New E-Readers

The leading electronic readers, Amazon’s ­Kindle and Sony’s Reader, have greatly increased interest in e-books but share a ­couple of limitations: they are rigid, and they display only in black and white.

Earlier this year, startup Plastic Logic introduced an e-reader that uses polymer electronics to create a flexible display that is the size of a standard sheet of paper. Coming next are two e-readers that will offer some benefits previously missing: one features a color display, and the other is a pocket-size gadget with a screen that rolls up.

Roll-up Reader

The Readius, made by Philips spinoff Polymer Vision of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, is the size of a cell phone and sports a rollable screen that stows away. The display uses the same black-and-white microcapsule display technology that’s used in the Kindle and the Sony Reader, but the capsules are applied to paper-thin flexible plastic and controlled by electronics made of polymer organic semiconductors. The Readius is expected to reach market later this year.

Courtesy of Polymer Vision

The FLEPia, made by Fujitsu, is the first color electronic reader to hit the market. Its screen technology is a stripped-down version of traditional liquid-crystal displays. Instead of using a backlight, it reflects ambient light from red, blue, and green crystals arranged in separate layers (in conventional LCDs, the three colors sit side by side). The crystals are arranged in a way that makes them transparent when not in use; electric currents change their orientation to make them reflect different colors. The reader has a touch screen that can be used with a stylus. The device was scheduled to go on sale in Japan in April.

Courtesy of Fujitsu

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