It’s pretty obvious that this year’s SID Display Week is shaping as much as be a stage for the 300ppi extravaganza — Samsung and LG were first to announce their latest high pixel density LCDs, after which Toshiba chimed in with its 367ppi LCD for cellphones. Fortunately, fans of ePaper will even have something to seem forward to here, as E Ink Holdings and Epson have just announced the co-development of a 300ppi ePaper display. To be exact, E Ink might be accountable for producing the pointy-looking 9.68-inch 2,400 x 1,650 display panel, whereas Epson will maintain the high-speed display controller platform to compliment E Ink’s part. No availability was announced just yet, but stay tuned for our eyes-on impression on the show.
- TOKYO, Japan, and HSINCHU, Taiwan, May 17, 2011 -
E Ink Holdings Inc. and Seiko Epson Corporation (“Epson”) today announced the joint development of a 300-dpi electronic paper device with razor-sharp text and pictures for ePaper Document Readers. Combining E Ink’s high-resolution ePaper display and Epson’s high-speed display controller platform, the recent device will enable the world’s highest resolution ePaper tablets. With sharply improved readability and simplicity-of-use the ePaper Document Reader is anticipated to catch on in business and education settings where huge amounts of information need to be processed, in addition to in countries that use character-based text, including Japan and China.
Thin, lightweight, energy-efficient eReaders with easy-to-read, paper-like displays have won over consumers, who’re snapping up ePaper devices in unprecedented numbers, causing the market to surge. Demand has also been at the rise in business and education, market segments that require exactly what ePaper provides: the short and accurate display of huge amounts of info. Applications in these segments demand higher resolution than that offered by today’s 160-dpi displays as a result of must crisply render, with smooth gradations, engineering diagrams, illustrations, Asian characters, and other fine or intricate content. These market segments also demand faster page navigation and complex user interfaces to permit instant viewing of vast amounts of knowledge.
“Because the adoption of eReaders continues to rise worldwide, the opportunities for our EPD technology are expanding in new market segments including business and education,” said Scott Liu, chairman of E Ink. “We continue to enhance E Ink’s technology to fulfill the demands of our customers and the purposes of shoppers, and this new EPD delivers the low power, sunlight readability and skinny, lightweight form factor users have come to expect from E Ink at a fair higher resolution.”
“We developed this device specifically to fulfill the high data demands of commercial and academia,” said Torao Yajima, managing director at Epson. “Our IC controller and processing power enables the display to address large files while maintaining the great display control and operability present in today’s EPDs, including fast page navigation and a polished user interface.”
Epson’s high speed controller platform is a perfect choice for developers who want to develop high resolution eTablets simply and within an extraordinarily short period.
The respective roles of E Ink and Epson and the goods they give are described below.
E Ink
E Ink will manufacture, sell and support the newly developed 300-dpi ePaper displays, which measure 9.68 inches at the diagonal and feature 2,400 x 1,650 pixels. These paper-like, high-resolution displays demonstrate in full the most effective features of ePaper: crisp and clear text and photographs on an effortless-on-the-eyes screen, a skinny and light-weight form factor, and ultra-low power consumption.
Epson
Epson will manufacture, sell and support a high-resolution, high-speed display controller platform optimized for controlling E Ink’s high-resolution display. Leveraging Epson’s experience with image processing technology developed for photo-quality printers, the display controller platform combines a display controller IC, applications processor, system power management IC, and firmware to produce excellent display control and improved operability.
Moving forward, E Ink and Epson plan to continue collaborating to advertise the popularization of ePaper based devices within the business and education markets by developing technology, expanding and upgrading the product lineup, and providing customer service.
Exhibition plans
High-resolution e-paper device
The jointly developed device could be on display on the E Ink booth at SID, to be held in L. a. from May 15 to twenty.
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