Seldom do we wish we understood Russian as much as we do today. A video demo of what looks to be a dual-sided 4G smartphone - we're guessing a prototype at this stage, and probably non-functional at that - has emerged, apparently being demonstrated by two besuited Russians.
Video demo after the cut
The market for displays is definitely a lot broader than it used to be. With LCD still primarily being used, some people just don't think it makes sense for some devices out there. For example, eReaders are still a specialized field that, for the most part, is overrun with devices that lack the LCD technology, and focus on displays that utilize e-ink.. LG has just made it known that they plan on bringing both color and flexible e-paper displays to the market by the end of this year.
With E Ink's new Pearl display making its debut in the third-generation Kindle, resolutely monochrome and - according to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos - staying that way for the near future, attention turned to what's been described as the key color competition, Qualcomm's mirasol. Comments from Steve Mollenkopf, the company's executive VP of CDMA technologies, earlier this week seemed to suggest production hadn't even kicked off. We caught up with Jim Cathey, VP of business development for Qualcomm's MEMS division to find out exactly where mirasol is up to, and when we could expect to see devices using the display technology reach the market.
With Pixel-Qi's DIY 3qi display kit showing up in the Maker Shed store last week - and then promptly selling out - we've been waiting to see what the results are like "in the wild". Jesse Vincent seems to be among the first to receive his multi-mode panel, and he promptly slapped it into a Samsung N135 netbook and shot a video demo (which you can see after the cut).
E Ink has announced its next generation of ereader display, Pearl, and while the press release doesn't spell it out in so many words, the claim that the contrast is around 50-percent greater than the previous generation leads us to suspect this is the screen technology in the new Amazon Kindle DX. According to E Ink - formerly known as PVI -Pearl is now the whitest reflective display in the industry and even more like regular printed paper.
LG Display and iriver have announced a partnership that will see the two companies collaborate as a new ODM/OEM ebook manufacturer. The new venture, L&I Electronic Technology (Dongguan) Ltd., will be based at iriver's Chinese plant and see LG Display provide the e-ink panels and iriver develop product designs. LG Display will have a small majority stake in the collaboration, providing 51-percent of the total $5m financing.
Delta Electronics have been showing a color e-reader at Computex this week, and the big news is that it's expected to reach the market in December 2010. The Delta e-Magazine weighs just half of Apple's iPad, but has a 13-inch display capable of showing colors, albeit relatively muted. The device is based on Bridgestone's e-paper technology, with Delta apparently working with the company to commercialise the technology.
Look out, Pixel Qi, Liquavista are looking to take on your 3qi indoor/outdoor viewable displays with some slick multi-mode panels of their own. The company has been demonstrating their new LiquavistaVivid technology, a dual-mode display which can automatically flip between a paper-like monochrome setting - ideal for ebook reading indoors and out - and an LCD-like full color video-capable setting.
Fujitsu Laboratories has announced a new color e-paper display that has what Fujitsu claims to be the world's highest color image quality. Fujitsu was able to develop the color e-paper display by redesigning the panel structure and image rewrite methods used in previous versions of color e-paper from the company.
Bridgestone probably aren't the first company you'd associate with e-paper, but it seems they've been thinking about more than just tires of late. They've rolled out a new flexible e-paper screen at Display 2011 in Japan this week, called QR-LPD or Quick Response Liquid Powder Display, which judging from this machine translation uses electrically-charged black and white particles held in a liquid substrate.
Someone needs to get hold of NEC, shake them liberally, and tell them not to bother putting their excellent A4-sized e-paper panels in rubbish ad campaign boards but into huge ebook readers instead. The company have unveiled their latest e-paper prototype, and the 8.27 x 11.69 inch panel - which has a whopping 1600 x 1200 resolution - is making us drool.
Now that Polymer Vision‘s new owner – Wistron – has been confirmed, it’s time for some speculation about what they might have up their sleeve with the folding e-paper technology. Wistron’s Brian Chong, chief of product planning, has confirmed that the company intends to release a 5- to 6-inch device using Polymer Vision tech in 2010. From the sound of it, it’s very much alike the prototype device Polymer Vision themselves were showing round before their sale.