December 2013

2013 is soon over... and here are the top 10 stories posted on e-ink-Info in the past year, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):

1. PaperTab - flexible paper-like tablet prototype by Intel and Plastic Logic (Jan 7)
2. SZOBT seeks $5,000 to build an E Ink open SDK board (Oct 3)
3. Plastic Logic and Toppan to bring 42" flexible e-paper displays to the market (Mar 5)
4. What's up at E Ink's Hydis Korean plant? (Feb 3)
5. ZED: Plastic Logic and SERELEC's new flexible E Ink digital signage solution (Jan 29)
6. Mobius: Sony's new flexible E Ink display and educational tablet prototype (May 15)
7. Arduino E Ink Shield now available from Aerospace Robotics (Mar 23)
8. E Ink shows new Triton Gen 2 color prototypes, still no mass production in sight (Jan 13)
9. Amazon to buy Samsung's electrowetting display unit (Liquavista)? (Mar 23)
10. CopyTele filed a lawsuit against E Ink alleging theft of display technologies (Jan 29)

Have a marry Christmas and a happy new 2014!

IRX Innovations was established by ex-Philips employees (that developed Philips' E Ink technologies) to develop EPD products. The company is now developing a technology they call Electro Osmosis which is similar to E Ink (electrophoresis) but the big difference is that the liquid that contains the charged particles also move inside the pixels in Electro Osmosis (in electrophoresis only the charged particles are moving). This enables much faster refresh rates.

The company is currently developing a prototype black and white display, but they are aiming towards color. They expect the displays to have similar properties as E Ink, but with better contrast and much better color gamut.

E Ink announced a new thin and lightweight EPD technology branded E Ink Fina. The Fina uses a very thin glass substrate that enables it to be lighter and thinner than previous E Ink displays. They weigh less than 50% compared to glass-based LCDs and are less than 50% thick. A 13.3" Fina display weighs about 60 grams.

E Ink also announced the first e-reader to use the Fina, the PocketBook CAD reader. This 13.3" device sports a 1Ghz dual-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, a large 8000 mAh battery, Wi-Fi, 3G and it runs Android 4.0.4. It includes a Wacom digitizer for both touch and stylus input.

The YotaPhone with its dual LCD/EPD displays is now shipping in Europe. It costs 499 euros ($675), and Engadget managed to get their hands on one of these phones to post a short hands-on-review. Their conclusion is that even though they want more time to play with this device (and will post a more in-depth review soon), everything they've seen so far is extremely encouraging.

Beside the 4.3" LCD (720p) and 4.3" E Ink (360x640, capacitive touch), the YotaPhone sports a dual-core 1.7Ghz PU, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.