In bodily books, yellowing pages are normally an indication of age. However brand-new customers of Amazon’s Kindle Colorsofts, the tech large’s first coloration e-reader, are already noticing yellow hues showing on the bottoms of their shows.
Because the complaints started the trickle in, Amazon has reportedly suspended shipments and introduced that it’s working to repair the difficulty. (As of publication of this text, the US $280 Kindle had a mean 2.6 star ranking on Amazon.) It’s not but clear what’s inflicting the discoloration. However whereas the difficulty is new—and surprising—the know-how isn’t, says Jason Heikenfeld, an IEEE Senior Member and engineering professor on the College of Cincinnati. The Kindle Colorsoft, which turned out there on 30 October, makes use of “a really outdated method,” says Heikenfeld, who beforehand labored to develop the ultimate e-paper technology. “It was the primary method all people tried.”
Amazon’s e-reader makes use of reflective show know-how developed by E Ink, an organization that began within the Nineteen Nineties as an MIT Media Lab spin off earlier than creating its now-dominant digital paper shows. E Ink is utilized in Kindles, in addition to high e-readers from Kobo, reMarkable, Onyx, and extra. E Ink first launched Kaleido—the premise of the Colorsoft’s show—5 years in the past, although the highway to full-color e-paper started well before.
How E-Readers Work
Monochromatic Kindles work by making use of voltages to electrodes within the display that deliver black or white pigment to the highest of every pixel. These pixels then mirror ambient gentle, making a paper-like show. To create a full-color show, corporations like E Ink added an array of filters simply above the ink. This method didn’t work nicely at first as a result of the filters misplaced an excessive amount of gentle, making the shows darkish and low decision. However with a couple of changes, Kaleido was prepared for shopper merchandise in 2019. (Different approaches—like including coloured pigments to the ink—have been developed, however these include their very own drawbacks, together with the next price ticket.)
Given this design, it initially appeared to Heikenfeld that the difficulty would have stemmed from the software program, which determines the voltages utilized to every electrode. This aligned with reviews from some customers that the difficulty appeared after a software program replace.
However business analyst Ming-Chi Kuo advised in a post on X that the difficulty is because of the e-reader’s {hardware}. Amazon switched the optically clear adhesive (OCA) used within the Colorsoft to a fabric that is probably not so optically clear. In its announcement of the Colorsoft, the corporate boasted “customized formulated coatings” that may improve the colour show as one of many new e-reader’s improvements.
When it comes to resolving the difficulty, Kuo’s submit additionally acknowledged that “Whereas part suppliers have developed a number of {hardware} options, Amazon appears to be leaning towards a software-based repair.” Heikenfeld isn’t certain how a software program repair would work, aside from blacking out the underside of the display.
Amazon didn’t reply to IEEE Spectrum’s request for remark. In an e mail to IEEE Spectrum, E Ink acknowledged, “Whereas we can not touch upon any particular person companion or product, we’re dedicated to supporting our companions in understanding and addressing any points that come up.”
The Way forward for E-Readers
It took a very long time for coloration Kindles to reach, and the way forward for reflective e-reader shows isn’t probably to enhance a lot, in response to Heikenfeld. “I used to work lots on this discipline, and it simply actually slowed down sooner or later, as a result of it’s a troublesome nut to crack,” Heikenfeld says.
There are inherent limitations and inefficiencies to working with filter-based coloration shows that depend on ambient gentle, and there’s no Moore’s Law for these shows. As an alternative, their enchancment is asymptotic—and we could already be near the restrict. In the meantime, shows that emit gentle, like LCD and OLED, proceed to enhance. “An iPad does a reasonably rattling good job with battery life now,” says Heikenfeld.
On the similar time, he believes there’ll at all times be a spot for reflective shows, which stay a extra pure expertise for our eyes. “We reside in a world of reflective coloration,” Heikenfeld says.
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