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Readius: The Rolling Display e-Reader that Almost Didn’t Happen

The "Readius eReader", the first pocket-size e-reader with a rollable e-paper display larger than the device itself, was invented by Polymer Vision, a spin-off of an electronics company that wanted state-of-the-art technology to be able to reach the marketplace more quickly. A financial mess led the fledgling company to bankruptcy in July 2009, but its knight in shining armor was an Asian technology firm that has since shepherded the project to safety. It will make its debut in 2010.

Author: Marco Gustafsson
Date: Jan 5, 2010 - 4:06:45 PM

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The "Readius eReader", the first pocket-size e-reader with a rollable e-paper display larger than the device itself, was invented by Polymer Vision, a spin-off of an electronics company that wanted state-of-the-art technology to be able to reach the marketplace more quickly. A financial mess led the fledgling company to bankruptcy in July 2009, but its knight in shining armor was an Asian technology firm that has since shepherded the project to safety. It will make its debut in 2010.

Polymer Vision was hatched in 2003 in an infant-technology incubator developed by Royal Philips Electronics NV and eventually spun off. Four years later, Technology Capital SA of Luxemburg purchased the majority of the stock previously help by Philips and turned Polymer Vision loose to go forward and do great things.

As a result, Polymer Vision is the proud papa of the Readius, an e-reader the size of a credit card whose prototype made its debut in late 2006 at the IFA consumer electronics exhibition in Berlin. Polymer Vision’s Dutch executive team had high hopes for the mobile device with a rollable display that was larger than the device itself. But the firm became mired in financial difficulties by July 2009, at which time it declared bankruptcy, putting the brainchild with so much promise in limbo.

However, Asian technology firm Wistron - itself a spin-off of Acer - came to the rescue in late 2009 and resuscitated Polymer Vision's baby. Wistron has confirmed that in 2010 it will release a 5-inch device based on Polymer Vision technology that features a fold-out display similar to the prototype device they took to the IFA exhibition in 2006. With the current contract of sale, PV will be able to keep approximately 80% of its stuff. The Polymer Vision team makes up part of the Wistron's Mobile Business Group.

The Readius uses E Ink Corp.’s Vizplex ink-imaging film called "EPD" - electronic paper display, or, alternately, electrophoretic display - which was originally developed at MIT in the 1990s. EPD has higher resolution than LCD and allows pages to appear very similar to newspaper. It also eliminates the poor visibility and eyestrain caused by glare from the sun, and can be read from almost any angle, just like paper. As it was described in the article "E-Readers: their Past, Present and Future", e-inc consists of a microencapsulated suspension in a clear medium containing particles which are white one half and black the other, the white being positively charged, and the black with a negative charge (Digital Book Readers). When planning production of the foldable screens, developed by Stanford University, PV had invested $4.9m in manufacturing facilities.

Touted by Wistron as the world’s "first pocket eReader," the new Readius is not only smaller but weighs less than other e-readers, making it a no-brainer to use on the go without a bag or briefcase. Although the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader and some other e-readers also use EPD, known casually as e-paper, the Readius is the only pocket-size version. Rather than having a correspondingly smaller screen, the Readius offers a unique expandable display.

Its rolling display technology was 15 years in the making. The challenge to its makers was its extra mechanical requirements: While the device needed to be thin, lightweight and small enough to fit in the back pocket of jeans, the flexible display had to be unbreakable and capable of rolling and unrolling repeatedly for a period of years while offering increased battery life and the readability of the larger e-readers on the market. Polymer Vision is confident it has met its goals with the new 2010 Readius.

The Readius applies its mobile device talents mainly to eBooks, eNews, emails (POP3 and IMAP supported) and RSS feeds (text and audio). Here are a few of the device’s most attractive features:

- 3.5G data connection

- Global wireless connectivity

- GSM, GPRS, EDGE - tri-band

- UMTS, HSDPA - dual-band

- 5-inch diagonal display with 16 grayscales (Kindle’s smallest, 6-inch)

- Weight 4 ounces (compare to Kindle’s smallest, 10.2 ounces)

- Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity for accessories

- Dimensions 4.5" by 2.2" (Kindle’s smallest, 8" by 5.3")

- Battery life up to 30 hours

- USB port-rechargeable battery

- Up to 8GB storage

- Audio player for MP3, AAC, WMA

As of late November 2009, Polymer Vision had not established a price point, so users eager to purchase an e-reader must either wait or make an alternate choice. Because the Sony Reader is being pre-sold since the company cannot promise immediate shipping at this time, the Kindle and other e-readers that are readily available may stand to benefit from strong e-reader demand over the next few months.

Marco Gustafsson is author of articles on eBook Readers, e-inc technology and electronic books. Find more information here on http://www.digital-book-readers.com/

View all articles by Marco Gustafsson

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