14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday, it was made plain for all to see that Amazon was soon going to sell its latest incarnation of the Kindle e-reader. For the most part, in addition to a new design, this device bragged about having a new type of screen with a much higher brightness. Unfortunately, no real details were given on that display, but E-Ink has finally broken silence and issued an official press release with this exact goal in mind. The new panel is supposedly dubbed Pearl and is an advanced type of Vizplex display.
Basically, the Pearl offers enhanced readability and the lowest power consumption out of all the screens used by existing e-readers. The text supposedly “pops from the page” and, of course, the technology isn't limited to just the kindle DX. In fact, E-Ink's pearl range already includes models with sizes of 5 inches to 9.7 inches, all with resolutions between 800 x 600 and 1,200 x 825 (200 to 150 DPI). Furthermore, all of them have 16 levels of gray. The company did not say anything specific about any upcoming devices based on the panels.
"As the electronic reading market continues to expand, there are more opportunities for expansion not only in the eBook space, but also for eNewspapers, eMagazines and eTextbooks," according to Felix Ho Chairman of E Ink. "E Ink Pearl enables further adoption with a next generation product that is a more lightweight and eco-friendly product than ordinary paper, with less eye strain and longer battery life than an LCD."
"The use of electrophoretic displays for eBook readers is growing rapidly. DisplaySearch forecasts that the market value in 2010 will be $837 million, and will grow by 44 percent in 2011, reaching $1.2 billion," according to Paul Semenza, senior vice president, DisplaySearch. "E Ink's new technology should continue to position them at the forefront of this market segment."