reading experience. One of the key features behind this revolution has been the e-reader screen, an electronic paper like display, otherwise known as E-Ink.
What is E Ink?
E Ink – the technology that empowers devices like the Amazon kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook – is a proprietary electronic paper format developed by the E Ink Corporation. The display technology, called EPD – Electronic Paper Display – creates a screen display that simulates the experience of reading from paper.
How Does E Ink Work?
Launched in 1997 from the MIT Media Lab, E Ink is a popular display technology for e-readers, as well as for cell phones, PDAs and watches. E Ink is composed of millions of microcapsules – each no wider than the diameter of a human hair. The tiny microcapsules store white and black particles suspended in a clear fluid. To create a screen display, the white particles are assigned a positive electric charge and the black particles a negative electric charge. When a negative electric field is applied to the charged particles, the black particles sink to the bottom and the white rise to the top where they are visible, and the reverse brings black particles to the surface. Electronic screen displays put the E Ink over a plastic film overlaid on a circuit board of pixels. Varying levels of black and white particles and pixilated charges can display numerous shades of grey – currently up to 32.
E Ink Features
• Revolutionary technology creates a bright, high contrast display of white and black pixilated charges
• Clear contrast allows screen displays to be sunlight readable, requiring no front of backlight to display crisp contrast
• E Ink technology produces a reflective display that is viewable from all angles
• The electronic film is extremely thin, light and portable.
• Both flexible and unbreakable, the electronic film is a durable mobile solution
• E Ink electronic paper display technology requires an ultra low level of energy for excellent battery life.
E Ink Works in Progress
Winner of the distinguished Gold Display Component of the Year Award from the SID – Society for Informational Display – E Ink is in the process of developing a color display innovation. Experimental prototypes create E Ink filters that can support vibrant color and employ enhanced refresh rates that are capable of rendering video. If E Ink technology hopes to keep up with industry innovations, including the color display of the Apple ipad it is going to have to compete with color. Although, for a lot of consumers the e-reader is used only for reading and the color display is not a big selling point. The market opened up with the introduction of the ipad to challenge the versatility and display of the e-reader as a tablet computer, but many are happy with the current display of black and white text on their e-readers.
Article by contributing writer Kate Dubenski
