Important Takeaways

• The Gallery 3 from E Ink is a next-generation color ePaper display for the eReader and eNote markets.
• The company asserts that new technology enables a complete color gamut at every pixel.
• This technology could make low-power display technology suitable for a variety of tablet devices.

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Soon, a new type of display that combines the speed and color of electronic paper with its easy-on-the-eyes qualities could revolutionize tablets.

The Gallery 3 from E Ink is the next iteration of color ePaper screens for the eReader and eNote markets. The company asserts that its novel technology enables each pixel to display the entire color gamut. The development could ultimately make the low-power display technology suitable for a wide range of tablet devices.

"Color eReaders enhance the reading and viewing experience in eBook stores," said Timothy O'Malley, assistant vice president of US business operations at E Ink, in an email interview with Lifewire. "Color eNotes, on the other hand, enable users to interact with the screen using a stylus in order to draw, take notes, or modify PDF files. The inclusion of color improves both the displayed content and the experience of annotating a document with red ink or drawing a picture in full color.

See It Colorful

E Ink displays, like those used in Amazon's Kindle, have a long battery life, reduced glare, and reduced flickering, making them an excellent choice for electronic reading, but they lack color. Unlike LCD displays, E Ink displays do not use a backlight; instead, ambient light from the surrounding environment is reflected from the display's surface back to your eyes.

"This characteristic reduces the visual fatigue that many LCD screen users experience. Additionally, electronic ink's minimal power consumption improves energy efficiency, an area in which LCD screens fall short, according to O'Malley.

Several iterations of color E Ink screens have been released for other types of devices, but the color gamut has been restricted until now. The new Gallery 3 platform achieves a full-color gamut with a four-particle ink system consisting of cyan, magenta, yellow, and white, which permits a full-color gamut at each pixel.

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E Ink screens also have a reduced refresh rate than other types of displays, which is a disadvantage. In Gallery 3, the black-and-white update time has been reduced to 350 milliseconds (ms), the fast color mode takes 500 ms, the standard color mode takes 750-1000 ms, and the best color is attained at 1500 ms. This represents a significant improvement over the first iteration of E Ink Gallery, which required two seconds to update in black and white and ten seconds to update in color.

Gallery 3 will have a resolution of 300 pixels per inch (ppi) as opposed to the previous 150ppi and an operational temperature of 0 to 50 degrees Celsius, which is comparable to black-and-white Readers.

The new display will support pen input in black and white, with the addition of several other colors and a refresh rate of 30 milliseconds. The E Ink Gallery 3 will feature the new ComfortGaze front light, which offers a blue-light secure viewing experience.

Options for Color E Ink

There are currently some color E Ink tablets on the market, although they utilize the company's previous-generation displays. Using E Ink's Kaleido Plus technology, for instance, the Boox Nova3 Color's 7.8-inch display is capable of displaying 4,096 colors.

You can view books or comics in full color and use the included stylus to doodle on the screen. Wacom, a manufacturer of drawing devices, powers the touch functionality for the stylus on the Boox Nova3.

If you intend to predominantly read on your tablet, the PocketBook InkPad Color with a 7.8-inch screen and E-Ink's previous generation color electronic paper technology is also available. This eReader features a black and white mode and a resolution of 1872 by 1404 pixels at 300 pixels per inch. In color mode, however, the InkPad's resolution is limited to 624 x 468 pixels at 100 PPI.

However, not everyone believes that color is essential for a tablet, particularly if it is used primarily for reading. Meera Watts, who uses a Kindle, stated that she is satisfied with monochrome displays.

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Watts stated in an email interview with Lifewire that he prefers to concentrate on words and lines rather than colors, as the latter are merely a distraction. And 99 percent of Kindle consumers are simply book enthusiasts.