Yesterday E Ink issued a press release about the release of their new Kaleido Plus color screens and how they improved them from last year’s first generation version.
Some of this stuff was revealed in Onyx’s video introduction of the new Nova3 Color over the weekend (if you missed it it’s imbedded below), but E Ink also says the new Kaleido Plus screens are faster to enable quicker refreshing of animations and video.
They also talk about eNotes now being able to support color highlights and color pens to improve usage in education and professional sectors, so they’re clearly working to expand color E Ink into wider markets moving forward.
These Kaleido screens seemed like a bit of an experiment for E Ink at first, especially with them just releasing small screens last year, but now it looks like they’re getting more serious about it, and it’s good to see they’ve already improved the color screens in one year.
Among the changes with the new version of Kaleido is an improved printing pattern of the color filter layer to create brighter colors and help minimize the appearance of the color filter’s grid pattern. The layer is also closer to the screen now to reduce light scattering.
On E Ink’s website they also talk about new image rendering algorithms that allow for crisper text, and modified light guides to help optimize the LED color spectrum to minimize color blending.
E Ink’s new Kaleido Plus screens are featured on the 7.8-inch Pocketbook InkPad Color and the Onyx Boox Nova3 Color, along with the Hisense’s latest color E Ink phone.
See my color E Ink comparison review for a closer look at the differences between the first gen Kaleido screens and the new Kaleido Plus screens.
Since nobody else has done it yet, I’m going to be “that guy” and ask whether you think E Ink’s progress on color screens and eNotes might just be enough to get Amazon to care.
Since the Microsoft Surface Neo (if it ever actually releases) isn’t going to have an e ink screen like the Courier prototype that everybody salivated over when it went viral several years ago, it seems to me that Amazon could one-up Microsoft by not only building a device that combines the Kindle and Fire, but do it using a color e ink screen and a tablet screen that have pen support.
With the exception of the Kindle Oasis, Amazon’s devices tend to be on the budget end of the spectrum so I doubt they’d come out with anything that unique and expensive. The one place where I think color E Ink could work on a Kindle is on a Kids Kindle, and if people wanted to use it for comics and other color content they could. Amazon has shown no interest whatsoever in the E Ink eNote market and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change unfortunately. Perhaps these new color E Ink screens have a chance to break into the Kindle lineup, but that remains to be seen.
The question is, can Amazon make enough money from selling devices with colour screens? Probably not. They have their fire range for colour screens. So until they become really cheap or there is a massive call for them, I’m not too sure.
Good point. How many people are going to be willing to pay twice as much or more for a Kindle with color E Ink over the more-capable Fire HD 10 that sells for $150? Price is going to be the biggest hurdle with Amazon preferring to sell inexpensive devices.
I agree that I probably wouldn´t go for a color Kindle unless it was offered at a reasonable cost and a larger screen. I don´t think a color comic or an article would work well on a small 6 inch screen. It would work, but not to the extent to make it an experience that justifies the higher cost of the color screen. Maybe for the 7 inch screen? I don´t know.