SlashGear met up with Qualcomm and found out that they’re aiming to have color ebook readers (that also support video) in the market by the latter part of 2010.
Thanks to Damaso for leaving a link to this and suggesting it would make a great display for Kindle 3 (check out his excellent photo journey, the Europeans).
Details on Qualcomm’s Mirasol Display
First, here’s a comparison picture (photo courtesy Slashgear – click the link for more images) -
Obama Vs Kindle ... we mean Mirasol Vs eInk
The picture leaves no doubt that magazines and comics would benefit greatly from this.
Here are the features (as trumpeted by Qualcomm’s Mirasol team) -
- 5.7 inch display capable of full color and video.
- The display screen has 1,024 by 768 pixel resolution with around 220 dpi.
- With a mirasol display, Qualcomm would expect a Kindle’s battery to last 20% longer.
- Even video doesn’t impact battery life – it will supposedly still last a week.
- Qualcomm says prices will be comparable.
- Qualcomm are already working with OEMs on a variety of ebook reader devices. One of the OEMs is probably LG or related as that’s a Qualcomm partner.
- OEM designs being tested include keyboard and no keyboard models, touchscreen and non-touchscreen models.
- Finally a video –
Every single Qualcomm Mirasol display video on YouTube is 75% engineers talking and 25% showing the actual display. Are they trying to sell these displays or congratulating themselves?
Will we really get full color, full video eReaders by end 2010? In a Kindle?
Well, the screen is an actual, working unit from Qualcomm’s fabrication plant. That means they could hit the market in 1-2 years.
1 year is pretty aggressive but doable. 2010 might very well be the year of the color eReader.
Could it be in Kindle 3?
Not at all likely.
Kindle 3 ought to be out sometime in the next 3 months and Mirasol just isn’t at that stage of development yet.
There are also a lot of changes that would have to be made i.e.
- How to focus readers on reading with full video.
- How to make the eReader operating system work with the new display.
- Managing battery life.
- Putting together a better browser with flash video support.
Writing that you can’t help but realize that a Mirasol display powered eReader would be great for Vooks and digital books.
From my State of ePaper post in July -
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.
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 Mirasol website has more details.
Could it be in another Kindle – Kindle 4? Kindle DX 2?
That’s certainly possible.
Amazon would have to consider that seriously since lots of competitors would be incorporating Pixel Qi screens and perhaps even Mirasol screens by end 2010.
Thoughts – eInk Vs Mirasol
It’s a bit unfair to compare what will be available in end 2010 with what’s available now.
So the real question is – Where will eInk be at end 2010? Will it be able to compete with Mirasol?
PVI have said that color eInk and flexible eInk will be out in 2010. So we would have to choose between three options -
- Jekyll and Hyde Pixel Qi screens that switch between LCD and eInk modes.
- Color, flexible, touchscreen eInk.
- Color, video capable Mirasol displays.
Surprisingly, Mirasol looks like it might win even that battle. PVI and eInk have their work cut out for them.
Just as Kindle is being challenged by Sony and B&N, eInk is being challenged by Mirasol and Pixel Qi.
2010 is going to be a wonderful year for readers.
Filed under: eBook Reader Devices Tagged: | color ereader, ebook color ereader, future of epaper
Thanks for the link!
I think the real question we need to answer is: what will be in the Kindle 3? I think a separate, updated post is warranted here. As I see it there are perhaps three major innovations for the K3:
Touch
Color
Bigger screen/faster refresh
I don’t think Amazon wants to release a Kindle 3 that doesn’t have at least one, if not two of these features. Amazon needs to convince current Kindle owners that they should upgrade (for some, including myself, the feature set of the Kindle 2 was not enough though international wireless is now tempting). Amazon also needs to set itself apart from its competitors.
Personally I don’t think touch is that big a deal though it could be a killer feature for the Kindle DX and the education market when it comes to note taking.
Color could be killer when it comes to newspapers and magazines and texbooks. Faster refresh, slightly bigger screen, etc would be nice but not a big deal, or at least big enough to separate Kindle from Nook.
I actually think Amazon can wait a while (i.e. longer than three months) to introduce a new Kindle. I think introducing a K3 with a limited new feature set would be far worse than waiting a while and introducing a killer K3 with some of the features described.
Remember the eReader market is growing quickly, there is enough room for many companies at this point. Amazon can wait a bit and leverage its success and dominance thus far into a product which will take it to the next level.
What do you think?
Agree with you that Kindle 3 MUST be a killer update. It can’t be Kindle 2.1 or it will get massacred by whatever is the latest generation of eReaders at that time.
A May release with 2 or 3 of the killer features you mention is much better than a Feb release with just 1.
Think they also need to look very seriously at both mirasol and pixel qi. eInk just isn’t evolving fast enough.
You’re right, Kindle 3 can’t be a repackaged Kindle 2, it has to be significantly better. But a new product development takes at least 6 months, maybe more, so it’s going to be what it’s going to be.
To me, the biggest problem is that the device is too big for the screen size, and most of it is due to the keyboard.
The obvious solution is touch, but nobody so far has figured out how to do that without impacting the readability. The Nook solution with the second screen isn’t any better, the device is still too big for the screen size.
Ignoring book prices, availability, etc. the only one that got the right idea was Sony, but the glare kills it. If it wasn’t for the glare, I’d buy a Sony reader in a flash, but I went to actually look at one and it’s too hard to read. Maybe they improved it in the Daily edition, but I somehow doubt it.
So, assuming that the touch without glare is still far away, I think the killer feature for Kindle 3 would be a sliding keyboard, like some of the smart phones. This way, they can make the overall size just a little over the screen size. And if they give it a 7″ screen, that would really make it ideal. Bigger than that would make it too hard to carry around. My ideal size is the size of a paperback.
Color would be nice, but it’s not a big deal to me. I’d rather have a perfect device for reading books and nothing else, than something that tries to do multiple tasks and is mediocre in each of them.
[...] More details at my Mirasol Color eReader post. [...]
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