There’s nonetheless nothing fairly like thumbing the pages of a real-life print journal, however the newest evolution of E Ink’s colour tech is creeping tantalizingly shut — a minimum of so far as my eyes are involved.
You’ve heard all of it earlier than: A lifetime of observing screens has worn out my eyes, main me down a rabbit gap of lifehacky options to ease the fatigue. A few of the methods I picked up through the years have helped — particularly the one the place I merely take breaks and go for walks — however one factor hasn’t modified: I nonetheless spend extra time than I’d like gazing at shiny shows.
I don’t need something much less for movies or gaming, however for studying I usually ignore the most recent tech and as an alternative flip to a 2016 Kindle Oasis or old school books. My arms can clearly inform the distinction between the 2, however after I’m misplaced in a narrative, I don’t suppose my eyes can. With paper and e-paper alike, a way of ease washes over me as I learn. Is it how the sunshine bounces off the web page? Or, is it as a result of I do know advertisements and notifications received’t bombard me at each flip? I’m undecided, and I don’t actually care why; I simply choose it, and E Ink jogged my memory of that after I stepped into its little convention room final week in Las Vegas.
E Ink posted up at the Venetian for CES 2023, and inside its makeshift showroom, the MIT spinoff crammed its newest tech, together with items of its wacky BMW wrap and its newest Gallery 3 colour shows. The latter tech is now trickling into the market, beginning with gadgets just like the PocketBook Viva. And let me inform you, these shows look outright vivid subsequent to the washed-out hues in E Ink’s Kaleido colour shows, which debuted simply two years in the past. Gallery 3’s CMYK shows can spit out 50,000 colours at 300 DPI — manner, manner up from Kaleido’s 4,000 colours, the corporate mentioned.
A prototype with E Ink’s Gallery 3 show tech. Picture Credit: Harri Weber for TechCrunch
“We aren’t ever going to be the most effective movie-showing display screen,” U.S. enterprise lead Timothy O’Malley acknowledged the apparent in an interview with TechCrunch. However E Ink’s objectives are nonetheless stretching properly into iPad territory. Ultimately, E Ink goals to construct {a magazine} studying expertise that’s adequate to win over even essentially the most demanding publishers, O’Malley informed TechCrunch.
“Style magazines particularly actually have strict requirements on colour [and] that’s an ideal purpose for us,” the 22-year firm veteran mentioned. “I do consider we’ll get there and the tech essentially helps it.”
O’Malley added, “We’ll work on the fabric response and the controls, and we’ll get the saturation as much as that.” Reaching that bar may win over comics followers and picturebook readers, too.
For now, E Ink’s Gallery colour tech is at its greatest when it’s utilized in signage, the place the corporate can sacrifice refresh pace for readability. However in handheld readers, the place you don’t need to wait ages for the following web page to show, the colours are nonetheless trying muted subsequent to a retina display screen. As I swiped on a Gallery 3 prototype, massive pictures lagged and flashed clumsily. However when the identical prototype displayed small colour illustrations alongside black-on-white textual content, the tech truly appeared prepared for the lots.
The identical prototype with E Ink’s Gallery 3 show. Picture Credit: Harri Weber for TechCrunch
E Ink’s in-house Gallery 3 stats illustrate the present trade-off. The corporate mentioned in December that its black-and-white replace time is now at 350 milliseconds, whereas its colour speeds vary from 500 ms (which E Ink calls “quick colour mode”) to 1500 ms (for “greatest colour”). E Ink lets producers resolve how they’ll steadiness pace and readability, so your proverbial mileage might range.
Manufacturers like PocketBook, Bigme and BOOX already appear to be embracing Gallery 3, but there’s nonetheless no phrase if Amazon is prepared to throw its appreciable weight behind colour e-readers. Amazon may assist legitimize the tech, however crucially, the retail big not too long ago bailed on journal and newspaper subscriptions for its black-and-white Kindles, amid broad value cuts.
After I requested O’Malley what the holdup may be for a full-color Kindle, the chief speedily deflected. “It’s a two step dance — we’ve got our half, and every buyer has their very own half,” he mentioned.
A Kindle rep rapidly declined to remark after I requested an identical query over e mail, however hey, a lady can dream.
