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E Ink unveils new generation of colour displays

Kaleido 4 aims to improve colours and contrast, but independent real-world measurements are still lacking.

On 15 October, E Ink announced Kaleido 4, a new generation of colour displays based on electronic paper. The manufacturer promises a wider colour gamut and higher contrast; according to the announcement, Hanvon's M10C II is the first device to feature the technology.

The announcement concerns a display platform that manufacturers can incorporate into their devices. The news therefore does not mean that existing e-readers will receive the same improvements through a software update. E Ink describes changes to the display's structure and how it is driven. What matters most to readers is how noticeable these changes will be in a complete device, and when such a device will actually become available.

According to E Ink, colour volume has doubled compared with the previous generation. The company also cites 15 per cent greater white reflectance and 50 per cent higher contrast. These are comparisons made by the manufacturer, not results from an independent real-world test. Moreover, the percentages describe different properties: they cannot be added together into a single overall measure of a better image.

The term colour volume requires some explanation. A wider colour gamut does not automatically mean that a display shows twice as many distinct colours, let alone that every image looks twice as good. The announcement concerns the colour space that the technology can reproduce. How text, illustrations and coloured areas look in practice must be assessed in actual devices.

The manufacturer also mentions video playback at up to eighteen frames per second. That is a stated upper limit, not a guarantee for every application or setting. The same applies to the general promise of smoother images. A technical capability of the panel does not provide a complete description of the experience of using a reading device, in which software, display driving and the chosen image settings also play a role.

Notebookcheck reported on the launch on Friday and names Hanvon's M10C II as the first product with the new display. The publication also confirms that the announcement took place on Thursday. This makes the development current news, but that reporting does not yet provide an independent measurement of the stated improvements. A news report on product specifications is different from a test comparing a new display with an existing one under the same conditions.

The development is particularly relevant to content in which colour carries meaning: diagrams, marked-up documents and illustrated pages. Here, saturation matters, as does the distinction between light and dark elements. That explains why the announcement addresses colour, white reproduction and contrast separately. Whether the combination offers sufficient benefit to a particular reader cannot be inferred from a single percentage.

The material checked does not provide sufficient clarity on availability in the Netherlands, a Dutch retail price or performance during prolonged use. Nor is any specific saving in power consumption linked to the launch here. What is established is that E Ink has presented a new generation and identified a first device. For now, the broader claims about image quality remain the supplier's expectations, until independent tests show how they translate into actual use.

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