Color-screen Kindle is years off, says Bezos
Fujitsu's FLEPia offers color, but it costs $1,000.
(Credit: Fujitsu)Those of you holding out for a color version of the Kindle may be disappointed to learn that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is telling the world it won't be arriving anytime soon. In fact, a color-screened Kindle is "multiple years" away, he said Thursday, adding: "I've seen the color displays in the laboratory, and I can assure you they're not ready for prime time."
We weren't expecting a color-screened Kindle in the near future, particularly one that anyone can afford (Fujitsu has just launched the FLEPia color e-book reader in Japan, but it costs $1,000). That said, I strongly suspect we'll see color-screened e-book readers very soon that don't use E-ink technology. Manufacturers could simply go with an advanced touch-screen LCD. Apple's rumored netbook/jumbo iTouch would fall into this camp. And we suspect cheaper, sub-$300 versions will turn up if the whole e-book trend remains hot.
Whether they'll be any good is another story. The downside to backlit LCDs is that cause eyestrain and arguably aren't ideal for reading (and they tend to get washed out in direct sunlight). But by the same token, a lot of people spend much of the day staring at an LCD monitor, so a model that was easier on the eyes would probably be tolerated for the right price, especially if you consider an LCD has no problem displaying video and Flash animations. (E-ink currently can't do moving images).
What do you guys think? Will color e-book readers of the future use E-ink or shift to another technology?
Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter.
When you take a technology like eInk and introduce color, the colors look quite washed out like in the picture above. That's because you can only have two states per pixel and shades in between - like red or white - but not three, like red or white or black, or better 3 colors plus black plus white per pixel. The binary "pixel on/off" approach just doesn't work as well for reflective displays.
That's main reason why companies chose not to sue regular LCD screen for ebook readers.
The black/white dots can be used to efficiently display text while reducing eye-strain; the RGB OLED pixels can be turned on and used when there's need to display a color picture or a video (in which case, the associated e-paper dot would be set to black...)
Feel free to quote me on the patent ;-)
As they say, the expect to be in both netbooks and e-readers by as early as Q4 this year.
You can see some early pictures on their blog.
http://www.pixelqi.com/blog1/
A Black and White eReaders only attracts gadget enthusiasts, a color eReader that is soothing to the eye can change the entire publication world.
Looking at the printed word on the kindle is indistingustiable from looking at printed word on paper. This coupled with the fact that you can carry hundreds of books with you, it having an integrated dictionary, and if you buy alot of books, it is cheaper in the long run to have an e-reader is why people are buying them. Not because they are gadget enthusiasts.
I will agree that a color e-ink reader will change the world, but the black and white ones already are.
Unless another technology is developed that is JUST as comfortable to read on for long hours as classic paper, e-ink is the only way to go. People that tout the e-books on iphones or netbooks, are really the gadget nuts. Chances are many of these people saying that is the way to go don't actually read that many books.
E-ink all the way, Baby!
The bigger question for me, will there still be a market for designated ebook readers by the time e-ink does color well? If something like the Mac Tablet comes out or you get net books with flip/touch screens, will companies like Sony and Amazon be able to sell a color ebook reader unless they significantly drop the price or add a lot of functionality?
Personally as a teacher, I hope that ebook only devices stick around because they'd be great in the classroom without all the distractions of something like an iPhone or a netbook/laptop... of course color, better annotation functionality and lower cost would be a must.
Recap: Low power, great aesthetics, high readability, currently producible, green technology.
Case closed. Now, let's work on retooling those assembly lines and begin the ubiquity!
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by denkars
July 20, 2009 6:18 AM PDT
- I don't think many people will be happy to pay around 1000$ just to read e-books. I really wonder why e-book readers are so costly? LCD shouldn't be a problem (for me at least). I think it's not really worth to buy e-book reader, I would go for whole laptop in the same price range :)
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(17 Comments)So, NO to elink for now...
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