March 2015

According to reports, Onyx is developing a 13.3" Android (4.4.4) e-reader for the consumer market, and hopefully it will cost less than Sony's 13.3" Digital Paper device which costs over $1,000. The reported target price is $750 - which makes it cheaper than Sony's reader, but still out of reach of most consumers.

Sony 13.3-inch Digital Paper

According to the Good eReader, Onyx's reader will use the same 1200x1600 13.3" E Ink Mobius panel as used in Sony's reader (and Dasung's Paperlike monitors). They report that this display uses a plastic TFT - which, if true, probably means it is made by Plastic Logic.

Dragon Innovation launched a new crowdfunding campaign with an aim to raise $50,000 for the world's first E Ink shoe, the Volvorii Timeless. The high-heeled shoe has an embedded flexible E Ink display and a Bluetooth LE module (with battery wireless charging).

Dragon raised over $17,000, and they have 22 days to reach their $50,000 goal.

Bookeen and solar innovator SunPartner are developing an e-reader with a built-in solar panel. SunPartner's technology (called Wysips - What You See is Photovoltaic Surface) enables a transparent solar panel to be embedded in the display. This means that the device will charge when light is present - even while reading and you do not have to turn it over.

Most mobile devices use too much power to be actually solar charged, but with an e-reader this may work very well. Bookeen aims to release the solar-powered e-reader in 2016.