Freescale's i.MX508 Chip Will Make E-Ink Readers Way Cheaper and Turn Pages 4X Faster [Guts]

The silicon inside 90 percent of ereaders out there is made by Freescale, and their new chip, the i.MX508—based on a ARM Cortex A8 (sorta like the iPad!)—will make them cheaper, and page turns 4x faster.

The chip's a custom SoC that integrates the functions from multiple chips into one—specifically, the E-Ink hardware display controller—along with that Cortex A8, which gives the readers enough juice to turn pages in half a second, versus the two seconds that's typical now. As the first chip expressly designed for ereaders, it also strips out unnecessary features, so the net result for the ereader is that it's $30 cheaper a unit. Freescale wagers that with the cost savings, it could drive ereaders to under $150 by the end of the year. (Though that in part depends on how much the E-Ink displays themselves are going to continue to cost.)

An E-Ink reader that costs $150 would definitely look more attractive as a dedicated long-reading device against an iPad that does lots of things on top of reading—and has those fancy digital magazines—than the ones that more like $260 today. Then again, Amazon's working on a full-color multitouch Kindle with Wi-Fi, if that tells you anything about the future of E-Ink readers. In the meantime, I'm all for cheaper.
[Gizmodo via Freescale via Bloomberg via Digital Daily]

LG shows off newspaper-sized flexible e-ink display

Whoa, LG, why didn't you show us this flexible e-ink display at CES? For whatever reason, the Korean company decided to break the news now of this 19-inch-wide display, about the size of a regular newspaper page. At a thin 0.3mm, it's slightly thicker than a piece of paper (about 0.06mm), and its 4.5-ounce weight will feel a lot heftier than a newspaper.
LG accomplishes this trick by mounting the e-ink screen on metal foil instead of the usual glass or plastic we've seen in other e-ink displays. It's similar to the thicker Skiff display we saw at CES, which has a slightly flexible display mounted in a non-flexible reader. LG's big 19-inch prototype is obviously designed to capture our attention, but LG plans to actually mass produce smaller 11.5-inch flexible-ink displays by the end of June.
Too bad this breakthrough didn't happen a year earlier, because even though the current crop of computer tablets aren't flexible yet, they'll probably elbow e-paper technology aside. That is, until the e-ink is bright and colorful — but we'll have to wait a few more years for that Minority Report future to arrive.
[DVICE via Digitimes]

Barnes and Noble's E-Reader Like a Kindle/iPhone Chimera: First Photos and Details [Ebooks]

Barnes and Noble's late to e-books. But the company's new gadget—first seen here—should address the weaknesses of all other readers with multiple screens, each playing to tech strengths. A source from within reveals the first photos and details.
The Barnes and Nobles e-reader project, set to be revealed next week, has been under development for years, with several devices of varying size and capability in the pipeline. First rumors said it would have a color e-ink screen. Then people said it didn't. They were both kind of right: The layout will feature a black and white e-ink screen like the Kindle has—and a multitouch display like an iPhone underneath. Pow!
More details and photos of the Barnes and Noble E-Ink/LCD reader here:

What's interesting is that B&N will sell the books it also publishes (yes, remember, they are also a publisher and not just a store) at a deep discount compared to print editions. And the device will have some sort of access to all books scanned by the Google Books project; probably books that are out of print.
The name of the gadget, which I cannot reveal and may have changed anyhow, is freaking terrible. I hope they change it before it ships.
[Gizmodo]