Mirasol color e-paper readers due from someone soon, they say

MIRASOL ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON FACEBOOK

This is just an alert to a Kindle Forum thread about what Qualcomm's Mirasol reps are reported to have said on their Facebook page recently in response to questions.

Wiiman writes that he's been watching the discussions there.

  As most Kindlers who watch the ereader news know now, Mirasol is an e-paper technology that has similarities to e-Ink except that it's in color (muted and subdued colors) and has a fast refresh rate.  Because of that much faster refresh rate, unlike the Kindle, Mirasol screens can handle video.

  Last I heard, they were thinking of a 5" display (and the 6" screen is already too small for most PDFs, for many of us).  Wimman reports at Kindle forum the recent Qualcomm responses:

' "Hi Wei, thanks for the question.  As a display component supplier, we'd like to see our consumer-facing partners ship mirasol enabled product before the end of the year.  We'll keep you posted."

  And also from mirasol's FB page "Hi Kevin, thanks for the question and for your frequent participation.  You are exactly right about product schedule control.  We, along with our customers, expect to see products later in 2011.  That's about as specific as we can get at this point (deferring to our customers)."

 It's a known fact that Amazon has had the mirasol tech in their labs for "testing" for some time now... '

  I'm not sure why he doesn't provide links to the described quotes at Facebook.  I imagine he'll update the thread when/if he reads anything that might be of interest re Amazon.

Also, see a recent blog article here about Mirasol and ereaders:

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Clues to new Kindle capabilities at end of year

StrategyEye has been looking at Amazon's Lab126 job ads and reports that Amazon may be planning to improve the Kindle web browser, as they posted an ad for an engineer to design new features on an "innovative embedded web browser."

The article reports fears that Kindle customers who are newspaper subscribers could just go to a newspaper website for free (specifically mentioning the NY Times) and then cancel their newspaper subscriptions.  It's not clear to me that StrategyEye knows that Amazon Users can already web to the NY Times online.

We can already read the NY Times online in its full-text format, which I have a link to in the downloadable file of mobile-device-optimized websites described and available at http://bit.ly/mobiweb.

We can also go to the regular website but that would be masochistic as that is very slow.  The text-optimized NY Times though is fully available.

Wireless use drains e-readers quite a bit, but a full-throttle web-browser would drain it very quickly.

StrategyEye reports that some believe the planned improvements are "part of a damage control exercise in prepararation for next month's release of the iPad."

  But in no way would a new version be ready by that time anyway, unless one is thinking about e-readers that are rushed to market and unreliable.
  There ARE obviously plans for a touchscreen to be ready by the end of the year and almost surely some kind of color screen with it, from all that I read (rumors are heavy about both Touchco which Amazon now owns and Mirasol, the latter dropping hints but also trying to entice all e-reader makers with their impressive technology although the colors are somewhat muted and there may be less contrast).
  EInk/PVI has stated that they could also have color ready by the end of the year also.
  So, I think any web browser improvements would be slated for a new Kindle near the end of the year.

  In the meantime it would be very good if they could improve the current model's web browsing so that it's faster and handles 'https' links. But, as StrategyEye worries, a faster browser will eat up more bandwidth, especially when people use a much faster browser much more and then 24/7 web browsing would likely be put on tiered pricing.

  StrategyEye writes that "A better browser would open up the internet to Kindle users and could put serious strain on the AT&T network."  The Kindle is already open to the Internet and is the only e-reader that gives (free) cellular wireless for this -- the other e-readers confine customers' web access to their own stores.

  And there they note the possibility that "Kindle customers could potentially cancel their subscriptions to publications such as the New York Times and access the paper's website for free."
  Certainly, with the iPad, the publishers should worry about that even more, as they could access the regular web pages of the NY Times as opposed to accessing, more practically and slowly, the mobile-unit optimized text pages of the NYT.

I've always been patient with the slow Kindle browser because it's free and I need that kind of access outside only for quick lookups.  I imagine that any decent speed capabilities will bring tiered-browsing plans, so I'm not over-excited about this. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Kindle to get Qualcomm Mirasol? - Update3

Qualcomm's Mirasol color technology to be put on the Kindle later this year?

UPDATE 1-3   - Good video - the others are done in poor light.  Maybe a color Kindle in the Fall 2010 if quoted statements are accurate.

See my earlier blog article with more information on the technology, and voicing a hope.

This is what FoxNews Science and Technology writer Clayton Morris writes today:

' Exclusive: Tech Behind Next-Gen Kindle Revealed?

I'm floored by Qualcomm's new display technology, Mirasol...

Imagine three solid weeks without recharging your device! The company boasts that its display uses a "low power, video capable, sunlight viewable, color display that will shake up the e-reader market and open new doors for publishers."

Sound like a hefty proposition? Perhaps not.

When pressed about who its partner might be in 2010, a company spokesman asked me, "You know that device that everyone reads books on?  Well, it's going to be a game changer on a device we all know."

Like tens of thousands of other people, I read ebooks on a Kindle. Is the Mirasol color screen coming to a Kindle near me? One can only hope.  What other eReader would someone assume I use? '

I hope it's true, and if it is, maybe Jeff Bezos may be surprised a partner would give this hint. Or maybe not -- it could be a "The Kindle won't be killed" thought. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Qualcomm's 2010-2011 color e-reader

Slash Gear's Chris Davies reports on Qualcomm's mirasol team, which is "now showing off a 5.7-inch display capable of full color and video playback, with minimal impact on battery life. They’ve set themselves the target of having color ebook readers with mirasol panels on the market by the latter part of 2010, and are working with OEMs now to achieve that."

This technology uses
'...tiny flexible membranes that react to electrical charges, overlaid onto a mirrored surface.  Light reflected back out through those membranes is refracted so that interfering wavelengths create colors, and because the membranes used are bistable, once they have been set to display a certain color they require virtually no power to maintain it, only if it needs to be changed.  The system also needs no color filters, no strong backlighting to be visible in direct sunlight and no polarizing lenses.

Amazing.

They point out that what we see is an overall, non-functioning mockup except that the display panel is an actual, working unit and that they are working with unnamed OEMs on a variety of e-reader devices.  The cost is on a par with the cost of current e-reader devices.  Battery life is said to be terrific and readability very good in normal light but best in bright lighting.  Qualcomm promises an "e-reader with color and video but no battery sacrifice."

More photos at the SlashGear site. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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Kindle 2's UK launch announcement said to be next week

Bookseller.com says today that "authoritative sources" report that Amazon will announce next week the arrival of the Kindle 2 to the UK, finally.

' One source told The Bookseller: "The key things they needed to tie up have been tied up.  The rumours I've heard are all saying next week."  The source confirmed that publishers had signed non disclosure agreements so would not be able to comment on the record.  But added: "I've heard it from multiple reliable sources.  I think they want to avoid the general kerfuffle of Frankfurt."

Qualcomm has been working on a wireless solution in the U.K. for the Kindle 2.

The article SEEMS to have an error though, in saying that Qualcomm provides the whispernet service for Amazon in the U.S. -- it's Sprint that does.  While the two companies have worked together on some projects and Sprint will support Qualcomm's "Brew" platform, they're separate companies and Sprint is the Whispernet provider in the U.S.  Qualcomm created the CDMA methodology by which Sprint operates and provides the service for Amazon here in the U.S.

After seeing how UK e-reader-interested people are on many Kindle forums and getting the Kindle the harder way (through numerous workarounds and not being able to use wireless with them but wanting the Kindle's other notable [study] features), the device will have an eager market. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
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