After a couple years of development, E INK has unveiled E INK Carta 1200. The first product to ever employ this technology is the Kobo Elipsa. The vast majority of e-readers and e-notes that have been released in the past four or five years have used Carta 1000. What is the new e-paper all about and is it a game changer?
E Ink Carta 1200 delivers a 20% increase in response time over E Ink Carta 1000, and an improvement in the contrast ratio of 15%. E Ink Carta 1200 offers the same benefits as Carta 1000. In addition, faster response time enables smoother handwriting and animations on EPD displays. E Ink Carta 1000 & 1200 both support Regal technology for image updates. Regal virtually eliminates the need for a full refresh, giving the viewer smoother viewing transitions. This is why on modern e-readers and e-notes, you can often read an ebook and there will only be a refresh every 20 pages or so.
E Ink Carta 1200 modules consist of a TFT (thin film transistor), Ink layer and Protective Sheet. In addition, product designers can include a touch solution, which is incorporated into the module stack. E Ink currently offers digitizer and capacitive touch solutions. Digitizer touch technology utilizes a stylus to update the display, with the touch sensor sitting under the TFT. Capacitive touch technology utilizes finger swipes, and is placed on top of the display module. E Ink’s touch solutions will not affect the reflectivity of the display.
Over the course of our comprehensive, hands on review of the Kobo Elipsa and our comparisons against the Remarkable 2 and Onyx Boox Note 3 there were a few things that stood out. The background the Elipsa had a greyer background and the text was clearer and more pronounced. It will be interesting to see how this tech performs with an exposed e-paper display, without a layer of protective glass.
Will E INK Carta 1200 catch on and will more company’s start to adopt it? I believe so, anyone who is making a modern e-reader or digital note taking device would only benefit from it. Whereas color e-readers would be better suited for 1250. This version utilizes a thinner film to enable the color filter to be closer to the ink film. This will result in even richer colors a wider gamut and higher contrast ratio. It also leverages the same updates of Carta 1200, which is a faster ink, enabling faster page turns and faster pen input. The first line of products to take advantage of 1250 is the second generation Fujitsu Quaderno A5 and A4.
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.
