Fujitsu shows off color e-ink tablet concept

It's all well and good to drool on color e-ink prototypes from afar, but Fujitsu has already managed to squeeze a whole VGA display into a 4.7-inch x 6.3-inch handheld unit. The concept sports 4096 colors, 32MB of built-in memory and a miniSD slot, but weighs a mere 6.2 ounces. We're not sure about the exact thickness of this thing, but it's pretty dang thin -- hardly thicker than a mini USB port -- and we'd kick Sony's oft-delayed PRS-500 to the curb in a heartbeat to view the comic adventures of a Jewish Ryu on this Fujitsu device when or if it hits the market.

[genexk @ Oct 5th 2006 1:06PM]

a must buy for manga readers

[DarkSol @ Oct 5th 2006 1:14PM]

Indeed. And they picked an excellent manga to show off the new technology!

Fist of the North Star is awesome.

[Drew @ Oct 5th 2006 1:12PM]

But VGA means that this device is only ~102 DPI. One of the big advantages of E-ink is the high dot density; the Sony reader has 170 dots per inch.

[Alex @ Oct 5th 2006 1:21PM]

It's only ~100DPI, but it's color. Since I'm much more likely to read comic books on an eBook reader than traditional books, color would suit me well. On the other hand, 100DPI isn't enough to really read some of that small text.

I'll be first in line when a high-res color eInk device comes out that supports jpgs (or CBR, or PDF with images). I like that a lot of the current readers support non-DRM files, I hope it continues.

[pgl @ Oct 5th 2006 1:19PM]

I want to hit that so hard that the tent in my pants is about to explode (I am a manga reader XD).

[FC @ Oct 5th 2006 1:40PM]

I wouldn't pay extra for color... The mangas I read are all in black and white except for the covers. I would just need one with good battery life and ability to read pdf files.

[strider_mt2k @ Oct 5th 2006 1:44PM]

We'll return to "Torah Torah Torah" after this...

[Ryan R @ Oct 5th 2006 2:19PM]

32MB of internal memory?
why do they bother with any at all?

[totoro @ Oct 5th 2006 2:22PM]

So..black and white E-ink works with the little balls being 1/2 black and 1/2 white, with positive or negative charges. How are they doing color?

[Matt @ Oct 5th 2006 2:32PM]

Probably the same way TV's and Print does color, combinations of very small red, blue, and green pixels.

[5c11 @ Oct 5th 2006 2:50PM]

Since it's more like ink than light, I'd imagine that they'd have to use subtractive color (CMYK) rather than additive (RGB).

[Jason M Burroughs @ Oct 5th 2006 3:18PM]

About that carbon fiber; I haven't seen a single application that is attrative

[jin @ Oct 5th 2006 3:22PM]

That's not a jewish ryu, that's the Fist of the North Star

[Apreche @ Oct 5th 2006 3:28PM]

Fist of the North Star for the win!

[NccWarp9 @ Oct 5th 2006 4:51PM]

Gime Gime

[Michael @ Oct 5th 2006 5:07PM]

I can't wait till we see full blown tablet computers using advanced forms of these kinds of e-ink displays.

[Kevin @ Oct 5th 2006 5:52PM]

Hold the carbon fiber please.

[Yoni @ Oct 5th 2006 6:00PM]

Actually, although there is a Magen David (Star of David, Jewish symbol), obviously the rest of the language on there is Japanese. Close, but no cigar.

[HughJass @ Oct 6th 2006 12:01AM]

I know this is e-ink and not LCD/TFT/etc, but what's so special about VGA resolution on this thing? That's not very dense on a screen this large. We've got plenty of PDAs and other devices running around with VGA and above (think Nokia Internet Tablet) on much smaller screen sizes.

[HughJass @ Oct 6th 2006 12:03AM]

I know this is e-ink and not LCD/TFT/etc, but what's so special about VGA resolution on this thing? That's not very dense on a screen this large. We've got plenty of PDAs and other devices running around with VGA and above (think Nokia Internet Tablet) on much smaller screen sizes.

[HughJass @ Oct 6th 2006 12:04AM]

Excuse the double/triple post. Satellite internet is flaky in the rain :-).

[Snesgirl @ Oct 6th 2006 5:26AM]

I'd like to get excited by this, but it's a toatl prototpye.

Might be vapourwear for all we know.

[90 @ Oct 6th 2006 9:41AM]

Just because it's a e-Ink,the technology said "practical" so long.

by the way,why don't we think about using this as a digital notebook for students?We can save bag spaces for so many notebooks,I think.

[KB-KDI @ Oct 6th 2006 9:43AM]

Fujitsu's color e-book display uses bi-stable cholesteric LCD technology licensed from Kent Displays, Inc. Three layers of LC material are stacked (RGB), to achieve the brightest full-color reflective display possible today. Electrophoretic technology cannot do this. The only way to achieve color displays with e-ink is to use color filters which results in a display thats 1/3 the brightness of a monochrome display.

[Maurice Avery @ Oct 8th 2006 11:40AM]

Low resolution... However this is the thinest and nicest looking device i've seen so far. Sweet carbon-fiber finish. Almost anythings better then the plain old plastic in some old monochorme shade somewhere between black and white that almost every portable device comes in. Though I would prefer a nice stainless steel and mohogany finish with real metal and real wood....