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Displays Hardware Technology

LG.Philips Develops World's First Color E-Paper 188

Posted by Zonk from the i'd-love-me-some-of-that dept.
An anonymous reader writes "LG.Philips LCD has announced it has developed the world's first 14.1-inch flexible color E-paper display, equivalent in size to an A4 sheet of paper. The 14.1-inch flexible color E-paper uses electronic ink from E-Ink Corp. to produce a maximum of 4,096 colors. It can be viewed from a full 180 degrees, so that images always appear crisp, even when the display is bent."
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LG.Philips Develops World's First Color E-Paper More

LG.Philips Develops World's First Color E-Paper

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  • Wonderful (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dirtside ( 91468 ) on Sunday May 13, 2007 @11:36PM (#19109601) Journal
    Now how about a damn picture?

  • An advertisers dream (Score:5, Insightful)

    by GFree ( 853379 ) on Sunday May 13, 2007 @11:37PM (#19109611)
    Now you just know the advertisers are gonna get a hold of this technology and slap animated ads on cereal boxes or something.

    Minority Report anyone?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by ratsnapple tea ( 686697 )
      Actually, I doubt it, seeing as this stuff still looks to be too expensive and fragile to be treated as disposable.

      I think a lot of these "e-paper" technologies kind of miss the whole point of paper, which is not that it happens to be flexible and reflective, or even in color, but that it's cheap enough and portable enough to bring with you literally anywhere. Paper was ubiquitous long before the invention of four-color separation.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by mrchaotica ( 681592 ) *

        I agree that it's not nearly as "revolutionary" as some people think it is, but still -- if it gives me better battery life on my portable computer (while, ideally, retaining my ability to watch videos (I know the refresh rate isn't there yet)), I'm all for it!

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by CastrTroy ( 595695 )
          Isn't the whole point of ePaper that you don't have to refresh it 60 times a second to keep the image there? Isn't that where all the power savings come from? It makes it ideal for books and things, where the image only changes once ever minute, at most, but nto ideal when you're playing a video, where you would need to change the display at least 24 times a second. Idealy you would only have to change the pixels that change (like how mpeg encodes video), but that's still a lot of changes. Maybe i'm jus

          • It makes it ideal for books and things, where the image only changes once ever minute, at most, but nto ideal when you're playing a video, where you would need to change the display at least 24 times a second.

            Oh, I'm completely aware of that; I just want it to be capable of it so that the screen can be used in general-purpose mobile PCs, rather than only in E-book readers. Although I want to watch videos sometimes, other times (such as when reading Slashdot) I don't need a high refresh rate -- and that's w

            • Here's an option, if they can't get the refresh rate high enough. Have a laptop, with a screen that turns around, like all those tablet PCs. Then, one one side, have a regular LCD, and on the other side an eInk display. When you are doing something that doesn't require a high refresh rate, then use the eInk display. When you are watching a movie, use the LCD display. Combine this with flash hard drives, and we may actually have a laptop that can last an entire day without needing to be recharged.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by mgblst ( 80109 )
                I think we have found the next Steve Jobs - I don't think any of us can see anything wrong with that.

                Why not have 3 display, one with a regular CRT, that is even more brilliant than your idea.

                Shouldn't recess be over by now?
        • It's for changable print, not video. video refreshes 30-60 times per second, this stuff isn't capable of a refresh rate faster than about 1/2 FPS.

          I wouldn't mind an eBook using it, though; I could store an entire library on an SD card, and read it at my leisure without glaring into a damned screen.

          • It's for changable print, not video. video refreshes 30-60 times per second, this stuff isn't capable of a refresh rate faster than about 1/2 FPS.

            So? With work, it could have a higher refresh rate.

            I wouldn't mind an eBook using it, though...

            Yeah, me too... except I want my ebook reader to also function as a Tablet PC; hence, I want the capability of a higher refresh rate, even though I'd only be using it part of the time.

            • "So? With work, it could have a higher refresh rate."

              In e-Ink, the refresh rate is dictated by the physics of tiny little 'painted' electrically conductive beads in a thin layer of surfactant. I'm sure they could change the rules a bit by changing materials, but I'm more intersted in improving the manufacturing process and reducing cost of materials in order to get a nice consumer-friendly price point - otherwise they can't obtain the funds to do further research into the project.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by walt-sjc ( 145127 )
        No, I don't think they do. The point is to be able to create a device that is "portable enough to bring with you literally anywhere" that doesn't require 5kg of batteries to keep it running. It's about high-resolution, low power, persistent image display. Think about a newspaper. Now think about something the size of a pad of paper that can hold every current issue of newspaper and magazine in the world... Try lugging around the paper equivalent... Cost is not an issue since it's not a "disposable" device.
        • Cost is not an issue since it's not a "disposable" device. You buy it once and use it for YEARS...

          Yeah, and that's why it would suck. Not that everything needs to be disposable (what a waste!) but if something's going to try to substitute, in my life, for "every current issue of newspaper and magazine in the world," I specifically don't want something I have to worry about keeping track of. That's the whole appeal of paper, that it's cheap and ubiquitous enough for me to be able to pick up and read the fold

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by walt-sjc ( 145127 )
            I specifically don't want something I have to worry about keeping track of.

            You must have a devil of a time with your cell phone, laptop, keys, etc.

            it's cheap and ubiquitous enough for me to be able to pick up and read the folded AM New York someone else left

            You wouldn't need to read someone else's copy because you would have your own on your tablet.

            Once we have reasonably priced e-ink tablets (and I think they would need to get down in the sub $300 range,) I would hope that tree-killing paper magazines and

            • I must second the comment about newspapers and magazines. I see e-ink devices (whatever form they take) as ideal for disposable documents like newspapers and magazines. Although it might be convenient to be able to carry a large number of newspapers on the device, for me the biggest advantage is that I don't have to dispose of the paper/magazine once I'm finished. I simply read it and then delete it.

              I think it is less likely that people will be willing to give up paper for documents that will be kept arou

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by fuzz6y ( 240555 )

              I don't even want to know have many dozens of acres of forest wiped out there are just for newspapers alone.

              Basically zero. They don't go find a forest to clearcut to make paper. They have tree farms, where they cut down all the trees, plant new ones, and repeat.

        • something the size of a pad of paper that can hold every current issue of newspaper and magazine in the world

          It better have a tablet-like touch screen, 'cause I hate doing sudoku by cursor keys and number pad.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Zaatxe ( 939368 )
        seeing as this stuff still looks to be too expensive and fragile to be treated as disposable.

        Paper was once a very expensive media too!

      • I think a lot of these "e-paper" technologies kind of miss the whole point of paper, which is not that it happens to be flexible and reflective, or even in color, but that it's cheap enough and portable enough to bring with you literally anywhere.

        On the contrary, I think ePaper exactly addresses the point of paper. Paper is a write-once technology. Consider ONE sheet of ePaper, coupled with a detachable memory consisting of a thousand books. (Aside: my SF library is about 3,000 books, so 1,000 books isn't

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by CrimsonScythe ( 876496 )
      Though it will make for some awesome novelty toilet paper!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by morie ( 227571 )
        I don't expect it to wipe very comfortably. You don't want e-papercuts down there.
    • It's interesting how many recent developments in visual technology have largely been used for advertising - I'd say the majority of animated GIFs and SWF's on the web are advertisements of some sort, and check out those huge animate billboard displays that are getting more and more common place.

      The end goal of advertising seems to be the elimination of any visual stimulus that doesn't somehow alert you to the existance of a product.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by suv4x4 ( 956391 )
      Now you just know the advertisers are gonna get a hold of this technology and slap animated ads on cereal boxes or something.

      Minority Report anyone?

      Oh yea, Minority Report! We better stop those e-paper guy before they also come up with the maglevs and precogs.

      Seriously though, Minority Report used lots of real world scientific data about upcoming technologies in the next 20 to 60 years, this is why Minority Report features a lot of the technology it does. As we see, their research was accurate about the e-p

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ozbird ( 127571 )
      Now you just know the advertisers are gonna get a hold of this technology and slap animated ads on cereal boxes or something.

      Minority Report anyone?

      Bring it on - "free", probably hackable e-paper, anyone?
    • Now you just know the advertisers are gonna get a hold of this technology and slap animated ads on cereal boxes or something.

      Fortunately, I think your wrong here. First, e-ink stuff is not designed to be a motion display. Its special in that it takes power to produce an image, but that image is retained when the power is cut.

      However, the most likely market initial for these kinds of displays is in the retail and marketing sector. Odds are, everything that is printed in a store will be of a display like t
    • Minority Report anyone?"

      Strange. It sounds scary when you say Minority Report, but cool when you say Harry Potter. Never thought I'd say that.

  • It is transparent? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by calebt3 ( 1098475 )
    Once they get more colors I'd like to tack it to my wall and use it as a monitor.

    • Re:It is transparent? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Mr Jazzizle ( 896331 ) on Sunday May 13, 2007 @11:42PM (#19109653)
      This just gave me an awesome idea: E-Paper post-its! Imagine having standard looking post-its around your moniter, or your office, or wired down to your kitchen (or, as long as I'm dreaming, wireless) that change corresponding to your Outlook to-do or however you wish to program them. That'd be rad. And some stuff tacked onto a bulletin board. I just love the idea of just tacking a screen to something.
      • Might be a fairly good idea to file a provisional patent on that.
        • No, because it's not innovative. It's an obvious use of technology, not just to someone in the trade, but to anyone.

      • And some stuff tacked onto a bulletin board. I just love the idea of just tacking a screen to something.

        The bulletin board is the screen! :) Just FTP your notice to the bulletin board. No tacking required :)

        --Rob

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mgblst ( 80109 )
        Or display news headlines - talk about thinking outside the box. You could even have one on the wall displaying the current song playing on your computer - thinking outside the box on that one. Or maybe the weather - wow, I should be paid for these brilliant ideas.

        This, my friends, is why they shouldn't have computer with net access in primary schools.

  • bedside use (Score:5, Funny)

    by Spy Handler ( 822350 ) on Sunday May 13, 2007 @11:41PM (#19109647) Homepage Journal
    i predict this will become a success since we can use it while lying in bed like a paper magazine and look at photos and stuff, unlike current monitors :thumbsup:

    • i predict this will become a success since we can use it while lying in bed like a paper magazine and look at photos and stuff, unlike current monitors :thumbsup:

      I happen to be in my bed with my laptop right now. What I want is to take it to the park.
      Imagine it's a beautiful day, and you can just grab your notebook and sit in the sun. There are batteries/solar panels, UMTS flat rates and eskies, but I still can't read my screen in the sun.

      BTW, anything about the resolution somewhere?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mabinogi ( 74033 )
        You need a better laptop. I use mine outside all the time, even in the bright Australian sun.
      • You know they arrest people for doing that kind of stuff in public. You should really reconsider.

        Oh, you meant actually working or surfing /. Well, in that case you're probably okay.

  • Incredible opportunities (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rkohutek ( 122839 ) <randal AT weberstreet DOT net> on Sunday May 13, 2007 @11:45PM (#19109687) Homepage Journal
    The opportunities for this kind of technology are limitless. Really - books, notes, travel, magazines, anything can be digitized and made incredibly accessible.

    Not to mention there is no doubt that the low power nature of it makes it ready for solar power, making it an incredible communication tool in non-power friendly places, like say deserts or jungle for military use. The fact that it's flexible makes it able to handle harsh environments - simply roll it up, stick it in a tube and keep on going. Computer on top of Everest, anyone?

    Really, this is an incredible breakthrough and deserves plenty of attention; I'm not sure the market is ready for it yet, but this kind of technology will absolutely become a part of our day-to-day lives in short order.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Mr Jazzizle ( 896331 )
      regarding harsh enviroments, does anyone know if e-paper IS robust? being able to "simply roll it up, stick it in a tube and keep on going" would definitely be great, I'm just curious how far the tech has gotten as far as real-world usability. Maybe that's why it hasn't caught on?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mgblst ( 80109 )
        Yeah, that is why it hasn't caught on. Nothing to do with the fact it is still being developer, or it costs a huge pile of cash. The fact that it can't handle a little rain, that is the only thing stopping people spending $1000s on something of limited use. You know, i bet the reason that personal jet packs hasn't caught on yet is because nobody has painted them the right colour. And space travel is really going to pick up as soon as they offer good meals on the rockets - that is the thing holding it back.

        S

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Urusai ( 865560 )
      This stuff is less flexible than your average overhead projector film. Let's get serious: until you can fold it, it's not "e-paper".

      • This stuff is less flexible than your average overhead projector film. Let's get serious: until you can fold it, it's not "e-paper".

        The other day I tried folding my 300 page SF paperback in half. It didn't work. Useless paper!

        --Rob

    • Re:Incredible opportunities (Score:5, Funny)

      by metlin ( 258108 ) on Monday May 14, 2007 @12:38AM (#19110021) Journal

      The opportunities for this kind of technology are limitless. Really - books, notes, travel, magazines, anything can be digitized and made incredibly accessible.

      Not to mention there is no doubt that the low power nature of it makes it ready for solar power, making it an incredible communication tool in non-power friendly places, like say deserts or jungle for military use. The fact that it's flexible makes it able to handle harsh environments - simply roll it up, stick it in a tube and keep on going. Computer on top of Everest, anyone?

      Really, this is an incredible breakthrough and deserves plenty of attention; I'm not sure the market is ready for it yet, but this kind of technology will absolutely become a part of our day-to-day lives in short order.
      The PORNOGRAPHIC opportunities for this kind of technology are limitless. Really - PORNO books, SEX notes, travel WITH JENNA, PLAYBOY magazines, anything can be digitized and made incredibly accessible.

      Not to mention there is no doubt that the low power nature of it makes it ready for solar power, making it an incredible communication tool in non-power friendly places, like say MASTURBATING in deserts or jungle. The fact that it's flexible makes it able to handle harsh environments - simply roll it up, stick it in a tube and keep on going (oh good lord, am not even going to try that one). PORN on top of Everest, anyone?

      Really, this is an incredible breakthrough and deserves plenty of attention (of course it does); I'm not sure the market is ready for it yet, but this kind of technology will absolutely become a part of our day-to-day PORN in short (ouch) order.

    • Computer on top of Everest, anyone?

      And if you think the response time of LCDs is bad... just wait for EPaper displays!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by suv4x4 ( 956391 )
      Not to mention there is no doubt that the low power nature of it makes it ready for solar power, making it an incredible communication tool in non-power friendly places, like say deserts or jungle for military use. The fact that it's flexible makes it able to handle harsh environments - simply roll it up, stick it in a tube and keep on going. Computer on top of Everest, anyone?

      While I also expect we'll (of course) see more and more e-paper around us (it's already widely used on airports and other such build

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Profane MuthaFucka ( 574406 ) *
      I'm a skeptic. If it were so great, then where is it? We've had all kinds of half-baked technologies foisted upon us. I can think of a bunch right off the top of my head. 8-tracks; Apple Newtons; steam powered cars; ISDN; COBOL; alcohol-free beer. Those were the HALF-baked things that were sold by people who wanted to just make a buck from suckers.

      This lectro paper must be even WORSE than half-baked, because nobody is selling it anywhere. I don't know why everybody's jumping every time there's some new hype

  • Excellent! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 13, 2007 @11:53PM (#19109753)
    Clearly, this new technology will rapidly sweep aside the many current applications of black-and-white e-paper.

  • Sony eReader (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Usquebaugh ( 230216 ) on Monday May 14, 2007 @12:06AM (#19109843)
    I have the eReader and it's great for reading paperbacks. But tech docs fall short due to it's smallish screen. If this is really the size of an A4/Letter and has a high dpi then I see it taking off. If it's just color with a low dpi then it'll fail. I'd love an eReader with a letter display and 300dpi :-) They grey screen is cool.
    • I'd like that too. I can't see any info anywhere about the dpi resolution, alas, and the image in the picture looks rather dim. Even so, this is a cheering advance.
    • I have the eReader and it's great for reading paperbacks. But tech docs fall short due to it's smallish screen. If this is really the size of an A4/Letter and has a high dpi then I see it taking off.

      I've not seen an eReader close up so I can't comment, but I'd like to think that A4 or letter may be larger than necessary. How many books, periodicals, journals, etc. have you seen published in either of those sizes?

      My guess is that you mean you've found a limitation with using the eReader to read technical do

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by kalidasa ( 577403 )
        The problem with the Sony Reader (I have one, too) is that it does not reflow PDF documents. I thought I'd be able to read stuff from O'Reilly's Safari on mine, but on average, it's more trouble than its worth. Gutenberg books work, but there's too much work involved reformatting them so they will reflow properly (i.e., fixing the line breaks). The books purchased from the eConnect store work perfectly, but the selection is awful, you have to use Windows to download them (which in my case means using virtua
      • How many books, periodicals, journals, etc. have you seen published in either of those sizes?
        most magazines i see have each page A4 (so a double page spread is A3). Books tend to be a bit smaller but techical books and things like atlas's and heavilly illustrated books (for example the michal palin books) very often have pages above A4 size.

        newspapers tend to be larger still. even the tabloids are more than A4 and as for the broadsheets well they have that name for a reason.

  • or whatever people want to call them have failed to catch-on in any meaningful way, mostly for the same reasons that the paperless office hasn't caught on yet. People where I work have more or less given up giving me anything on paper because I don't like it. The last two things I printed were tax form and a joke photo for my cube wall, and that counts months without/between printing anything at all.

    Electronic books exist, making them in color won't make them more appreciated by consumers. I don't think thi
    • The amount of paper I've faced during the course of getting my degree has been verging on the obscene. If I could have a reasonably durable sheet of e-paper the same size as a standard sheet of regular paper, I'd do cartwheels! While I'm wishing, the device would have enough flash memory to store a few hundred sheet-images and a touch-screen with stylus for note-taking. A simple USB connector would let me transfer pages to and from my main system or laptop.

      Tablet notebooks have definitely been a step

      • Now if someone would just hold a gun to the heads of the textbook manufacturers to make cheaper electronic versions of their books

        Oh, I don't think the textbook companies would be upset at all over selling you ebooks with no printing or shipping costs that you can't re-sell because of the DRM forcing everyone to always pay full menu price.

  • Black and white version (Score:4, Interesting)

    by tsa ( 15680 ) on Monday May 14, 2007 @12:16AM (#19109885) Homepage
    I've never even seen a device with black and white e-paper in it, and now they smugly announce the colour version. Why aren't the B&W e-paper devices more popular? Does it have to do with the fact that they don't work very well, or that they are extremely expensive?

    • They're too small. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by xtal ( 49134 ) on Monday May 14, 2007 @12:41AM (#19110045)
      I've yet to see a A4 display. This is a real breakthrough, if it's affordable and available for purchase.

      I want one for viewing electronic spec sheets - all PDFs, all A4, and I have thousands of them. It would be nice to have a real "paper" like display instead of doing what we do now, which is print them. I've played with the e-ink stuff before, but the resolution was far too low and the screen size was paperback-sized.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by trawg ( 308495 )
        Hmm, funnily enough the ones I've seen (well, the Sony one which is really the only one I have seen) is too big for me.

        I just want an e-book reader that I can easily hold in one hand. I'm using an ipaq at the moment which is almost the right size, but a little bit too small - another inch or so wider would probably be good. Then I could comfortably hold it in one hand whilst reading in almost any position.

        I suspect e-book readers are still too far away though due to the DRM issues. The Sony one is probably

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by pavon ( 30274 )
        Amen, especially if it comes with search capability - If I print things on paper I spend forever going back and forth between the layout and design schematics trying to find where the heck R62 is, and if I view them on a laptop, the resolution is too low and I end up constantly zooming in and out, in addition to being bulky and draining batteries far too quickly. A decent E-ink tablet would be great for schematics.

    • Re:Black and white version (Score:5, Informative)

      by Lisandro ( 799651 ) on Monday May 14, 2007 @12:42AM (#19110047)
      Motorola is selling a cellphone [mobileburn.com] sporting E-Ink display - it's rather crude, as the display is not dot-matrix but a segmented display (not unlike LCDs) sporting some assorted graphical icons. The kicker is that the phone sells well under 50 bucks unlocked and it's 9mm thick. Apparently, the E-Ink display is way cheaper than LCD displays to mass produce, and, since it doesn't need glass nor polarizer substrates it allows the phone to be this thin.

      As for the device itself, it's a nice barebones phone, which feels very study. The display looks great, and i only wish they used a finer dot matrix display, as SMSs can be rather hard to read on it. I've been considering getting one for myself lately.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tsa ( 15680 )
        O yes, that one. Although I like barebones phones, this one is a bit too bare for me. I'll wait for the next model. Hopefully that one has bluetooth and a bit better screen. I don't care about mp3, colors and a camera, but I like to be able to read SMS's without troubles, and that is mainly where the Motorola F3 falls short.
      • Thanks for the link; I may have to get my hands on this.
      • I just got one (unlocked) yesterday and I have a problem with it in my area (Toronto, Ontario, Canada.) The phone is GSM 900 1800 and I do not get ANY reception on it at all with a SIM card from a Rogers phone. I am going to find me a provider in this area who will be able to provide the service to me in those bands and I'll switch to that provider just because of this phone. I hate all other phones with cameras and games and music and all other junk in them, I got this one because it's just a phone. As

    • Re:Black and white version (Score:5, Informative)

      by Axello ( 587958 ) on Monday May 14, 2007 @01:57AM (#19110421)
      There are two commercial black & white e-paper devices available to my knowledge. I happen to have one.
      The iRex iLiad http://www.irextechnologies.com/ [irextechnologies.com] is the one I have, but Sony also makes one http://www.learningcenter.sony.us/assets/itpd/read er/ [learningcenter.sony.us]

      The quality of these b&w displays is phenomenal. The difference with colour or b&w LCDs is striking, especially outside and in full sunlight.

      One reason they're not so popular might be that E-Ink is prohibitely expensive; they have a monopoly on the digital ink liquid.
      Also a lot of people tend to think colour is very important, neglecting the fact that 99.9% of their book library is monochrome.
      • $700 for the irex? Geez... and it's a flat device too. Why not just make it LCD then? I'd expect a device that size with an LCD, PDF/HTML whatever viewer [running an OSS distro] to cost all of maybe $200 tops.

        For $700, I could just use my laptop [which I lug around anyways], and then pocket the difference.

        Tom
      • I don't think its the monopoly that drives up cost. Granted, if E-Ink is a patented item, the only one company can use their methods to make a e-paper type display. But it would be to the company's advantage to drive DOWN the cost, in order to make sales of the stuff ubiquitous, and get more out of their patent.

        My theory is that the manufacturing process is most likely the thing that is most expensive. Not only that, but the major competitor to these displays are standard LCD displays. When faced with buyin

      • I wonder whether this technology is inherently limited to a very steep saturation-brightness tradeoff.

        In the picture [lgphilips-lcd.com] (provided earlier, by thedohman [slashdot.org]), the color E-ink panel looks very dark.

        Clue: Phillips explains that they made the colors with a plastic overlay.

        Speculation: the overlay could be a transparent RGB grid, where each cell transmits (and therefore reflects) only Red, Green, or Blue. Just like an LCD, right? Unfortunately, because it is purely reflective, that would cut its brightness wa

    • I've never even seen a device with black and white e-paper in it, and now they smugly announce the colour version. Why aren't the B&W e-paper devices more popular?

      I've actually been surprised by the pace of ePaper advance. Just in the past year or two, we've seen the introduction of readers based on 2-color ePaper, and now the 4096-color version is in labs. I would not be surprised to see a color ePaper reader on the shelves by May 2008, and several models by Jan 2009. The cost of a B&W reader wil

  • Advertising campaign (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 14, 2007 @12:26AM (#19109939)
    "Get Bent"
  • Apparently they have not improved it, otherwise they would have given it in the PR.
    If memory serves, it's higher than 1s, waiting that long each time you "turn the page" on your book reader must be quite annoying..
    • That's one of the two main questions anyone should be asking right now, although I guess it would still be useful in some ways, if it even had the refresh rate of turning a page in a book. The other big question is... what's its resolution?

      I mean, come on... "A paper display with a maximum of 4,096 colours"? I can get that with a bit of paper, a robot arm, and 4,096 tins of paint. How about some news FOR NERDS, instead of just PR crap? ;)
  • It might be 'color', but looking at the photo [lgphilips-lcd.com] on Philip's website, it seems that the quality still leaves a lot to be desired... Especially when it comes to brightness & contrast

    Don't get me wrong -- it's a great start, but I doubt it will replace your monitor any time soon.
  • .... flushing the fucking thing if you thought the words on the e-paper were only good for wiping your ass with. Or in emergency TP shortages, what are you going to use now?

  • How about... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by acalthu ( 1045630 )
    ..the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, like what they use in the movie? something like that could be a reality in 5 years, voice activated and all, with a few hundred GB of flash memory.

  • after images (Score:5, Interesting)

    by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Monday May 14, 2007 @12:53AM (#19110105) Homepage Journal
    When I played with some eInk a few weeks ago it had a lot of after images. It's not (yet) appropriate for animation or video. But it is amazingly easy on the eyes. At first I thought the e-reader at the store was just a model with some fake image on the display, not so it was a real working unit.

    eInk won't be replacing your PC monitor any time soon, it seems to only be practical for specialized users.

  • I want an E-Shirt (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CrazyJim1 ( 809850 ) on Monday May 14, 2007 @01:51AM (#19110383) Journal
    I want my E-Shirt to be tye dye, and all the colors to continually go towards the center of the shirt and disappear
  • Hi,

    i just order an Iliad iRex [irextechnologies.com] and the next days coloured ePaper is announced ;-).

    I think ePaper will do a huge jump ahead the next years. For me it is very practical. Usually i take 1kg of books per 3 days of vacation with me. With an eBook reader this will free up a lot of travel luggage.

    Regards, Martin

  • what we would like to see now (Score:3, Insightful)

    by v1 ( 525388 ) on Monday May 14, 2007 @07:22AM (#19112253) Homepage Journal
    is a video of this display in action. I'd like to see someone bending and flexing the panel while playing Terminator on it or something,

    Also, I did not notice mention of how the panel is lit. Is this like a color LCD display that requires a backlight, or is it self-luminescent? There's no point to a flexible panel if it has to be backlit by an inflexible light source. The e-ink I have seen in the past requires a backlight.

    • Uhmmm it's black and white ink in capsules... you 'front-light' it the same way you would a book. What you are looking for is a common desk lamp. Unfortunately most of them need to be plugged in to a power source.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by caseih ( 160668 )
      e-ink requires a backlight? I always thought the point was to eventually have a display that's paper-like. Completely reflective. Do no most e-ink applications layer the e-ink against a paper-white background?
    • You won't really see it playing Terminator, this thing does like 10 frames per minute (Warning: actual number may vary).
  • With an e-paper monitor, you can work outdoors in bright sunlight. Enjoying a beautiful summer day and getting some computer-related work done are no longer incompatible. I bet that also in general e-paper is better for your eyes than CRT or LCD; the light intensity is always well balanced with the surroundings.

  • A4 (Score:2)

    by HTH NE1 ( 675604 )

    LG.Philips LCD has announced it has developed the world's first 14.1-inch flexible color E-paper display, equivalent in size to an A4 sheet of paper.
    Can I cut it in half to get two A5 color E-paper displays?
  • E-ink had color flexible e-paper on display years ago.

    http://www.eink.com/press/releases/pr86.html [eink.com]

    There are a hell of a lot more ways to create e-paper and paper-like displays so it is understandable that there is some confusion about who is doing what first. Next week is the Society for Information Display show, and there will be at least 20 e-paper developers displaying. Almost all of them will have color prototypes at their booth.

    http://www.sid.org/conf/sid2007/sid2007.html [sid.org]

    But seriously, current LCD, cho

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