Hoping for a Kindle Color?

For the first time in a while, we have some real hope for a decent full-color eReader in the near future.  Sure, the NOOKcolor will be out soon, but nobody really cares that much.  E Ink, maker of the current amazingly popular screens for the Kindle and nook, has announced a new display technology that they have dubbed Triton.

E Ink Triton is a color active matrix imaging film that manages to retain all of the benefits of their previous products(such as the monochrome E Ink Pearl screen found in the current generation of the Kindle) without limiting the display options when it comes to illustration.  Users can expect to retain the direct sunlight readability, quick page turns, amazing battery life, and durability that they have come to expect and hopefully quite a bit more, depending on how companies like Amazon(NASDAQ:AMZN) manage to adapt the technology for improved user experience.

This comes with the usual cautions, of course, before people get too excited.  Namely, this is not an LCD screen.  This means that you cannot expect everything to work precisely the same way a standard computer monitor would.  You will not be watching video on it, nor will there be a back-light.  It is an amazing leap forward for eReading technology, not just another potential selling point for entries into the tablet race.  Reflecting on that point, if this works well and is adopted for use in something like the Kindle, there will really no longer be any grounds for complaints about usability from people wanting anything short of a full-function tablet.

This advance bodes well for the future of eReading and will definitely tie in well to such things as the recent push by Amazon to get periodicals published on the Kindle platform.  I know that we won’t be seeing a color Kindle by the end of this year, but now that it appears to be a practical inevitability, the possibilities are abundant.

9 thoughts on “Hoping for a Kindle Color?”

  1. Meh, this photo looks alright, but all the others I’ve seen have horrible-looking colors! I hesitated to get the nook color for a minute, but after I saw the pictures of this new “breakthrough” I ordered right away.

    Don’t get me wrong, E ink is still great for novels. But since I’m looking to read magazines and childrens books, half-assed color won’t do.

  2. What do you think about some of the other stable-state display technologies, like Mirasol or Pixel Qi? I’ve been interested in Mirasol due to its fantastic power consumption characteristics, married with its ability to support full video – all in a package that isn’t backlit and still works (apparently) very well for reading.

  3. I’m not sure why you would think nobody cares about the nook color. B&N has been more on the cutting edge lately than Amazon. They now have a full color eReader and their Magazine Newsstand feature looks to have a lot more in the way of magazine and newspaper selections. In fact, Amazon is now copying the B&N playbook with the “Lend a Book” feature.

  4. Hanvon’s price is too steep, over $500. I think Amazon will use them as guinea pigs to see how the market reacts, they will also want to see how the Nook Color performs. But one thing Amazon has very clear is that a color eReader needs to be affordable. No one will pay $400+ for one, that’s more a pad’s price range, so it would bring up ugly comparisons.

    Since getting my Kindle I’ve increased my reading by 300%. I am an IT guy that has spent hours on end in front of computers and I couldn’t force myself to read a book on an LCD for more than 30 minutes. I hope eInk is here to stay, color would surely help to open up the market even more.

  5. I would certainly be happy with even a decent color screen, if the browser and/or rss reader can stand up better than my DX. I love the screen for books and newpapers, but in my line of work, the bulk of the reading I must do is found on blogs. I would be glad to do without flash and video if I could get the browser improvements.

    I understand Amazon wants to sell books and won’t push too hard to accommodate reading free material – but thought I would raise my decision point.

  6. I own 3 versions of the Kindle. I have been a huge fan. I usually read or listen to 1 or 2 novels a week but I must say the colored Nook for 250 is looking nice. Amazon, needs their next version to real be a jump forward, touchscreen with pen would be nice. A better way to classify books then the current feature. It is not very good. And yes color, I am on the fence about E-Ink, I love being able to read outside, if there was a color display that I could use outside, I would be sold. One of the biggest features I used to like was the voice, but looks like the color nook is offering similar features in Kids books, if they do the same for all.

    Amazon, give me touch with writing capabilities for notes, keep voice enabled, and give me color, and let me use real folders. I will buy several more versions as they come out.

  7. Color is here and to a lot of people it is important. More and more books are using color pic/diagrams/maps in them, even fiction. The eink color still looks blah. I use K4PC because I like backlit readers (and I spend most of my day on a laptop doing work). I bought a netbook that I use expressly for K4PC. I will look at the NookColor when it comes out, but will wait a bit to make sure the NC is solid. If I think it is, I will buy it.

  8. Everyone hear has missed the obvious application of a color Kindle that would open a new market with a huge profit potential; Graphic Novels. Call them comics if you like but there has been a trend in resent years towards ‘Trade Paper Backs”. These compilations of major story arks sell well because they cost less than comics, take up less room and allow collectors to read without damaging there investment. I cold see legions of fanboys with SD cards loaded with their favorite titles shuffling though them to win an argument on some piece of trivia. the I pad has been pushing eComics as a selling point but typical hi-resolution collection would devastate it capacity even at the hightest end. As a person with a room dedicated to comics and manga a color Kindle would solve a lot of problems for me.

  9. It seems that a lot of people are forgetting that the Nook Color is not eink and the whole purpose of eink for us avid book readers is the fact that our eyes won’t get tired. I look at a computer all day long too and reading my books on my screen is not easy because I have to take too many breaks, some that last days. I don’t expect eink to be fantastic and sharp. For that I have my computer, but for reading comic books or browsing through my recipe books, well, it does not have to be so bright. I am holding out buying an ebook reader until someone comes out with color eink and at least the size of the Kindle DX. I can’t read those little things. I am getting old and need the larger print.

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