Sharp shows off memory-capable, e-ink fighting LCDs

E-ink displays, whether they be a couple-inches or a couple-feet across, hold a lot of potential, but in the four and a half years we've been covering the tech it hasn't exactly made huge progress. Nothing spurs innovation like a little competition, and Sharp (which has dabbled in the e-ink before) is looking to provide just that with a new display type also able to hold an image sans-power. Few details about its construction are known, except that it's based on LCD tech and can be manufactured on current production lines. In other words: it should be cheap. Current sizes are 1.7-, 2.4-, 6.1-, and 14.1-inches, with the largest two available in either monochrome or 8-color flavors, and the biggest offering a passable resolution of 1030 x 606. There's no indication of when these will be readily available, but they are currently on limited tests as inventory tags in an Osaka grocery store -- where even supermarkets are apparently cooler than ours.

[iEye @ Oct 31st 2008 9:03AM]

again with the fruit...

and why is it allways strawberries, why not say oh I don't know.. APPLES!

[Erb @ Oct 31st 2008 9:56AM]

I hope a car crashes into the telephone pool in front of your house, disconnects your internet, electricity, and telephone lines.

[Mr. Ford @ Oct 31st 2008 11:44AM]

As long as they miss the swimming pole.

[E71 @ Oct 31st 2008 9:49PM]

I'm hungry

[ITRanger @ Oct 31st 2008 9:08AM]

"There's no indication of when these will be readily available."

That's all I need to know. I'll stop reading now.

I'l just file this along with SED, OLED, and the rest ... all coming real soon.

Lots of talk again, despite the fact it looks real good and/or close to production. I still want to hear about something I can buy today, or that is about to hit the shops.

[Valicore @ Oct 31st 2008 9:12AM]

I haven't had the chance to see how well these e-ink displays Hanzi/Kanji. I'm sure they're legible, but are they easy on the eyes or kinda... pixily?

[mr jones @ Oct 31st 2008 9:47AM]

strawberries should be red on the inside, not white

blech, tasteless

[Quasijo @ Oct 31st 2008 10:19AM]

Cut 'em a break. The thing only displays eight colors, yeah?

[MarbleMind @ Oct 31st 2008 12:37PM]

I think he's right. You shouldn't try displaying photographs on an eight color display, not in 2008. People are put off by it.
The colors should be used for things like bars, color patterns and simple clip-art-ish pictures.

[Ian @ Oct 31st 2008 10:42AM]

>>>"Sharp (which has dabbled in the e-ink before) is looking to provide just that with a new display type also able to hold an image sans-power."

Isn't that the type of screen they use in eBook readers like Kindle? Is the "progress" that they were able to do this with a colour screen?

[MarbleMind @ Oct 31st 2008 12:33PM]

No, the progress is that they did it with an LCD screen instead of a matrix of monochrome micro balls.

[MarbleMind @ Oct 31st 2008 12:45PM]

Seems like the bastard child of EGA and CGA finally has found a way out of the closet it was locked in the past twenty years.

[NickBurns @ Oct 31st 2008 1:07PM]

That tech, if they ever get it produced properly, would work great for books or newspapers, anything that you read, definitely could extend life of battery.