Qualcomm working on color eBook reader panels with video support

SlashGear met with Qualcomm's mirasol team and learned some details about the company's plans for the eReader market. The company revealed they are working on 5.7" mirasol e-paper displays capable of full color and video playback, with minimal impact on battery life. Devices based on this screen are expected to be released by Qualcomm partners within a year or so.

mirasol borrows the same elements that allow a butterfly’s iridescent wings to shimmer, using 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.

Pictured below is a mockup of a color eReader with a non-functional 5.7" display panel. More details about the technology can be found at SlashGear, apparently these mirasol panels not only provide color but also improved battery life, while costing about the same as monochrome e-ink displays.