Kindle Review – Kindle 2 Review, Books

Amazon and the Kindle have the clear lead in the eReader wars. However, numerous competitors to Amazon’s Kindle are cropping up and it’s worth taking a moment to review the state of the art in ePaper.

The ePaper Leader: PVI eInk

PVI bought eInk and consolidated the Kindle’s screen technology into one company. Its the leader in ePaper technology. 

ePaper Technology: Electrophoretic.  
eInk Roadmap: Flexible Screens and Color Screens are on the roadmap with ETAs ranging from 2010-2012.
Color and Video Support: Color might be here as soon as next year. Video unlikely in the next 3-4 years.
Advantages: Actually available. Used by most eReader companies.
ePaper Video: Just take a look at the ‘Kindle Review Videos’ section at the top to see videos of the Kindle 2’s screen in action. Or see the video below for Kindle vs Pixel Qi.

The LCD ePaper Dark Horse: Pixel Qi

Pixel Qi is modifying LCD technology and transforming ePaper.

ePaper Video: Here’s a comparison video of the Kindle screen Vs Pixel Qi screen –
ePaper Technology: Modified LCD.
In Development Since: Just a year, built on OLPC technology.
Roadmap: Mass Production end 2009, In devices early 2010.
Color and Video Support: Yes.
Advantages: Built on LCD technology so cheaper and more features.
In Kindle 3? Perhaps. If Pixel Qi’s technology works, Amazon will have to incorporate it into the Kindle sooner or later.
In Apple iReader/MediaPad? Perhaps.

The Out of Left Field ePaper: BridgeStone QR-LPD
 
Bridgestone surprised everyone with its gorgeous looking epaper earlier in 2009. It already supports color, touch, and is super-thin.

ePaper Video: Bridgestone showed its very impressive ePaper earlier this year –
ePaper Technology: QR-LPD (Quick Response Liquid Particle Display) consists of particles suspended in air (eInk has them suspended in liquid).
Roadmap: Being used in supermarkets and retail stores in Japan and abroad. Unknown ETA for eReaders.
Color and Video Support: Color Supported. No ETA on Video.
Advantages: Color and Touchscreen work. Only color epaper other than Fujitsu’s that’s already available (not in eReaders though).
In Kindle 3? Unlikely. Perhaps Kindle 4 or later might use this if Amazon doesn’t go with Pixel Qi or Fujitsu.

The In-Color ePaper: Fujitsu with its FLEPia Color EReader

While eInk and every other ePaper technology (except Bridgestone) have been talking about color in 2011 or 2012, Fujitsu released their super-expensive color eReader in Japan earlier this year.

ePaper Video: A very comprehensive video showing off the FLEPia’s touch and color abilities –
ePaper Technology: Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Display, developed at Fujitsu Frontech Labs.
Roadmap: There isn’t that much more they can add. No ETA for Video.
Color and Video Support: Color yes. Video ETA unknown.
Advantages: The only color eReader, the only color ePaper currently being sold in an eReader. Touchscreen.
In Kindle 3? Highly unlikely. Fujitsu will probably bring the technology to the rest of the world and be a Kindle competitor.

The Butterfly Wings ePaper: Qualcomm Mirasol Display Technology

Qualcomm has taken inspiration from the design of butterfly wings to create a new display technology that’s really impressive. The Mirasol website has more details.

ePaper Video: Here’s my edited mini-video –

ePaper Technology: Reflective technology called IMOD (Interferometric MODulation) with MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) at its core.
Roadmap: 5 products already using it including a cellphone. 9 more in the pipeline including a LG cellphone.
Color and Video Support: Color supported. Video supported.
Advantages: Low power, already being used in various devices, viewable in sunlight, great color. 
In Kindle 3? It would be a drastic shift so it’s unlikely. It does open the door for lots of portable devices to be better for reading books.

The Business ePaper: Plastic Logic

Plastic Logic has created a huge buzz with its flexible, unbreakable, business focused Plastic Logic eReader. Its big contributions to ePaper technology will be flexibility and larger size.

ePaper Video: Check out the videos at the Plastic Logic website.
ePaper Technology: Organic Thin Film Transistors. Using this instead of silicon to get flexibility and lower prices.
Roadmap: Jan 2010 release estimated.
Color and Video Support: No known ETA.
Advantages: Very clear screen. Flexible and screen can’t break. Touchscreen. Will be available soon.

The ‘Flexible Display’ ePaper: ASU, US Army and HP

ASU’s Flexible Display Center has used $100 million in investments over the last 5 years to come up with some amazing flexible, flat, displays that could become really important as ePaper in the coming years. They build the backplanes for the ePaper and use various technologies as the actual ‘ink’ to create their displays.

ePaper Video: Here’s a video that explains the technology –
ePaper Technology: Organic Light Emitting Diodes, eInk (electrophoretic), Kent Displays (cholesteric LCD)
In Development Since: 2004.
Roadmap: Please see the video. They don’t give ETAs. 
Color and Video Support: Yes.
Advantages: US Army is supporting the program. Using a variety of ‘ink’ technologies.

The Video ePaper: LiquaVista (Philips Spin-Off)

Liquavista uses an ePaper technology (electrowetting) that allows for Video. They are also working with Plastic Logic on a 3 year, $20 million program to build full color, full video, low power ePaper.

ePaper Video: Check out the video at the liquavista downloads page.
ePaper Technology: Electrowetting.
In Development Since: 2003.
RoadMap: They don’t have ETAs (apart from the PL tie-up dates above).
Color and Video Support: Yes. Top Pros: Compatible with LCD manufacturing and supply chain. Flexible, Color, Video. Operates in transmissive, reflective and transflective modes.

Full-Spectrum Color ePaper – Opalux’s P-Ink

Opalux steals the structure of opals (and again butterfly wings) to create an epaper that diffracts and reflects different bands of color depending on the amount of change in the structure of the ePaper.

ePaper Technology: Photonic Crystals.
ePaper Video: An Opalux P-Ink video (guess what country Opalux are based in) –
Roadmap: Unknown.
Color and Video Support: No Video. Changing across the full spectrum takes 0.9 seconds so full-color eReaders are the ideal use.
Advantages: Full Spectrum Color, very flexible and can be bent and rolled, continue to work even if a part of the screen gets damaged (supposedly).   

The NextGen ePaper – Gamma Dynamics and EFD

Prof. Jason Heikenfeld of the Univeristy of Cincinnati’s Novel Devices Lab, in partnership with Polymer Vision, Sun Chemical and University of Cincinnati, has spun out a company called Gamma Dynamics that might well be inventing the future of ePaper -

1. EFDs (electrofluidic displays) have white reflectance of >85%. 
2. It supports video. 
3. Its flexible and rollable.  
4. These pictures from Gamma Dynamics illustrate the difference (do scroll down on the page).  

ePaper Video: No interesting videos of the screen itself.
ePaper Technology: Electrofluidic Technology.
Roadmap: Unknown.
Color and Video Support: Yes.
Advantages: Highest Light Reflectance, Video and Color support, Flexible.

More ePaper Contenders

1. Nemoptic – An interesting company that is already selling Point of Display and Point of Sale ePaper products. They have a good looking color ePaper prototype worth a look –
2. Sipix – Uses electrophoretic technology like PVI/eInk.  
3. Samsung’s ePaper- It can switch between electronic paper mode and video mode. Its based on Cholesteric LCD technology.
4. Kent Displays – It produces cholesteric LCD displays including these LCD writing tablets.
5. Here’s an OLED display from Sony.

I’ve added a recent post that covers the State of the eReader – do take a look.

And if you’re looking for a more in-depth dive into the technologies check out ePaper Central’s Guide to ePaper.

Color ePaper looks gorgeous and hopefully it arrives in Kindle 4 (rather unlikely to be ready by Kindle 3).