SED: the screen showcased at CEBIT in 2006

You might remember back in 2005 the SED (Surface conduction Electron-emitter Display) technology. Canon showed at CEBIT the first display based on that technology and there was a general consensus that such technology would have replaced the LCD one by the end of the decade, given the better quality of the images.

That didn’t happen because the LCD was so successful on the market that companies kept investing in its bettering that it reached the quality level promised by SED. In 2010 Canon tanked the SED.

Indeed, that was an example of the power of the market (that is all of us) in steering technology evolution. The pull of the market forced manufacturers to increase the quality of LCDs, the huge volumes led to even better manufacturing and economies of scale and made it harder for SED to carve a dent in the market.

Now it seems it is the time of Mirasol. Mirasol is a technology perfected by Qualcom (they bought it from Mirasol….) that has the promise to commission eInk. Like eInk it has very low power consumption but unlike eInk it can display colors.

Mirasol technology at work

Hence, many were considering Mirasol as the winner. A few products based on this technology have appeared on the market early this year from manufacturers in China. But they have not been met with interest by the market.

The fact is that the color eReader (that is the product being targeted by Mirasol technology) is on a collision route with the iPads and the like. It surely needs much less power and therefore its battery lasts longer but at the same time the technology is not able to display movies. This is proving to be the pitfall.

If I am looking to use it for reading books, well I can be contented with a black and white screen , like the Kindle. If on the other hand I am looking at the new wave of eBooks with multimedia content color is important, but so is the capability to run video clips.

Qualcom has announced at the end of July that they are discontinuing the production of Mirasol based screen because they have to been able to improve the production process significantly (read: it is still very difficult to run video clips on this technology).

The strong interest of the market (of us) in iPads and the likes and in using them to watch YouTube and other multimedia content is putting pressure on this kind of devices manufacturers, creates economies of scale that lead to improving performances and lowering the production cost. And this is making it harder for technologies like Mirasol to grab a share of the market.

Two years ago I posted a news on Mirasol, a novel screen based on nanotechnology that would have worked like an eInk screen (reflecting light) but showing colors and said it was expected for early 2012. And here it is!

Four eReader on sale in Asia using Mirasol technology

The Mirasol mimics the iridescent butterfly wings to reflect sunlight and is now sold in Asia on several tablets tablets (shown in the picture). The screen is a 5.3 inch and has 800*480 pixel (that correspond to a density of 233 pixels per inch, less than a Retina display but more than the iPad2 display).

Using reflected light the power consumption is very low, compares to an eInk, hence it is ideal for an eBook Reader. You can take it to the beach and it will be at its best.

This technology is better than the alternative provided by E-Ink Triton display that overlaps colored filters on an eInk screen (available on the Jetbook Color eReader) but still its colors remains washed out when you compare the screen to ink on paper!

A good step forward anyhow, and it is just a beginning. In a few years we may start seeing it to replace the good old paper!

While waiting for these screens to be sold ouside of Asia as well take a look at how they look like in the clip below.

eInk screen with a color twist! By Qualcomm

There have been several attempt to create a technology that uses as little power as eInk screens and can display colors.

Mirasol is a technology that moves the eInk into a color space. It is a technology developed few years ago by Iridigm, a start up that was bought by Qualcomm in 2004. But moving from a lab technology to a product ready for the market takes quite a lot of time (and money to perfect the production processes).

The great thing about eInk, and the reason why it has been adopted by so many ebook readers is that it leverages the ambient light rather then relying on an internal light source. Mirasol does the same, although using a completely different approach, although not a new one since it has been used by over 60 million years by butterfly to have those wonderful colored wings.

Their wings are covered by tiny scales each of them made up by molecules that trap the incoming light and, depending on their structure, reflect a certain wavelength, that is a certain color.

Mirasol uses a similar trick. a glass pane covers a surface having micro pits, tens of microns across and hundreds of nanometer deep. Applying a voltage changes the reflectivity basically reflecting the incoming light or trapping it (black). Their shape determines the reflected wavelength and hence the color.

The progress in manufacturing technology has allowed researchers at Qualcomm to create a 7″ screen that under a bright light shines with color. The switching of each pit is very fast and therefore the screen can display moving images as well (something that is not possible with eInk screens). The prototype that has been shown to Technology Review has a back light making it possible to see the screen also when the ambient light is not sufficient (but in that case the energy required grows dramatically).

Good news then: early next year we can have in our hands an eReader with this screen, enjoy a long lasting batteries and have color!  It is just another step towards a world where every surface is a screen. And that will change our perception of the world.