The latest display technology enhances color accuracy and refresh rates.
E Ink has unveiled the newest iteration of its Kaleido color e-paper technology, promising enhancements that could significantly influence the next generation of e-readers and writing tablets. The Kaleido 4 display boasts the ability to produce a broader spectrum of colors while addressing common issues related to refresh rates, which have often plagued e-paper screens.
According to E Ink, the Kaleido 4 doubles the color gamut volume, allowing it to generate over 40,000 colors, and features an increase in white reflectance and overall contrast. Additionally, the upgrades to the refresh rate enable the display to show video at 18 frames per second. While this may seem modest in comparison to the 120Hz OLED displays found on modern smartphones, it represents a significant improvement for the traditionally slow refresh rates of e-paper technology.
As E Ink supplies displays for major e-reader brands such as Amazon, Kobo, and Boox, the enhancements offered by Kaleido 4 may lead to more accurate color reproduction in future devices, all while maintaining the sharpness of black and white text. One of the criticisms of previous Kaleido 3 displays was the relative blur of text, leading some manufacturers to opt for E Ink’s other color e-paper technology, Gallery 3. Unlike Kaleido displays, which use a color filter over black and white pigments, Gallery displays utilize colored pigments directly, providing richer images and text, albeit at the cost of longer refresh times.
E Ink has also incorporated an oxide backplate into the display configuration, which enhances the refresh rates of Kaleido 4. This modification mirrors improvements made by Amazon to the Kaleido screens in the early Kindle Colorsoft model. An evaluation of this new technology against older Kaleido displays will reveal the extent of E Ink’s advancements. Currently, Kaleido 4 is available exclusively in one device: Hanvon Technology’s M10 C II. This e-paper tablet, available in China, features a Kaleido 4 screen, an upgraded front light, and micro-etched glass designed to replicate a more paper-like writing experience.
