E INK has just announced new color e-paper technology, E Ink Kaleido 3. It offers richer colors, increasing its color saturation by 30% compared to the previous generation, E Ink Kaleido Plus, in addition to 16 levels of grayscale and 4,096 colors. Kaleido 3 also uses E Ink ComfortGaze, a new front light technology that reduces the amount of blue light, with a reduced Blue Light Ratio (BLR) and Blue Light Toxicity Factor (BLTF) by up to 60% and 24% respectively. BLR is the ratio of toxic blue to total blue light output, and BLTF is the ratio of brightness to hazardous blue. Additionally, the responsiveness of the ink means that Kaleido 3 can play animations and videos.
“The color e-reader with E Ink Kaleido technology has received wide support and recognition from many customers since its release,” said Johnson Lee, CEO of E Ink. “E Ink continues to innovate color e-paper, and with E Ink Kaleido 3, we’ve enhanced the vividness of the colors, improved the module design and created a healthier visual reading experience. We are excited to see this new technology roll out in customer products.”
The E Ink Kaleido 3 module is available in various panel sizes, including 7.8-inch, 10.3-inch, and finally has native support for 13.3 inch devices. This is a huge deal, because Kaleido Plus only supported a maximum screen size of 10.3. This year Bigme released three 10.3 inch e-notes that utilized Kaleido Plus technology, which basically are the only ones of this screen size on the market. It is very likely we will start to see the first new e-readers using Kaleido 3 in April, and larger devices in the fall.
How excellent would it be if Onyx released the Lumi Color? We could finally see an A4 reader that is optimized for viewing and editing color PDF documents, in addition to magazines in a two-page spread?
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
