E-paper has gained a lot of traction in recent years with easy-to-read and advanced devices. Global companies are launching their own e-paper devices to be a part of the ongoing shift of digitalization. Today’s modern era generation prefer to read books, magazines, and newspaper on their smartphones or any e-paper device.
E-paper devices are gaining a lot traction of among the young generation as they come with advanced features and high-definition, paper-like appearance display. E-ink is the most widely known and used form of e-paper. It is a form of proprietary material that is made into a film for incorporation into a paper-like display. The paper-like display help in reducing the risk of potential eye problems which are generally caused by looking at a screen or display for longer periods of time
What are the advantages of using an e-paper?
There are several advantages of using e-paper technology such as;
- High reflectivity and high contrast
- Thin and light-weight
- Wider viewing angle
- Available in multiple sizes
- Ultra-low power consumption
- Prolonged battery life
- Sunlight and non-uniform light visibility
- High-definition and paper-like appearance display
- Anti-glare display surface
What types of displays are used for E-paper devices?
Global companies like Amazon, Kobo, Rakuten, and others used various types of displays for their devices. There are several types of displays available in the global market that are used for E-paper devices such as Electrophoretic Display (EPD), Electrowetting Display (EWD), Electro fluidic Display (EFD), and Interferometric Modulator Display (IMOD).
The most used e-paper display type is Electrophoretic Display (EPD). This is typically addressed using MOSFET- based thin-film transistor (TFT) technology. This technology is necessary for EPD to form a high-density image.
There are some big players competing and launching advanced E-paper devices with advanced displays in the global market such as Samsung Display Co. Ltd., Pervasive Display Inc., E Ink Holdings Inc., Cambrios Technologies Corporation, Visionect, LG Display Co. Ltd, CLEAR ink Displays, Sony Corporation, Bridgestone Corporation, and Plastic Logic GmbH.
Gyricon is the electronic paper developed in the 1970s by Nick Sheridon at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. It consists of polyethylene spheres between 75 and 106 micrometers across and since then the e-paper industry is continuously evolving with a lot of global companies launching new e-paper devices.
In recent years, e-paper has had a lot of traction as major global companies such as Amazon, Sony has launched their e-paper devices for avid readers for easy and convenient reading. These devices offer different types of books to customers for reading purposes and can also be used for educational purposes.
Amazon Kindle
On November 19, 2007, Amazon released the first generation of the e-reader kindle, which is a 6-inch electronic paper ink screen for $399. It sold out in 5.5 hours. The kindle was developed at Lab126. On the grand success of the first version of Kindle, In February 2009, Amazon launched Kindle 2 featured a sleek design with 25 percent longer battery life, faster page turns and other improvements.
In May 2009, Amazon launched Kindle DX with a new large-screen experience for readers. Kindle made its android debut in June 2010. In the month of July 2010, the third-generation Kindle device featured a new design that maintained the six-inch screen while reducing body size by about a fifth. The contrast was 50 percent better, page turns were 20 percent faster, and the new Kindle was 15 percent lighter.
In September 2011, Amazon launched Kindle Touch, the fourth-generation Kindle, and Kindle Touch featuring a touchscreen. In 2012, Kindle was the world’s best-selling e-reader for five years straight, and with increasing popularity, The fifth iteration of the Kindle device was released by Amazon which had 62% more pixels, 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, and battery life had doubled to eight weeks.
In 2014, the seventh-generation Kindle device got released with improved screen resolution, speed, and storage. A new page-turning feature, PagePress, lets readers flip through a book with a custom-designed sensor that is activated with a light press of the thumb. With the launch of the new Kindle Paperwhite device in June 2015, Amazon introduced a new Bookerly Font and advanced typography engine to help customers read faster and with less eyestrain.
Amazon launched the lightest Kindle, Kindle Oasis to date in April 2016. The eighth-generation device comes with 4.6 ounces and 3.4 millimeters and a high-resolution 300 ppi Paperwhite displays for crisp, laser-quality text. The page flip option got introduced in June 2016. With Page Flip, readers could easily flip back and forth between pages to reference different parts of the book while they read.
In October 2017, the new Kindle Oasis – the ninth generation of the device – launched with the largest, high-resolution paperwhite display yet; it’s also the first waterproof Kindle. In the same month, Amazon launched all-new kindle apps for Android and IOS users to turn a phone or tablet into a book so customers can read anytime, anywhere.
Nook by Barnes & Noble
In the U.S., Barnes & Noble has grown to be the largest chain of stores that still sells books. In the last 4-5 years, B&N has started to gravitate toward a digital ecosystem. Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. On November 30, 2009, B&N launched Nook with the android operating system for $259. It was the first ever an e-ink display was coupled with a small color LCD screen.
Later, Barnes & Noble released the Nook Tablet 8 GB on February 21, 2012. Both versions have a 7-inch (18 cm) screen, a microSD slot compatible with cards up to 32 GB in size, 8 or 16 GB of internal storage, a 1 GHz dual-core processor, and a FAT32 file system.
on June 21, 2010, Barnes and Noble released the Nook WIFI model, which did away with the costly 3G edition. In 2010, B&N introduced Nook They were the first big company to produce a six-inch full-color Android Tablet that had its own customized user interface.
In early 2012, B&N debuted the Nook Simple touch with Glowlight with a unique feature. It had an adjustable light built into the top of the bezel that illuminated the entire screen.
Rakuten Kobo
Rakuten Kobo Inc., or simply Kobo, is a Canadian company that sells eBooks, audiobooks, e-readers, and tablet computers. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with Japanese e-commerce conglomerate Rakuten. On May 1, 2010, Kobo Inc. launched a 6-inch with a resolution of 600 x 800 pixels. This translates to a display pixel density of 170 (dpi), which is quite impressive at the time. It did not have WIFI or a built-in store.
Later on, on October 15, 2010, the Kobo WIFI edition was released. It featured a slightly improved processor and support for a 32 GB SD Card. This was the first time Kobo experimented with different colors, offering a white, black, and lilac version with a quilted cover on the back.
In June 2011, Kobo Touch was released with a touchscreen option and a resolution of 800×600, which was the exact same as prior models. Kobo GLO was released in September of 2012. The Kobo Glo eliminated all physical buttons and relied on a capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1024 x 758. In this model, Kobo amped up the processor to 1 GHZ, over the 800 MHZ of the touch model.
On the exact same day, the Kobo mini was released with a standard six-inch e-Reader and instead went with a more pocket-friendly five-inch model. It used e Ink Vizplex technology and had a resolution of 800×600 pixels.
On April 25th, 2013, The Kobo Aura HD was billed as a limited-edition e-reader that was released. It featured a 6.8-inch screen with a tremendous resolution of 1440×1080 with 265 ppi. In September 2013 Kobo released a six-inch iteration of the Kobo Aura. It featured a 6-inch e-ink Clarity Screen display with 1014×758 resolution, 16-level greyscale, and a built-in LED front light. It has 4 GB of storage, weighs 6.1 ounces, has 2 months of battery life, and has a Freescale i.MX507 1 GHz processor, and a microSD expansion slot.
Conclusion
With the increasing penetration of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and as the major global companies are launching their own e-paper devices, the e-paper display market is going to grow at a healthy rate with a lot of new opportunities in emerging countries.
Governments in developing countries are focusing on increasing investments in electronic industries which can create new lucrative opportunities for the e-paper display market in the coming years.