E Ink, which makes the technology behind Amazon's Kindle e-readers, has finally pushed beyond its black-and-white look with the new Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP) display. ACeP's 32,000 shades improves upon the old Triton color screens, which could only display 4,000 hues.
The company says these screens, which are still very battery friendly, will initially be used in digital signage (20-inch, 2500 x 1600 pixels), not e-readers. But I have hope that companies such as Amazon will see this as an opportunity to innovate their e-readers by adopting this color technology.
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In an effort to keep the power demands low, E Ink sacrificed some sharpness. The black-and-white Kindle displays we know and love pack in 300 pixels per inch, but the new ACeP screens will be just 150 ppi. They will also take up to two seconds to refresh the screen, which isn't exactly good for paging through an e-book. However, E Ink says the screens maintain "paper-like readability under all lighting conditions."
Would a full-color display on an e-reader make e-books more enjoyable or do you think it would be distracting. Sound off in the comments.
