TCL’s NXTPAPER reflective display technology is designed to offer a paper-like viewing experience since the screen is easily visible using ambient light. That means it also consumes less power than a typical LCD or OLED display and doesn’t emit blue light. But it’s also a color screen with a high refresh rate, making it a better choice than E Ink for devices that you might use to watch videos or play games.
After introducing NXTPAPER technology last fall, TCL is showing off the first tablet featuring the display during this week’s virtual Consumer Electronics Show.
The TCL NXTPAPER tablet is an Android tablet with an 8.88 inch, 1440 x 1080 pixel low-power reflective display that can brighten as needed based on ambient light conditions, but which can also reflect ambient light back to you to offer what TCL promised is an eye strain-free reading experience.
But there’s no backlight included at all, so in order to view the tablet at night or in a dark room, you’ll need to use a clip-on lamp and/or an alternate lighting source.
The NXTPAPER tablet has MediaTek MT8768e processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a microSD card reader, and a headphone jack. It’s powered by a 5,500 mAh battery and there’s optional support for 4G LTE.
According to Engadget, the tablet will be available in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific regions in April for €349 (~$425), but there’s no word on North American pricing or availability.
Put a stylus in the mix with good palm rejection and I’d be in line to grab one. I wonder how much of an improvement on battery life this kind of display grants.
For the impatient NXTPAPER appears in the video at 7:07 😉
I think my old palm m505 had a color “transflective” screen, or something like that. The colors were washed out, but that was 20 years ago. Viewable in the sunlight, it was pretty sweet. I’m excited to see where this goes.
You mean 7:40. Thanks! Can you imagine waiting 7 whole minuite just to see.
This is very, very cool.
I would love this kind of tablet, even if this first generation product is not there yet. However, I would be quite hesitant to buy an Android tablet. Give me something like this in a Chromebook tablet, and you have my money.