Most of the eReaders released in the past two decades have featured black and white E Ink displays. But this could be the year eBook readers with color displays become a thing.

Last month two companies announced plans to launch devices with color ePaper displays for the Chinese market. Now PocketBook says it’s bringing one to Europe later this year.

The upcoming PocketBook Color eReader will have a 6 inch E Ink Print Color display with a resolution of 300 pixels per inch and support for displaying 4096 colors.

While that’s just a fraction of the color depth you’d get from the LCD or AMOLED displays found on smartphones, laptops, or tablets, it’s a big step up from the 16 shades of gray available from most Kindle, Nook, and Kobo devices.

Color could come in handy for reading magazines, comics, textbooks, and picture books on an eReader.

E Ink’s Print Color technology has many of the benefits of the company’s grayscale displays:

  • Screens can display a static image indefinitely without drawing any power — electricity is only used when the screen refreshes.
  • You can view the screen using only ambient light — while smartphones and tablet screens can sometimes be harder to view outdoors, eReaders are often easier to use in direct sunlight. Side-lights on eReaders are optional features that make reading in the dark easier.

Some people also say that they feel E Ink displays cause less eye strain. Personally I like using a dedicated device to read eBooks, since I’m less likely to be distracted by incoming notifications while reading.

PocketBook says its color eReader will be available in the third quarter of 2020 and that specifications will be disclosed closer to that time.

German news site Heise says the PocketBook Color will sell for 200 Euros (about $220).

via The Digital Reader

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,543 other subscribers

3 replies on “PocketBook Color eReader heading to Europe this year”

  1. Seems nice, but I’d rather upgrade to something with a larger screen in grayscale.

  2. I think that is really neat. I have had my Kindle for years. It now has over 80 books on it. It is black and white. I think it would be cool to have one with color. I think the photos would be great in color instead of two tone. I hope it comes to the USA. I am checking it out.

Comments are closed.