Bridgestone's 13-inch color e-paper display handles pen input, has the future written all over it

While it'll always be difficult to accept innovative technology from a company that makes our tires, there's just no faulting Bridgestone's work in the e-paper space, or their latest color entry, above. The 13-inch display, based on "QR-LPD" tech, has what looks to be great color depth, along with snappy 0.8 second screen refreshes (great for this screen size) and actual Wacom-based pen input. There's video of it in action after the break, and if we didn't know better we'd think they were putting a Sharpie to a perfectly good display. Unfortunately, the image does look a little dim at the moment, so hopefully that's something Bridgestone can improve upon as they approach commercialization -- whenever that might be.

[tom.malewicki @ Apr 17th 2009 11:17AM]

I want one now. This if ever produced and cost effective, will replace magazines and newspapers. The world needs it now.

[coolblue @ Apr 17th 2009 11:18AM]

This is what I want my photo frame to be using, not glow in the dark, power hungry LCDs.

Lets hope this gets to market soon.

[darkstar @ Apr 17th 2009 11:19AM]

kindle 3
bring it!!!!!

[cake @ Apr 17th 2009 12:02PM]

Screw Amazon, I'd rather this end up with a more open compatibility third party vendor! I'd like to enjoy using it to read PDFs and other formats!

[jrb @ Apr 17th 2009 12:30PM]

kindle isn't the only ebook reader on the market. others out there take pdf natively.

[pete @ Apr 17th 2009 12:46PM]

down with the kindle!! its an oversized and overpriced palm 3

[Wolfticket @ Apr 17th 2009 1:27PM]

Maybe kindle 5 or something

[Sola @ Apr 17th 2009 11:23AM]

I'll take one today. Box it up, Bridgestone; i don't care if your usual production is cotton candy and alphabet blocks. Toot sweet.

[mg @ Apr 17th 2009 11:22AM]

This is exactly what I've been waiting for before getting an eBook reader. If this comes out and it's crisp and readable, I'll absolutely buy a reader based on it.

[Templarian @ Apr 17th 2009 11:24AM]

Perfect size, hope to see this replace paper very soon.

[acezry @ Apr 17th 2009 11:24AM]

I would love to lug one of these around instead of the 5 1k+ paged text books I have to carry each day for school. It is good to see that development is still making strides in e-paper technology.

[htd @ Apr 17th 2009 11:24AM]

it's more like a magazine!

[Vidikron @ Apr 17th 2009 11:27AM]

They should give one of these away with every purchase of 4 new tires. Yes, wishful thinking, but I happen to need new tires.

[Romesh @ Apr 17th 2009 6:52PM]

I want to stick these to my hubcaps

[BrianB @ Apr 17th 2009 11:32AM]

I agree, this is what I've been waiting for as well. Good size, can read business documents and make annotations, and images look good enough for magazine reading. If they can incorporate touchscreen rather than pen navigation (especially finger-swipe page turning) they'd have a real winner here.

[SimonMac @ Apr 17th 2009 11:37AM]

What is wrong with paper?

[Errorkid @ Apr 17th 2009 11:40AM]

Ever tried to install wifi on paper ?

[sacapuntas @ Apr 17th 2009 11:41AM]

Yeah, drivers for paper are a bear to find....

[superhobo @ Apr 17th 2009 11:47AM]

Nothing, but this is Paper R/W.

[Templarian @ Apr 17th 2009 11:54AM]

superhobo, well current paper is r/w also, it just matters what type of writer you use, but even with the r/w type of writer the surface degrades over time and has to be replaced.

[superhobo @ Apr 17th 2009 2:41PM]

Ok, you can sit there, draw an ugly pic with a bunch of color pencils, try to erase them and draw a new one.

[radarskiy @ Apr 17th 2009 3:06PM]

"What is wrong with paper?"

Mass per page.

[Michael @ Apr 17th 2009 11:39AM]

Dim? This is what you want. You do not want too much back-lighting and possibly none at all. Back-lit screens such as those on laptops and desktop monitors already exist. There is a reason that we are trying to move away from this. Excessive light directed into the eyes causes eye fatigue.

[rich @ Apr 17th 2009 12:06PM]

Right, but since these screens have no backlight, that's not exactly what they were referring to. I assume by "dim" they mean low contrast. All of the color screens, and this one looks to be no exception, have very washed out colors that make it seem like you're looking at a faded 20 year old magazine cover.

[MarnBeast @ Apr 17th 2009 4:36PM]

The problem is comparing this to how real paper with images printed on it looks, and trying to emulate that with this. The main difficulty appears to be getting the closest, brightest white possible, such that it reflects a large majority of the light shined on it back to the eye the same as real paper does.

[Jurgen @ Apr 17th 2009 11:51AM]

Make it run Illustrator, Photoshop and AutoCAD, and I'm sold!

[Kinger @ Apr 17th 2009 12:09PM]

Thinking futuristically (if that is a word (which I'm sure it's not)) It could probably just stream all that..

[Jurgen @ Apr 17th 2009 4:51PM]

... well that's what I would use it for if I had it now (and to be honest, I need it now!).

[superhobo @ Apr 17th 2009 11:49AM]

Kinda dull, but coming from Bridgestone...awesome.

[Swackhammer1 @ Apr 17th 2009 12:03PM]

Now only if they would make a portable e-reader out of it.

[jonathon @ Apr 17th 2009 12:11PM]

looks great, screen looks easy to read and it's in colour! i look forward to getting one. maybe stick bluetooth on it so i can hook up a keyboard for easy text entry.

[Jonyah @ Apr 17th 2009 12:21PM]

dimness isn't really that bad when the writer moves his shadow out of the way. It only look dimmer than current ebook readers because you're used to seeing 90% of the screen in a lighter grey. As with the current readers, and real paper, you need light to see what's on them. bring this out and i'll get one for everyone in my family, just keep it under $500 and don't let amazon screw it up.

[Gordon @ Apr 17th 2009 12:31PM]

Brilliant. With Bluetooth and Intuos-level pressure sensitivity, this could be one hell of a drawing tool....

I love my Cintiq, but it's a little bit unwieldy. I'd like something more portable, even if I can't quite use it as a second monitor.

[Will @ Apr 17th 2009 12:35PM]

Colour E paper display to dim, yeah of cause it is... light out = (light in multiplied by reflectance of the media) divided by about 2 - to account for the colour filters. Result: pitiful brightness!!!

eg. take a reflectivity of white = 40%, max light out put is therefore about 20%...

Bright, reflective, colour displays with good colour saturation = a long long way off!

[Gordon @ Apr 17th 2009 12:47PM]

White has a reflectivity of about 80%, by the way. Black is in the 5% ballpark. 40% would be a medium gray.

But you can just make up numbers if you want. That works, too.

[lapa @ Apr 18th 2009 5:35AM]

Gordon
No. The e-ink contrast is 1:8, so if black is 5%, then white is 40%, not 80%.

[Will @ Apr 18th 2009 7:20AM]

(Thanks Iapa)

Highest ranked?!!!

@ Gordon :

Oh really... do you work in the industry? I would guess not!

I don't have the exact reflectivity numbers (that's why I said - for example!)

However, currently commercially available E Ink has a reflectivity of about 40%. Back in 2006 Brigestone Quick Response Liquid Powder Display (QR-LPD) had a base white state reflectivity of 30% (read the paper if you want - Colour and Flexible Electronic Paper Display using QR-LPD® Technology, Ryo Sakurai et. al. Society of Information Display Digest 2006 page 1922 to 1925). I'm sure it has improved since then!

If they had a white state reflectivity of 80% they would be almost as good as photographic paper and would corner the e-paper market.

I propose to you, Gordon that YOU make the number up! I use the information at my disposal, and my spectrophotometer.

Also, for a bit more information a 5% black state (typical of electrophoretic display media) is not that great when it comes to colour... if you want to show Red, you'll find that a fairly large proportion of green and blue will also be present. This will screw with your colour gamut and reduce the colour saturation.

...but perhaps I'm making this all up?

As I said before, I predict that bright, good saturation, purely reflective displays are a long way off...

[Andrew88 @ Apr 17th 2009 12:39PM]

The cost? Come on we saw how much that other one was ( $1,300 ) seriously, this looks great but the price is waayyy too much and there will be no kindle refresh til next year.

[Kwikit @ Apr 17th 2009 1:24PM]

Hallelujah. I have been waiting for this for the past 15 years. It looks like crap, but it seems to do what I want... an e book with image display and sketch pad / note pad. Love it. Gimme. ;)

[Kwikit @ Apr 17th 2009 1:27PM]

Err... is this just a new take on a wired monitor? I mean, is the device connected to a PC or is the PC inside the device? I'll take one either way, but I was hoping for a device that had a PC in it, aka Slate PC.

[GMoney749 @ Apr 17th 2009 2:24PM]

I'm going to have to disagree with y'all here. I own a Kindle 2 and one of the things that makes it work is the size. It actually fits in the back pocket of my jeans and I can comfortably lay in bed on my back holding it above me reading the paper on it in the morning. Just like I can a book or a newspaper. I can also easily pack it into my laptop bag or backpack along with a ton of other stuff. Fits nicely into any of my wife's purses as well. And the big bezel around the edge that everyone complains about actually makes it easier to hold with your palm and thumb without getting your crummy mitts all over the screen.

What may seem novel often turns out impractical in actual use. Notice that it's mounted on a stand and not being held in the hand.

I'm not sure why everybody hates Kindle so much. It would be nice to have color and a touchscreen, but then the price gets out of hand.
If it had a fruit logo on it, everybody and their mother would own one, and buy books from the iBook/iApp store without a complaint.

[Billy Hick @ Apr 17th 2009 7:44PM]

Kindle, and every other reader, so far has been too small for my needs. A4 size screen is a minimum. PDF (and similar) non-text style documents are very common.

User manuals. Technical manuals. Business documents. Textbooks. The list goes on. I could clear my shelf and clear my desk at work (would need encryption support for some docs though in case of theft). Good for students. Good for business people. A larger screen would also be good for newsprint/magazines (thought these will probably still die anyways to new formats).

[yrag @ Apr 17th 2009 5:38PM]

"While it'll always be difficult to accept innovative technology from a company that makes our tires, there's just no faulting Bridgestone's work in the e-paper space . . ."

I think Bridgestone would be wise to either come out with either a new division or a spinoff with a BRAND new name for this technology so as to avoid all the jokes, innuendos and confusion both within the industry and with the public.

[nathan.wong @ Apr 17th 2009 6:16PM]

Yet another e-ink announcement of a product that won't reach market for a million years.

[Jon @ Apr 17th 2009 6:19PM]

wow! they should make that frame thinner and it'll be just like paper!

there must also be a standard size for these epapers... like A4, A3 and maybe A1 for newspapers... then that would be easier for people filling the contents.

[figmentPez @ Apr 19th 2009 4:17PM]

I'm looking forward to when I can subscribe to comic books on one of these for cheaper than I could buy print versions.