Colored E-Papers from Philips
In line with the new e-ink tech devices being used in devices and LCD technology, Philips unveils colored e-papers to entice our imagination and visual needs. For some background, existing e-ink tech in devices like Sony’s Reader and the Amazon Kindle use electrophoresis. This technique sees white particles suspended in a dark liquid. When an electric field is passed through them, they get happy, more vertically up and down, and you can read Stephen King on your Kindle.
Each pixel is made up of two microcapsule chambers: one containing yellow and cyan particles, the other, below, containing magenta and black particles. Within each microcapsule, one set of colored particles is charged positively while the other is charged negatively.
By carefully controlling the voltages at electrodes positioned on the edges of the pixels, it is possible to spread the colored particles across the pixel or remove them from view altogether by hiding them behind the electrodes, says Lenssen. This means that different shades of color can be achieved by controlling how many of each group of colored particles are visible. To create white, all of the particles are simply shifted to the side to reveal the white substrate beneath the two microcapsules.
(Source) Gizmodo
May 10th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
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December 13th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Yes. I love it. Got a Kindle 1 when it first came out, and many books later, I now get annoyed when I can’t find a title in Kindle format. I learned to live with the well-known drawbacks. Kindle 2 fixes most of those problems. Not all, but this is certainly a good second version in such a short product cycle.
People who love to read get it.
Some pros for me
- small, thin and light. thin!
- no accidental clicks when I pick it up.
- more space. although honestly, I wasn’t out of space on my Kindle 1. I had about 6 pages of books on it. With the backspace fix for deleting, getting rid of samples and non-keepers was easy. Don’t people know you never really lose anything?
- looks great compared to Kindle 1 (as does almost anything)
- a little sharper display, a little faster page turns. Seems slighter easier to read at an angle
- great idea with the joystick
some cons for me
- no folders (maybe soon?)
- more menu items for the joystick would be nice
- screen could be bigger, even with the existing form factor.
- no color choices. not e-ink, but the device body.
- no color e-ink yet. not a big deal, I’m sure it’s coming
- an LCD or LED backlight one day would be nice
All of the cons are very minor to me. I really love the new form factor, and the bottom line is how much I like to read on the Kindle, not how much the person sitting next to me likes it.
I carried my Kindle 1 on every vacation and trip during its reign. The Kindle 2 is welcome upgrade.
Well, that’s my quick review. I’ve only had Kindle 2 a few days, so I hope it is as reliable as Kindle 1 has been for me.
Happy reading.