E Ink EBook Reader – It’s What Makes a Portable EBook Reader Tick

So what is an e Ink eBook reader, and more to the point how does this cutting edge piece of technology make a portable eBook book readable even in bright sunlight?

Well for starters, let me just lay out the facts correctly, eInk supplies the technology involved in electronic paper (epaper) displays – they are in fact leading suppliers. The technology behind eInk has led to screens which are thinner, lighter, higher in contrast that are able to be viewed at any angle. They are also less demanding on their power supply than either LCD, Plasma or TFT displays.

With those characteristics, you can see how the technology has helped eBook readers become truly portable. But this is only half the story as (if you are a laptop user you will know where I’m coming from on this) the number one problem with using such devices out doors is sunlight, well actually any bright natural light, makes it almost impossible to see any on screen image. Not much good really then for out door use.

Well the good news is that the majority of the new portable eBook reader models utilize e ink technology which displays pictures and text on electronic paper or epaper as it is better known. I will endeavor to explain in layman terms this technology so you can better understand how it actually works.

There are more than one kind of e-paper in use today. The paper is constructed from a gossamer coating of material that is synthetic and also conductive. In this layer are capsules containing oil that has black and white pigment particles floating around in it. When these pigments are put under an electrical load the capsules react by turning either white or black similar to traditional ink dots on paper. Conversely, by altering this load grey scales can be produced which enable the reproduction of paper, text, graphics and images on a display.

Once displayed, and if the load on these capsules does not alter, then the images or text displayed on screen will stay the same even when the device is switched off. This enables users of many of the new eBook readers, such as the Kindle, Bebook or Sony prs600, to read many hundreds of pages, even thousands, on a single charge.

This naturally leads to another characteristic of e-paper. To read the screen, e ink technology has removed the need for a back light, and much like with any traditional paper, natural or artificial light is needed to read. This also puts less of a strain on the device’s battery and, more importantly, far less stress on the readers eyesight than say reading off a computer monitor or an LCD television.

In addition to those benefits I have just mentioned above, probably the most important benefit of the e ink eBook reader and the one that changed these devices from just reading ebooks into a truly portable eBook reader, as e-paper is generated through the reflection of light, be that natural or artificial, with the e ink eBook reader you can use it in full sunlight and still the screen remains perfectly readable.

So if you are looking for a portable eBook reader you need to make certain it is one of the many that uses e paper. Better still, choose an e ink eBook reader from the leaders in e paper technology.