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By David Rothman

image E Ink display technology is dear to many e-book-lovers, but it’s far from flawless. Contrast between the text and background, for example, isn’t good enough yet for me. Low-cost color hasn’t arrived, either. Plus, you can’t do full-motion video—or even browse the Web without a snailish slowness from the display.

But how about electrowetting technology? Might it be a practical substitute for E Ink in many places and maybe even let Amazon do a mix of an e-reader and a decent video player, something that just might convince Jeff Bezos to make an enticing offer to NetFlix?

At least three companies are working on the technology: Liquavista, ITRI (actually a Taiwanese Institute),  PVI and ADT, and I’d urge you to check out the Liquavista video which I’ve picked up the two images.

imageI know. Liquavista is a name mentioned here earlier, eliciting yawns from us and others. But  maybe the company’s time has finally come.

Liquavista will be among the 63 e-book-related companies at CES in Las Vegas (Jan. 7-10). Are we in for some surprises, whether in the contrast, full motion or color departments? The Liquavista pitch for CES is about a “revolutionary new display aimed at eReaders and mobile devices.” The company claims that “our technology vastly improves usability, content compatibility and cost. Giving outstanding brightness in natural light with bold contrast, coupled to an intrinsic video capability, with legibility & functional freedom.” Just hype or is something really there? How much would such displays cost? And how thrifty with batteries would they be?

Meanwhile, within the Liquavista site, check out three intriguing pages mentioning e-books:

  • LiquavistaBright. Monochrome with up to 64 grayscales, “The devices using the LiquavistaBright display can combine the durable eBook experience, which can be found in the current eReaders, with a new durable multimedia experience, which is according to recent marketing research one of the most requested benefits of future eReaders.” Supposedly some fancy power management techniques are used. How effective?
  • LiquavistaColor. Includes LiquavistaBright’s features. “Very attractive solution for the large sunlight readable handheld devices specified for heterogeneous and high-rate stream of contents: not only reading books or feeds or newspapers but also browsing photos and clips, and enjoying social networking.”
  • Liquavista Vivid. Uses a backlight in its color mode or maybe its best color mode. “When the backlight is operated, the display is capable of showing vivid colors without compromising the battery’s life thanks to the high efficiency of the electrowetting optical switch and to the power management algorithms.”

According to the Web site, Liquavista was “founded in 2006 as a spin-out from the world famous Philips Research Labs in Eindhoven. The company is backed by Amadeus Capital, GIMV and Prime Technology Ventures. It is headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

 
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