Originally published February 6 2006
Sony E-book eliminates traditional glare and flicker
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Sony Reader is a book-size device that stores hundreds of books and displays them one page at a time. The screen uses electronic-ink technology to halt glare. Sony plans to ship in April with prices of $299 and $399.
Sony today issued the latest electronic challenge to the printed page.
The Sony Reader, introduced here at the Consumer Electronics Show, is a book-size device that can store hundreds of volumes and display them, one page at a time, on a screen that uses innovative electronic-ink technology to eliminate the glare and flicker that make prolonged reading on traditional computer and handheld displays so uncomfortable.
Electronic books are not new, but they've never caught on big, at least partly because of the aforementioned display problems.
Battery life has also been an issue: A fair amount of juice is necessary to keep a conventional LCD illuminated--and up to now, most devices that support electronic books have had LCD screens.
Sony ReaderE Ink's electronic ink consists primarily of millions of tiny microcapsules, each of which contains positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles suspended in a transparent liquid.
The ink is printed on plastic film attached to electronic circuitry; depending on what type of charge is applied, the white or black particles move to the surface of the capsule, thus forming images.
Sony says the Reader's E Ink displays can produce four scales of grey at a resolution of about 170 pixels per inch--more than twice that of most conventional displays, and roughly on a par with the resolution of newsprint.
Unlike conventional backlit displays, which go dark when they don't draw power, the E Ink screen needs power only to change the image by moving the white and black particles.
Sony says the Reader's rechargeable built-in lithium ion battery will power some 7500 page turns between charges; you can recharge via a conventional AC adapter or a USB cable, both included.
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