E Ink just announced the first consumer device to use their Electronic Paper technology: the Sony LIBRIé e-Book reader. Six-inch diagonal display, 170ppi, 4 shades gray reflective screen with an almost 180-degree viewing angle, weighing around 300g with four AAA batteries. Even better than the viewing angle is the battery life: unlike LCDs, electronic paper takes power to modify a screen, but not to maintain a static display. Sony’s tests show you can read around 10,000 pages on four AAA Alkaline batteries.
References
- First-Generation Electronic Paper Display From Philips, Sony And E Ink To Be Used In New Electronic Reading Device (E Ink Press Release, 24 March 2004)
- E Ink’s Electronic Paper Commercialized (E Ink Press Release, 24 March 2004)
- Sony To Launch E Ink-based eBook In April (Timothy Lord, Slashdot, 24 March 2004)