subject: Vivitek Shows Off 8.2-inch Ereader, 13-inch Tablet: First With Qr-lpd Color Epaper Screens [print this page] At CES this week, Vivitek demonstrated both an 8.2-inch eReader and a 13-inch tablet, among the first devices ever to use QR-LPD color ePaper screens. According to Delta Electronics, the company that manufactured the devices, the eReader will become the first mass-produced product with a QR-LPD screen when it ships in China later this year.
What is QR-LPD screen technology and why should you care? At present, the eReader market is dominated by two screen technologies: the grayscale eInk displays found on the Kindle and a few others and the color LCD panels youll see on devices like the Nook Color. Grayscale eInk displays have extremely sharp text and extremely long battery life, because they only send power to the screen when changing pages, but they are grayscale right now and their refresh rates are a bit slow.
LCD displays are the standard for phones, tablets, and color eReaders, because they provide beautiful color images and fast refresh rates, though they require a constant stream of refreshes that suck power and their text just isnt as sharp as eInk. Quick Response Liquid Powder Display (QR-LPD) is another technology thats similar to eInk because it presents a persistent image that only refreshes when modified.
Aside from offering color, which eInk will also do soon, a Vivitek spokesperson at the booth told us that QR-LPD will allow for faster refreshes than eInk and will work better in cold weather. According to a CrunchGear article from last spring, QR-LPD technology is also thinner and lighter than current eInk implementations, allowing for bendable screens and thinner devices. However, the two devices we saw at the Vivitek booth were not any thinner than a Kindle. Lets have a look at the devices.
Vivitek 8.2-inch eReader
The 8.2-inch eReader (pictured at top of this post), has 960 x 768 screen, 4GB flash memory, Wi-Fi / 3G/2G, a headphone jack, and a microSD card slot. More importantly it takes pen input. There are no plans to bring it to other countries, besides China. Check out the video below for more details and a quick tour of the device.
