I was disappointed earlier this month when an eBook reader landed on my desk to be reviewed. Every time I turned the page, so to speak, there was a second or two’s lag. It was irritating, and it led to me ranting about the need for a new screen technology that can refresh instantly, if eBook readers are ever to take off.

This morning I saw a video that made me re-think all that. The new AM 300 developer’s kit from E Ink can handle animation pretty smoothly, and instant page turns, too. It uses the same technology as previous versions – little balls, black on one side and white on the other, which physically rotate to create areas of colour – but handles it all a lot faster.

This is down to the chips and firmware that control it. The importance of this is often underestimated; rival television manufacturers may use the same panel from the same factory, but the image quality of a TV is largely down to software. Even the performance of Formula One cars is largely down to their engine management and braking control software.

I’m waiting eagerly for the first reader to use the new kit. I just hope that the next generation of models won’t mess up all of this hard work by putting the buttons where I can’t reach them.

A video has gone up of Esquire’s lovely new E Ink cover, which you can see here. The promise of these things is immense. Imagine a newspaper with content that can be updated over the course of the day, so that the lead changes, stories are amended and breaking news is delivered to your morning newspaper.

Instead of buying a static newspaper for 60p, you buy 12 hours worth of news for £2. Then you go out and do it again tomorrow. It’s quite a cool idea, especially for folk like my dad, who buy their paper in the morning, read it at lunch and then probably won’t look at the news again until they get home from work and flick ITV on.

(more…)