CES 2011: Color E-ink display vs. Mirasol Display

[bloodbp]

I don't know if its just the girl that's really small, but that e-ink reader looks huge

[aesteban]

damn mirasol looks good! But what's the real battery life it achieves, compared to grey e-ink readers, for example?

[Moonsabie]

i hate how bright and fake lcd ect are i am happy about this

[cadre38]

Misarol have bad colour reproduction imo

[thermonuclearweapon]

Qualcomm's Mirasol can playback video... Mirasol is superior to E-ink. Enough said. 

[outforsushi]

Mirasol looks better, but what about the energy requirement? We prefer eink kindle over ipad lcd even though it looks better because of the one month energy usage. Can Mirsasol do same/better?

[prettylolitadoll]

@outforsushi it doesn't use much energy.

[GotNextVideo]

@outforsushi I don't know exactly how it compares to e-ink as far as specific numbers, but Mirasol is supposedly super low energy. Even if it's half of e-ink's that still puts it miles away from LCD or OLED tablets and makes it a pretty compelling crossover device.

[Gegendieluege]

I'm surprised so few people seem to understand what E-INK is all about.

Here you can see a Mirasol display in sunlight ambient: search for "Qualcomm MEMS mirasol reflective light screen demonstration"

And here the E-Ink even in DIRECT sunlight: "Pixel Qi vs E Ink vs LCD in direct sunlight - Notion Ink Adam, Nook Color, Kindle 3"

[zybch]

Looks like the mirasol is basically just LCD (hence its ability to play video) but using the same battery capacity its going to fail big time compared ti an e-ink color display, even though its colors are more saturated.

[jcantlie]

@zybch It's not an LCD. It uses a different approach to reflective screen technology which enables it to play 200fps video and las six times longer on a charge than the current Kindle display, apparently.

[Ts6451]

@zybch : Apparently, the Mirasol display is an interferometric modulation display, it uses optical resonator cavities that can be switched electrically, it is a bistable display, and so only use power while updating the content and retain images without power. In that respect it is similar to E-ink or bistable LCDs.

The combination of no light emitting components, and only using power while updating probably means very little power is used by a Mirasol display module.

[GotNextVideo]

@Ts6451 At least when viewing static images. Obviously when watching videos and the like, that's going to go down, not only because of the screen, but because that's going to tax the processor and video hardware more too.

[Ts6451]

@GotNextVideo : That is true, but then, if we are to compare the power drain of two devices in actual use, where the purpose is to test the difference in display technology, we would want to use equal tests.

It would not be very representative if the Mirasol device had to show video while an E-Ink device that can not show video only have to show pages in a book and then conclude that E-Ink is better since the Mirasol device have used all its power after a relatively short time

[davidlt]

There is a problem with Mirasol technology, it's not on the market. I haven't seen any e-reader with this technology. We heard a lot of promised for a long time, but still no actual product.

[luisgentil]

@davidlt Totally agree. Besides Qualcomm's promise to release a 5.7" display, which is really small considering the trend of 10" larger displays, color e-ink might even catch up with this color quality by the time they actually decide to release a mirasol device. Too bad it wasn't released last year. It's a wonderful technology, but there might not even be a market for it anymore.

[feckingbillgates]

Mirasol is what? E-ink? LCD? Backlit or not? Useless video without this information.

[neojason]

I prefer color e-ink. I am sick of not able to read under sunlight.

I wish they have e-ink smart phone for outdoor use.

[karadason]

@neojason Mirasol lets you read in full sunlight.

[drxym]

Color e-ink is so screwed. It reminds me of super space invaders, trying to convince people it was in colour even though it was a colour filter over the top of b&w graphics. Mirasol looks so radically better and could fill the gap that exists between LCD and e-ink. Of course the proof is in the pudding. Mirasol tech looks like it's tearing all over the place and that could impede it being useful for dynamic content like video & web content.

[SilverStrings25]

Yay no eyestrain!

[MEHDIDZ16]

SHIT

[dgm2006]

Mirasol looks neat, but I haven’t seen any large ones yet. It seems the color e-ink shows more promise for larger devises. Easier to read.

[newharmony85]

I wish they would have used this in the nook color.

[reesemitchell]

hmm.. it all depends which has the best batory life/ refresh rate and what I am going to be using those bad boys for.

[puppyjoe69]

Mirasol has awesome refresh rate fof an EPD. Good for videos and flash. E-ink's Triton will go the way of the dodo.

[anon270]

There are two key points to note from this video. The E Ink display is being shown on a real e-Reader product while the Mirasol display is just a demo unit sequencing through a series of canned images.

Second is that anyone walking the show floor could touch and play with the Hanvon eReader with the E Ink display. As for the Mirasol display, the booth people had a heart attack anytime someone tried to touch it because it was so fragile.

[Staranger9]

@anon270 nope, not right. newgadgets.de has a video here on youtube showing the reporter holding the qualcomm mirasol thing in his hands, and you can see loads of fingerprints on the display. Can't be too fragile then, can it?

[RNAinterference]

Mirasol is clearly better in reaction speed and color

[saru7755]

lol, color e-ink looks like 10 years behid Mirasol displays!! Rock on Mirasol

[djsuperstar717]

Damn it!!

I just bought an Amazon Kindle DX, and they come out with something better

[asphixmx]

@djsuperstar717

No worries...color e-ink is just beginning, it's not as good as it sounds. You have the best ebook reader available today. Enjoy your new Kindle (I just ordered Kindle 3 one week ago)

[TheGhettoGourmet]

@asphixmx The best eReader available today would be the Nook.

[asphixmx]

@TheGhettoGourmet

Well... Kindle 3 is 100g lighter than Nook and more comfortable to hold. Besides Kindle 3 has FREE 3G internet everywere, 4GB internally (Nook has 2, expandable with SD). I prefer the Kindle keyboard rather than Nook's touch screen. Nook supports EPUB and uses Android... two big points since I love free software (I use Linux). Now I have the kindle and love this gadget. Maybe I will try the Nook soon :)

[bryoneill11]

@TheGhettoGourmet Kindle 3 hands down

[dtz1000]

@djsuperstar717 They still haven't released any of these yet, so you're alright.

[runbyway]

E-ink would be better, no pain in my eyes for longer reading... Lacks of color? it can be improve over time...

[roidroid]

@runbyway mirasol is not backlit, it operates with reflected natural light and is thus identical to e-ink in this way.

[JHowardF]

Mirasol blows the doors off of the "color" e-ink display. due to richer colors, with 30 fps video capability. E-ink simply can't compete with Mirasol.

[stbays]

I think I prefer the color e-ink display.

[spectrummag]

@stbays Really? Why? To me the color seems super washed-out. It's more like a hint of color.

[stbays]

@spectrummag

Currently I own the Kindle DX and it's really been such a pleasure to read my books on the e-ink screen. To me, it'd be a logical evolution of the tech to have color added.

The end result, I'm assuming, would be a easy to read screen with no glare that effects my right eye (lots of floaters in it for some odd reason).

In the end, I won't lie, I'd have to spend some hands on time to really be certain.

[fathernicolow]

@spectrummag The reason many people want to buy ebook readers is so they can read books. The ability to read books is directly proportional to the battery life of the e-reader. E-ink displays readers have battery lives measured in weeks whereas LCD displays are hours. It really just depends on what you're buying your e-reader for. If it's to be an tablet computer, why not just buy one of those.

[roidroid]

@fathernicolow there are no LCDs in this video.

one is e-ink

the other is MEMs based.

both technologies are quite similar in operation, and both use effectively zero power while displaying static images.

[aguaminte77]

@spectrummag yeah but it has really nice colors, the other videos I have seen showed it off better and it looks like it would be really good for manga, it sort of looks like newspaper colors.

[mandolinroad]

@spectrummag Right now, yes, but e-ink is superior for a lot of other reasons so in the long run, I want a color e-ink screen. But only once they started to get really good.

[Graylien89]

@spectrummag i too prefer colour e-ink, e-ink is like paper that is why

[knagode85]

@Graylien89 Mirasol is like paper to ... And it has much faster refresh rate ...

[jose88eric]

@spectrummag You Have to Research more about E INK , it is really, looking washed out, but ... aff... dont be Lazy and do Research

[ArsNova1377]

@spectrummag e-ink has other qualities. You could leave the page on for months without requiring any power. Only screen change operations use energy. Also the color will no doubt improve over time. I also find the matte display of e-ink waaay superior.

[dtz1000]

@stbays I think you work for e-ink.

[stbays]

@dtz1000

I wish. I'd kill for a job right now. Heck, I'd kill for a living.

[dtz1000]

@stbays If you've got telemarketing experience then send me your resume. I'm not joking. I'm having trouble filling vacancies.

[stbays]

@dtz1000

How I wish I did. Sadly I've never had the opportunity to do telemarketing. I'm also hard of hearing, which is probably why I've never attempted to get that kind of job.