Known for its tablets, TVs, and phones, TCL has this week announced a new technology, NXTPAPER, that could totally change how you think about e ink. E ink displays are known for being great to stare at for hours and perfect for reading books (and sometimes even comics), but the latest color displays from E Ink have low resolution and slow refresh rates, making them unusable for video. TCL claims its new NXTPAPER tech could be a solution.
TCL’s press release is a little confusing, as it appears to compare NXTPAPER both to E Ink’s displays and to traditional LCD displays that you find in most tablets and phones today. But by all accounts, the technology used in NXTPAPER sounds like e ink technology. The press release claims it will be 36% thinner than LCD displays and 65% more power-efficient—which lines up with the gains you get from e ink.
Last week, E Ink told the blog Good Ereader that it had plans to improve its own color E Ink technology. While we adore the first color E Ink devices, they’ve not been without their flaws, including a paltry 100-PPI resolution and slower refresh rates. E Ink promised to at least double the resolution to 200 PPI by 2021, with a goal of hitting 300 PPI—the resolution of high-end LCD and monochrome E Ink displays—at a later date.
We don’t know the exact planned resolution for TCL’s competing NXTPAPER technology, but the company claims it will be full HD, and that the text incorporated will allow it to have 25% higher contrast than traditional e ink devices
TCL also says it will offer a “paper-like visual experience in full color with no flicker and no harmful blue light” and that it will rely on natural light—which, again, sounds like e ink.
Source: TCL Announces E Ink Color Display That Can Handle Video
Robin Edgar
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