E Ink unwraps colour e-paper reader

E Ink has demo'd Triton - its technology to enable colour e-book readers. Triton is capable of presenting "thousands of colours", E Ink said, and it claimed they would be viewable in sunlight. Like other E Ink e-paper technologies, Triton is "low power" - not that E Ink provided figures, mind. E Ink Triton Source: PCWatch …

[Matt Bucknall]

How fast is it though?

Is the technology fast enough to provide a responsive UI and do video, like Qualcomm's Mirasol display tech?

I'm personally looking forward to e-ink type tablets appearing on the market (preferably running Android) so that I can have all the advantages of a non-retina-burning e-book reader combined with the more fun aspects of a tablet device (video, apps, *decent* annotation and web browsing capabilities).

[The Indomitable Gall]

Interesting conundrum.

"Even so, E Ink marketing chief Lawrence Schwartz said that the company doesn't believed Triton is an e-book reader component so much as a technology that will enable e-newspapers."

Presumably the increased complexity means a much lower refresh rate.

Apple are doing their very best to kill E Ink. Look at the "interactive ebooks" you can get from the Open University on iTunes U now. They're basically using webkit as an ebook renderer and slowly making ebooks more and more like locally installed webpages.

As an OU student, I'm all for reducing the reliance on multiple media sources, but by working video into a "book", they're breaking its portability. Audio, yes -- that's great, video no.

So the enewspaper angle seems to be a tacit admission by E Ink that this product falls between two stools: it is not for the paperback junkies who currently devour Amazon's Kindle catalogue, and it's not for people looking for a truly rich experience. Personally, I think the best market for colour e-paper is for posters and information signs, which is a form factor significantly over 7"....

[bell]

Sure, it's nice, but ...

Do we really need colour?

Particularly if it comes at the cost (as I assume it must) of increased power consumption even for monochrome operations.

[Lottie]

Comics

I can really see this doing wonders for the mobile comic industry. I love reading them on my phone (interestingly, some writers now use the vibrate function to emphasize a "Pow" type effect) but I'd really prefer something much larger.

[wheelybird]

One obvious application

That seems to have been missed out. Digital photo frames. It's the future.

Oh, and porn.

[David Lawrence]

This is the future...

...of displays for laptops, netbooks and tablets. Perhaps even mobile phones. Here I am, in a well-lit office, working with a monitor that needs to be illuminated. Just beside it, on my desk, is a sheet of paper requiring no illumination and consuming no energy.

Of course, we will need illumination for certain conditions but it should be optional.

I love stuff like this - reminds me of Tomorrow's World when I was a kid!

I can't wait to see what products will emerge over the next few years using this technology.

[irrelevant]

How big can it go??

Forget photo frames, I'd like some digital wallpaper - change the design whenever I feel like it ...

[Toastan Buttar]

Careful what you wish for...

Remember that Ray Bradbury story "The Veldt"?

[John 179]

Sounds great

I'd much prefer this for ebooks over an LCD screen like the new Nook and iPad.