You will soon be able to read magazines or comics on an e-reader with all the comfort of a classic medium. In any case, this is the promise of the new color screen marketed by E Ink.
E-readers may be less successful than tablets and smartphones, but that doesn’t stop the sector from innovating. E Ink, the company that produces most e-reader screens, unveiled its brand new color screen on April 25. This is enough to bring the e-reader experience a little closer to that provided by a paper book or magazine.
The Gallery 3 screen, of its small name, is capable of displaying more than 50,000 colors, can climb up to a resolution of 300 pixels per inch and benefits from a refresh time ranging from 350 to 1500 milliseconds depending on the quality of the chosen rendering. In the photos shared by the manufacturer, the screen seems close to a magazine rendering with marked grain.
Color pixels instead of filters
This is not the first time that a color E Ink screen has been marketed, but unlike what Kaleido technology (also marketed by E Ink) can offer, the Gallery 3 displays much better performance, with a refresh rate faster and better resolution. What considerably improve the reading experience and make the consultation of magazines pleasant on the reader.
Technically, the Gallery 3 uses Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP) technology where each pixel can display a combination of cyan, magenta, yellow and white. This makes it possible to faithfully reproduce a maximum of colors. Until then, color e-readers used screen filters that caused light leaks and other issues. Of course, the advantages of electronic ink are retained, with extremely low energy consumption and a limitation of eye fatigue compared to “classic” tablets.
For the moment, the Gallery 3 is not embedded in any consumer reader, but with the availability of such a screen for manufacturers, we should see color readers land en masse in the months and years to come.
Soon foldable reading lights
E Ink does not stop there. The company also presented prototypes of foldable or rollable readers, a bit like classic books or parchments. Both products are quite similar in spirit to what smartphone makers like Samsung or Huawei have released, but still with the iconic E Ink display.
These two devices, prototypes, are obviously far from being marketable as is. But the dream of an electronic book in the traditional format is gradually approaching.