PocketBook has announced plans to release an 8 inch eReader with a front-lit color E Ink display. It has a 600 x 800 pixel screen that can display 4096 colors, and it’s due out in June, 2013.

PocketBook color eReader

Color E Ink displays work a lot like grayscale E Ink screens. The screen is illuminated from ambient light instead of a backlight, which saves power and helps eReader manufacturers to build devices with long battery life.

But color E Ink screens don’t typically look very good when compared with LCD, AMOLED, or other displays. Colors tend to be washed out and screen refresh rates are low.

It’s possible that by using side-lighting, much like the new NOOK with GlowLight or Kindle Paperwhite, PocketBook could literally cast a new light on color E Ink. With a bright light source nearby, it should be much easier to see the colors on the screen.

But with full color Android and iOS tablets offering 10 hours of more of battery life and selling for prices as low as $200, it’s kind of hard to see a future for color E Ink devices like the upcoming PocketBook color eReader.

I suppose if PocketBook can keep the price low enough, there might be some demand for a device with longer battery life than a traditional tablet. Personally I still prefer reading books on a black and white Kindle to reading them on a tablet — because I’m easily distracted by notifications of incoming email and chat messages.

via The Digital Reader

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6 replies on “PocketBook to launch front-lit color E Ink eReader in 2013”

  1. People who think that tablets will take away sales of dedicated ebook readers don’t understand why people get ebook readers. It is for reading! When these ebook readers grow up (lighter, thinner, color, higher resolution) they will actually take on the tablets, whose only advantage will be faster frame rates for video and games. There is a very bright and colorful future for ereaders.

  2. e-Ink screens are so much better on the eyes than LCDs. As somebody who has perennially sore eyes from almost two decades of gaming, this is one technology I am eagerly waiting to mature.

  3. The idea behind E Ink is not just to save power, but to be readable outside, and to be nice for the eyes. My Kindle 3G is orders of magnitude better at reading (inside or out in the sun) than any lcd tablet out there.

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