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Qualcomm axes its own Mirasol production, will only bring some devices to market itself
Talk about flying under the radar. While everyone's focus on Qualcomm's results last week centered on the mobile chip business going gangbusters, the company quietly revealed during its fiscal results call that it's backing out of producing Mirasol displays itself. CEO Paul Jacobs instead wants the company licensing out the butterfly-inspired screens to interested companies and will limit its direct commercialization to "certain" devices. The company isn't explaining why beyond the plan more closely matching "addressable opportunities," although the absence of any widescale launches (and unconfirmed but repeated talk of low yields at The Digital Reader) suggests that factory output never quite reached critical mass. We're hoping that someone picks up the color e-reader torch before too long and delivers more than just the reference model derivatives we've seen to date.
Qualcomm buys Pixtronix to make for better Mirasol displays?
Qualcomm's whipped out some flipping great wadges of cash in order to snap up Pixtronix for its PerfectLight MEMS-based display tech. It reportedly cost between $175 - $200 million and is expected to be merged into the company's super-low power Mirasol-based displays. Compared to the Kyobo eReader we played with at CES, PerfectLight has a wider viewing angle (170 degree), supports full speed video playback and much better RGB modulation. Depending on how successful the marriage is, it could spell the end of the final hurdles that have hampered the widespread adoption of the technology.
Mirasol 5.7-inch eReader hands-on, courtesy of Kyobo and Shanda Bambook
The 5.7-inch Mirasol display is hardly a fresh item these days, but the final product carrying such a unique panel is still young. In fact, it's only become available from Kyobo in South Korea fairly recently, but today we also learned that Chinese content provider Shanda will be offering the same hardware under the Bambook moniker towards the end of this month (obviously aiming for the Chinese New Year rush). The Android-powered device turned out to be chunkier than we expected, but it's probably a nice trade-off for the handy built-in front light and rubber pad on the back. As for performance, the display handled video playback pretty well, but you may spot one or two missed frames here and there due to the lower refresh rate. We'll let you be the judge -- check out our demo video (and a press release) after the break.
Kyobo eReader receives initial review, comes up short despite Mirasol display
If one of your e-reader's components is great but the rest of the device is lacking, where does that leave you? The first review of the Kyobo eReader has arrived and while its Qualcomm-provided Mirasol screen is lauded, that's about it for the good news. Despite the snazzy 5.7-inch touchscreen combined with 1Ghz SnapDragon CPU, WiFi and Android 2.3.5, the package falls apart due to its inability to load apps, subpar battery life and long load times. The reading app crashed frequently during testing, the device was unable to load DRM-protected ebooks even after authorizing with Adobe DE, the reader displays EPUB formats incorrectly, PDF view controls proved poor and YouTube video playback proved slow and stilted. Still, the page turn speed proved slightly faster than that of the Kindle Touch, so why harp on the negatives?
Kyobo eReader with Mirasol display gets video walkthrough, does things E Ink can't
Qualcomm's Mirasol display technology was supposedly inspired by butterfly wings, and its progress over the past year has been appropriately erratic. It was happening, then it wasn't, then it was again -- but only in the Korea-confined Kyobo e-Reader. Despite all the flitting about, however, some consistent promises have been made: a 'converged' screen that's like E Ink because it requires no backlight and lasts for "weeks" on a single charge, and like LCD in its ability to refresh quickly and handle color video. Thanks to Netbook News, we now have some eyes-on of the 5.7-inch, 1024 x 768 Kyobo in action, powered by a 1GHz single-core Snapdragon S2 and Android 2.3, and it's yours for the glimpsing right after the break. There's room for improvement, especially with color saturation, viewing angles and reflectiveness, but we're not quibbling -- this ₩349,000 ($310) device evidently lives up to its central claim.
Kyobo, Qualcomm make Mirasol color displays a reality, with the Kyobo eReader
Don't look now, but Mirasol has just arisen from the dead. Today, Korea's Kyobo Book Centre and Qualcomm jointly unveiled the world's first Mirasol-coated e-reader, just a few months after CEO Paul Jacobs heralded the demise of his company's color e-paper format. The device, known as the Kyobo eReader, sports a 5.7-inch, 1024 x 768 color display with 223ppi and touchscreen capabilities, runs Android 2.3 and is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 CPU. Kyobo says you'll be able to use the WiFi-enabled slate for "weeks" on a single charge, as long as you do so at decreased brightness, and for a total of 30 minutes per day. The eReader is available now for around $310, but only in South Korea. There's no indication that it'll be making its way to other markets anytime soon, but in the meantime, sate yourself with a portion of PR, after the break.
Samsung's Android-powered S-Pad tablet with 7-inch Super AMOLED in August?
Know what's hot like 2001? Tablet computers. Just like that a product category has been reborn and proven viable as a money making machine. Now the scramble is on to fill the void by companies big and small. Samsung, a big name in the UMPC debacle (that's the Q1 to the right) with its own confirmed tablet ambitions, looks prepped to deliver product this summer if Korean pub Etnews is to be believed. First up, the OS: Android. Samsung's so-called "S-Pad" (the tentative name spawned under its S-Project initiative) will display Google's smartphone OS on a supposed 7-inch Super AMOLED display with WiFi and 3G data connectivity -- the latter supplied by SK Telecom who will supposedly help distribute the device. It'll also bring an iPad-esque USB dock and content from Kyobo books (Korea's largest bookstore) and Samsung's own Samsung Apps application store. If true, we should expect to see Samsung's S-Pad launch in August. While no price has been given you can expect the cost to be exorbitant thanks to that extra large Super AMOLED display unless SK Telecom can push it down through ample subsidies. [Thanks, JH Yee]
Samsung's sliding, handwriting-recognizing SNE-60K e-reader hits South Korea
Well, here's one e-reader that won't have too much trouble standing out from the pack -- not only does Samsung's SNE-60K boast a 6-inch touchscreen with support for handwriting recognition, but it has a fairly unique slider design that hides some of the additional controls (no QWERTY keypad on this one, though). Otherwise, you can expect built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, MP3 support (no word on storage) and, judging from the icons on the screen, at least a few other basic applications. Still no indication of a release over here, but this one is now available at Kyobo Bookstores in South Korea for 429,000 won (or about $375).
