Mirasol

Two years ago, at the 2010 edition of CES, I got all excited about a technology from Qualcomm called Mirasol--a new type of color screen that ran for weeks on one battery charge, was fast enough to permit fluid user interfaces and video playback, and which didn't wash out in direct sunlight.

Mirasol looked like a good fit for Kindle-style e-readers, and Qualcomm said that it expected an e-reader with a Mirasol screen to arrive by the third quarter of the year. It didn't. A whole lot of other stuff did happen, though. Monochrome E-Ink screens got more … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Qualcomm's Mirasol display technology, which was supposed to be the next big thing in e-readers, still hasn't made it into a product in the U.S. or Europe, but the Bambook Sunflower E-Reader is coming to China in February.

"With the Bambook Sunflower e-Reader, Shanghai Nutshell and Shanda have raised consumer expectations for digital reading, both in terms of color content and an interactive user experience," said Clarence Chui, senior vice president and general manager of Qualcomm MEMS Technologies. … Read more

A lot of people thought Mirasol, Qualcomm's once-promising color display technology with e-ink-like properties, was dead in the water. But now we get word that Kyobo Book Centre, Korea's largest bookseller, has announced the retail availability of the first Mirasol e-reader.

Simply called the Kyobo e-reader, it looks a lot like the Mirasol prototypes that have been floating around for the last couple of years. The Kyobo's got a 5.7-inch XGA display (1,024x768-pixel resolution, 223 ppi), runs on a Qualcomm 1GHz Snapdragon S2-class processor, and sports a touch-screen interface. Cost: $310 (KRW349,000) or $265 (KRW 299,000) if you happen to be a Kyobo Platinum Book Club member.

For those who've been following Mirasol, the great thing about the technology is that as with e-ink you can view the screen in direct sunlight and it's also very energy-efficient.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--The e-reader may have been one of the hottest holiday gifts, with Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Sony, and others selling millions of devices, but it was decidedly absent at this year's CES--unless, of course, you count all the Android tablets floating around.

The company a lot of people were watching was Qualcomm-backed Mirasol, which made a splash a year ago with its new, reflective color display technology that's energy-efficient, runs full-motion video, and can be viewed in direct sunlight. Alas, Mirasol had no product to announce, only that it was working with vendors such as Pocketbook, … Read more

At last year's CES, the e-reader product a lot of people were talking about didn't exist. It was a concept from Mirasol, a Qualcomm-backed company that was showing off its screen technology in a prototype unit.

Mirasol's screen caught people's attention for a few reasons. For starters, it was color. Secondly, its high-tech reflective display technology was not only energy-efficient but readable in direct sunlight. And finally, it was capable of displaying full-motion video. Marrying the best of what e-ink had to offer with some of the strengths of LCD, it looked a lot like the … Read more

Prior to each year's Consumer Electronics Show, we like to write previews of what buzz-worthy products might appear at the show and what trends you might expect to hear about. We'll do that, we promise. But before we do, let's take a look back and see what we left behind.

Last year, as expected, the e-reader was front and center at CES, the hot new category if there ever was one. It had its own little pavilion on the show floor and we spent some time snapping photographs of all the new wares companies were proudly showcasing. … Read more

Qualcomm is said to be putting more muscle behind its planned Mirasol color e-reader technology.

According to Taiwan's Digitimes, the company is ready to spend up to $2 billion on a Taiwan plant to produce the screens, which use tiny microelectronic machines to produce an e-reader screen that not only can display color, but video as well.

Qualcomm, which has been showing Mirasol for some time, won't produce the actual e-reader devices, hoping instead to license its technology broadly. A representative told CNET in June that e-readers using Mirasol should be out early next year, if not by … Read more

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif.--One of the technologies that always catches my eye is a screen technology called Mirasol, which aims to marry the best of e-reader and traditional liquid crystal displays.

Mirasol uses tiny mirrors, known as microelectronic machines, to create its display, which has the low power characteristics of E-Ink displays and the video-playing and color abilities of LCDs. Qualcomm isn't making devices itself, but said e-readers using Mirasol should be out early next year, if not by the end of this year.

I got a chance to see the demo up close, and shot a quick … Read more