E Ink’s New Electronic Paper Screens Come With Built-in Touchscreens, Which Could Make eReaders Cheaper

It ’s rare to find an ebook reader now that does n’t use a touch screen to make navigating its substance abuser interface — or just flip the pages of a digital account book — much promiscuous . So , given the need for that functionality , today E Ink annunciate a new electronic - ink screenfeaturing a touch sensor built right inthat should improve picture lineament and aid make these devices more affordable .

Even the loud , accounting entry - level version of the Amazon Kindle includes a touchscreen , but adding that functionality take a touch - sensitive control board to be laminate on top of the ePaper display supplied by E Ink . That extra step not only adds more price to the manufacture process , the added touch sensor also adds another level for light to pass through , which can reduce the dividing line of the E Ink screen — one of the showing engineering science ’s braggy marketing point .

Moving forward , companies integrating E Ink ’s screens into their devices can opt for the company ’s new On - Cell Touch ePaper module which include a touch - tender layer pre - integrated between the electronic ink film and the glowing illuminated venire on top . The all - in - one answer should help reduce the cost of constituent in a touchscreen Es - reader or atomic number 99 - note and simplify manufacturing . atomic number 99 Ink also promise that its unified touchscreen sensor will meliorate the contrast ratio of its Carta black and white-hot ePaper screens by up to 30 % , while boosting the contrast ratio of its color Kaleido Plus ePaper screens by up to 40 % , arguably a much - postulate boost for that technology .

Image: E Ink

The raw On - cadre Touch ePaper module could be particularly useful for east - note devices like thereMarkable 2 tablet , whose biggest drawback is the deficiency of an well-lighted screen gain it hard to employ as an eastward - reader too . Its creators have opted to skip the illumination panel to make the E Ink sieve as thin as potential so that the on - covert stylus experience remains as unaired to the pen - on - newspaper experience as potential . With all of these layers , including trace and a front visible radiation , mix into the E Ink screen door from the get - go , there ’s the possibility that next reading of the noteworthy tablet could offer the same excellent digital note of hand - taking experience plus a glowing concealment for when that middle of the night intake hits .

Update , 12:29 p.m. EST / EDT : We reached out to E Ink for clarifications on the accurate functionality of its novel On - mobile phone Touch ePaper module and the troupe has clarified that at launch it will in the first place sustain finger touches , for gimmick such as ebook readers . Support for stylus - driven interactions , including note - pickings , is possible , but it would ask the addition of a pen comment layer to the mental faculty .

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Image: E Ink