Bookeen posted a YouTube video (below) on their blog today showing video playback on an E Ink Pearl display, the same type of screen the Kindle 3 and Sony Readers use.

Back at CES, Freescale demoed their latest ereader processor hooked up to a Pearl panel running at 8 frames per second.

Filed under: Cybook, Technology | Tags: e ink, pearl | No Comments »

E Ink, the company that makes the screens for the majority of dedicated ebook readers, announced today that their new Pearl displays have won the Best Commercialization Award at the fourth annual IDTechEx Printed Electronics Awards.

This marks the second award this month. On December 1st E Ink announced that their Pearl display were selected to appear in Popular Science’s December issue for their annual Best of What’s New awards for 2010.

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Ever since Amazon announced the Graphite Kindle DX, the first ebook reader to have the new Pearl display from E Ink, the issue of higher contrast has been getting a lot of attention.

All the press releases regarding the new Kindles, along with Amazon’s website, and E Ink themselves state that the new Pearl displays have 50% improved contrast over the Vizplex screens that have been widely used on most ereaders up until now.

Shortly after the Kindle DX was released, there were comparison pictures all over the web showing the new DX next to the old DX and the difference was obvious.

But what about the fact that all Vizplex screens are not created equal.

Filed under: Reviews, Technology | Tags: e ink, pearl, vizplex | 16 Comments »

Amazon got the jump on the new Pearl screens from E Ink with the release of the Graphite Kindle DX and the new WiFi-equipped Kindle 3. In fact, that’s one of Amazon’s major selling points: 50% improved contrast! 10:1 contrast ratio! Buy now!

Although we were all expecting Amazon’s next Kindle to have a color screen, the monochrome Pearl screens are a definite improvement over the old, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go and buy a new Kindle just to get one.

All the major ebook readers on the market, including the Sony Readers and Barnes and Noble Nook, all get their electrophoretic displays from the same manufacturer: E Ink.

So there’s no question that Sony’s new readers and the Nook (or Nook 2) will eventually get the new Pearl screens too. The only question is when.

Judging from past releases, Sony usually announces a new reader in August or September. And Sony’s actions over the past few months of signifigantly lowering the price of all three of their current ebook readers, especially the PRS-600, suggests that this year won’t be any different.

Sony’s PRS-600 hasn’t gone over as well as it could have with the touchscreen causing reflection and lowering the contrast of the text. Sony has lowered the price of it the most, probably because it hasn’t sold as well as the other two units. It recent weeks it has been listed on Amazon for as low as half the price of its initial MSRP of $300.

Given the popularity of 6-inch ebook readers, the PRS-600 is the unit that will most likely see a replacement first. And Sony’s touchscreens could majorly benefit from the new higher contrast screens.

As for Barnes and Noble, they too will want to start getting the new screens in both models of the Nook to counter the edge that Amazon currently holds in that category. The biggest question, though, is will we see a new Nook, a Nook 2, anytime this year?

It doesn’t really seem very likely for B&N to release another 6-inch Nook this year now that they just released the Nook WiFi, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibilities that Barnes and Noble could release a Nook with a larger screen size before the end of the year to compete with the Kindle DX.

With the recent announcements of NookStudy and partnerships with Blackboard, Flat World and others, Barnes and Noble continues to strengthen its position in the higher education market, already having over 600 on-campus retail stores. Given that, it makes a lot of sense for Barnes and Noble to come out with a device designed for textbooks and college students.

Filed under: Nook, Sony | Tags: e ink, ebook reader, pearl | 1 Comment »

The new Graphite Kindle DX arrived today. And it’s the first ebook reader to feature the new screen technology from E Ink, the leading supplier of epaper screens for most current ereaders.

Update: Several more pictures and a video review have been added to our new Kindle DX PDF review page.

First thing, I’m not a professional photographer—hardly an amateur one—so the pictures don’t do the new Pearl screen and Kindle DX any justice.

I tried doing some comparison photos with a regular Vizplex screen, but they just don’t come out displaying the difference in appearance accurately. I’ll try using a different camera for the main Kindle DX 2 review that I’ll be posting within a week, along with a video review.

The main thing that jumps out about the new Kindle DX and Pearl screen is that the text appears much darker, bolder. Blacks are blacker, and images are more rich and defined—Jules Verne’s jacket, for instance.

The screen background isn’t necessarily a whole lot whiter than the original E Ink screens—they’d probably be too bright in direct sunlight being any whiter—but the difference is definitely noticeable, and especially in lower lighting environments.

The claim that the new Pearl displays have 50% increased contrast over current displays seems a bit much. It’s an improvement for sure, but it isn’t any reason to trade in your old Kindle unless bolder fonts and better contrast are really, really important to you.

If you took someone off the street that didn’t know anything about ebook readers and showed them the Nook, then took it away and showed them the new Kindle DX, the contrast probably wouldn’t be one of the first things they’d notice.

It’s when a Pearl screen and Vizplex screen are side-by-side that you can tell the most difference. And there’s little doubt that all the companies will start using the new Pearl displays in favor of the old ones. It probably won’t be long before Sony and B&N start using them.

Aside from the screen, the graphite Kindle DX has all the same features and functions as the 1st generation model, with some subtle upgrades to speed and performance, and of course the black color instead of white.

I’ll be posting a full review soon. Subscribe to The eBook Reader Blog’s RSS Feed to receive notification when the finished Kindle DX review goes live.

Filed under: Amazon Kindle, Reviews | Tags: amazon, e ink, kindle dx, pearl | 7 Comments »

E Ink Corporation, the company that supplies the epaper screens used in the majority of dedicated ebook readers, issued a press release today announcing their new display technology called Pearl.

This coincides with Amazon’s release of the new graphite Kindle DX, which will be the first ereader on the market to feature this new display technology that increases contrast ratio by 50% compared to current E Ink screens.

The new Pearl screens have the whitest reflective displays in the industry, according to the press release, and improved energy efficiency. E Ink claims that Pearl raises the bar for displays used in digital reading, that it allows for dedicated ebook readers to go from a contrast ratio typical of newspapers, to a higher contrast ratio typical of paperback books.

E Ink has the specifications of the new High Resolution Active Matrix Displays made with E Ink Pearl Imaging Film up on their website. They have them in all the typical sizes already used by ebook readers: 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.7-inch displays.

The contrast ratio of the Pearl displays is listed at 10:1 (min), up from 6:1 for the Vizplex displays. The gray scale remains at 16 levels, with a viewing angle of nearly 180 degrees, and the “White State Reflectivity” is 40%.

The Kindle DX may be the first to implement the new Pearl screens from E Ink, but all the other companies will likely follow suit with their next generation devices. It isn’t color. But it is a step forward.

Filed under: News, Technology | Tags: e ink, kindle dx, pearl | 2 Comments »