The latest version of color E Ink brings us closer to the perfect tablet

E Ink / The Verge

E Ink has a new version of color electronic paper that isn't as pretty as anOLED or the new tech sheen of stuff like mini - and microLED, but E Ink Gallery 3 is easy on the eyes. Gallery 3 isn't quite as fast as the E Ink found in your Kindle, but it has some absolutely stellar upgrades compared to previous versions of the Gallery technology and brings us a whole lot closer to a color E Ink screen that big companies like Amazon might actually risk putting in.

A few companies are making color E Ink tablets that are based on the other color technology, Kaleido. The PocketBook Color and Boox Nova3 Color arecooler in theory than in practice. E Ink's first attempt at color E Ink came in a gadget most people could buy. It uses a traditional black and white E Ink display with a color filter on top of it. I have used a few products based on that tech, and while it is nice to see comics and covers of books rendered in color, it has so far been a disappointing experience. The color of E Ink is black and white, but instead of paper-like white, it is muddy greenish gray. When the sun is streaming down on it, the colors pop. Resolution is not good. Black and white E Ink has a resolution of 300dpi, but Kaleido is 100 to 150dpi. The effect is unpleasant. Some of the issues that I had with the last version, Kaleido Plus, should be fixed with the new version, but muddy colors and a reliance on a backlight still appear to be part of the deal.

Gallery 3 appears to have fixed some of the biggest flaws of the company. It can produce over 50,000 colors at 300dpi. The press release claims that Gallery 3 will have a front litLED that will cut down on blue light emissions. The reason previous versions of the Gallery color tech maintained a similar gamut of colors at a similar resolution but have not been found in consumer devices is because of this. Previous versions were slow. The last version took 10 seconds to change full-color pages. When the mode is chosen to maximize quality over speed, the time has dropped to 1,500 milliseconds. The time drops to 350ms when speed is preferred over quality. When you use an iPad Mini to refresh 60 times a second, it's still slow, but it's a huge leap in speed from generation to generation.

The big leap in improvements generation over generation has me excited. If E Ink wants to compete with displays that refresh 60 times a second or more, it needs to improve its refresh rate dramatically. This kind of leap in performance, generation over generation, is a sign of a company really getting up to speed.

That means we could see actual color E Ink products competing. If page refresh tech can get fast enough, an E Ink tablet would be the ideal option, given how much easier E Ink is on the eyes, how much better it performs in sunlight, and how long it lasts on a charge.

E Ink is probably thinking that as well. Two demo videos were released by E Ink. One shows an E Ink displayunfurling like the dozens of rollable OLED demos we've seen and the other shows E Ink bending like a whole line of SAMSUNG phones.

Again, this tech isn't quite at the same fidelity as what you'll find in a folding phone, or even a rolling phone right now. It is a step in a very cool direction.

E Ink hasn't said which companies will be putting Gallery 3 tech in a phone or tablet, but companies like Boox and PocketBook have shown a willingness to play around with the next tech and explore what all an E Ink tablet can do besides let. I wouldn't be surprised if we see an announcement from one of those companies by the end of the year.