E INK has just announced that they have released a On-Cell Touch e-paper module, that supports Kaleido Plus color e-paper and Carta HD. Most devices that use electronic paper, such as e-readers or e-notes, incorporate touch screens by laminating a touch sensor on top of the display. E Ink’s new technology incorporates touch directly into the e-paper – making the display clearer for the end-user and the cost of materials lower for device manufacturers. It will be the new standard going forward, and capacitive displays will be a thing of the past.
This new technology dramatically increases performance of black and white displays by 30% and increases the contrast ratio, providing readers with clearer and more defined text. When used with E Ink Kaleido Plus, the color contrast ratio and color saturation increase by 40% and 15% respectively, providing an enhanced display for color ebook and digital textbooks.
With this new technology, readers who love black and white e-readers or color e-readers can enjoy crisper text and images, along with a comfortable and easy-on-the-eyes reading experience. With the optimized module stack design, e-paper modules using this On-Cell Touch technology can be more price competitive, and the technology is applicable to both flexible and glass TFT-backplane e-paper modules.
“E Ink is committed to the ongoing research and development on e-paper materials and display modules. Most device manufacturers laminate a touch sensor on top of e-paper displays. With the integration of touch into the e-paper module, the optical performance of e-paper displays increase while driving lower a BOM (bill of materials). The new On-Cell Touch e-paper module will become a standard module product for use in digital readers and digital note taking devices, giving customers product options with a more price competitive edge,” said Dr. FY Gan, President of E Ink.
Update: I asked E INK a bunch of questions regarding this technology. They stated that the new touchscreen e-paper has integrated 2-point On-cell touch. 5-point touch may be designed based on our customer’s product specification and functions for larger display sizes. Most touch sensors on LCD devices work the same way. They also mentioned that it will be launching in June, an unknown vendor will be employing this technology this summer.
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.