“Color is absolutely critical for E Ink,” said James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research. At the same time, slate-type devices like the iPad will increase from one million in 2009 to 40 million in 2011, she predicts. Colegrove of DisplaySearch said these types of lower-cost products should continue to gain market share, growing from four million units sold worldwide in 2009 to 14 million units by 2011.
The Hanvon e-reader is not intended to be a multifunction competitor to the iPad, but rather a dedicated reading device, like the Kindle.
The color model from Hanvon can be easily read in bright light, although the color filter does reduce the brightness. As a result, battery life is the same as its black-and-white cousins, measured in weeks rather than hours, as with the iPad. To create the color image, E Ink uses its standard black-and-white display overlaid with a color filter. Hanvon sells other products, like tablets and e-readers, to Americans online and through Fry’s, a regional electronics chain.Į Ink, based in Cambridge, Mass., was bought by Prime View Holdings of Taiwan in 2009 and was recently renamed E Ink Holdings. “It’s possible that we’ll sell this in the U.S. The e-reader supports 19 book formats, 6 audio formats, and 4 graphic formats. Content with color graphics becomes considerably more informative and enjoyable with the new screen. It will be positioned as a business product, with Wi-Fi and 3G wireless connectivity. The E Ink Kaleido screen can display up to 4096 colors and shades while retaining the essential features of a traditional e-reader: eye safety and energy efficiency.
The price is less than an iPad in China, which sells for about $590. Hanvon’s first product using a 9.68-inch color touch screen will be available this March in China, starting at about $440. With BOOX color algorithm, you can enjoy the most out of the color E Ink screen when doing any task and experience the easy-to-view display.
#Hanvon color e ink tablet reader plus#
Its founder and chairman, Liu Yingjian, says Hanvon has a 78 percent share of the Chinese market. BOOX Nova3 Color with a 7.8inch Kaleido Plus display can show soft 4,096 colors with better saturation and less color shift. While barely known in this country, Hanvon is the largest seller of e-readers in China. “I’m convinced that a lot of times it takes one company to prove the market,” Mr. Peruvemba, an E Ink vice president, is not upset by the reluctance of the market leaders to adopt his color technology. We’re not willing to give up the true black-and-white reading experience.”īut Sriram K. “There’s no question that color is extremely logical. While the unveiling is about to happen at FPD, market availability will only be attained in March, 2011.“On a list of things that people want in e-readers, color always comes up,” said Steve Haber, president of Sony’s digital reading business division. The color e-reader will be priced at $440 once it finally becomes available, although users still have some time to wait. The price that the company has in mind is also fairly close to that of tablets, which may suggest that Hanvon could do its best to add a measure of video support as well, though this is pure speculation at this point. Of course, there is no guarantee that Hanvon will unveil any sort of information on the amount of internal storage, or on what file types the e-reader supports.Ĭonsidering the need to stay competitive, one could assume that Hanvon threw in support for audio files and, of course, photos of various formats. So far, all that is known is that the device will possess wireless connectivity via 3G and WiFi. There, one should be able to catch a glimpse of the product in action, perhaps even some knowledge of the complete specifications. At the same time, older e-ink devices use color filter arrays to approximate colors, leading to more color mixing. The big change is that each Kaleido Plus pixel can display any color individually. The first sighting of this electronic is slated to occur this very week, during the FPD International 2010 event. Color e-ink tablets have existed before, but the Nova3 Color exhibits the brand-new Kaleido Plus display, launched in May 2021 alongside the tablet. Apparently, Hanvon has also added a touch panel. The e-reader will have a display diagonal length of 9.68 inches, but the screens' ability to show color is just part of its appeal. Still, E Ink has also been working on color e-paper, and it seems that Hanvon is about to become the first company to release an e-reader equipped with it. While e-readers still haven't surpassed the age of grayscale E Ink displays, this leap in quality appears to be drawing closer, especially now that a certain e-reader seller in China is getting ready to announce what is arguably a “world's first” device.ĭespite how consumers keep wishing for color on their e-book readers, a viable display option has yet to emerge, mostly because of power requirements.Īs such, e-paper displays developed by E Ink are still preeminent in this market segment.