Amazon’s new Kindle DX, available on July 7, is the first eReader to feature E Ink‘s Pearl technology, enabling a contrast ratio 50 per cent better than the previous DX.
The improvement is a necessary upgrade in order for E Ink to produce its first colour screens by the end of the year.
“We are in the process of building a colour display – our colour display is essentially a monochrome display with a colour filter on top,” Sri Peruvemba, head of E Ink global sales, told me.
This filter reduces the light going into the display, affecting the contrast, which is particularly noticeable on black and white text.
“We had to change the fundamental display so that we had double the contrast. Then, when we put the colour filter on top, the black and white text should look at least as good as the current product – so that’s what drove us to do this.”
E Ink has adjusted the chemistry of its black and white pigments and optimised the display to produce contrast ratios that can be better than the 50 per cent improvement claimed for the DX.
The 6:1 contrast ratio of current E Ink displays has been improved to 10:1 or even 12:1, according to Mr Peruvemba. He sees Pearl’s technology being shipped in the majority of E Ink-based eReaders 18 months from now.
It sounds as if the DX will look better than a future colour eReader at showing black and white text, but Mr Peruvemba said the side-by-side comparisons were good and people would not be disappointed by colour eReaders’ performance as the display continued to be optimised.
The new DX is $110 cheaper than the current version, but this is more to do with the current price war over eReaders than the Pearl display being cheaper. E Ink says its displays are costing 10 to 15 per cent less each year and prices were reduced at the beginning of the year.
