The new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite was just announced yesterday, and one of the things highly touted was the new front-lit display and 25% faster page-turns. How exactly is this accomplished when the vast majority of the industry is using Pearl HD display screens? This is because Amazon was the first company to license a new breed of e-Paper called Carta.
E Ink Carta displays utilize a new electronic ink formulation and technology to provide a dramatic 50% improvement in contrast ratio and over 20% improvement in reflectance over previous generations of E Ink displays for a remarkably improved viewing and reading experience. The new Carta displays utilize the most advanced bistable electronic paper technology to deliver the best contrast ratio E Ink has ever delivered to the market with the same extremely low power consumption expected from an E Ink display.
The new display has been specifically tuned for reading applications, fully supporting E Ink Regal waveform technology. Regal waveforms dramatically reduce the need for full page refreshes after a few page turns. This enhances the reader’s experience by providing smoother page turns and more focused reading.
Regal technology is basically what the new Kobo Aura is using. This limits the full page refreshing from every six pages, which is the industry standard, to every chapter. Regal also eliminates “ghosting,” which occurs quite often in e Ink screens.
“The Carta display technology is a testament to E Ink’s continued innovation and leadership in ePaper and electronic ink displays,” said Giovanni Mancini, Director of Product Management for E Ink Holdings. “E Ink has always enjoyed a close working relation with its customers. The launch of Carta reaffirms our belief in the future of the ePaper market and we believe it will herald a new standard in ePaper displays.”
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.