Sony Electronics (San Diego, CA) and Borders (Ann Arbor, MI) bookstores have agreed to sell the Sony Reader-a reading device for e-books and text documents-through about 200 Borders stores nationwide as well as online at www.sonystyle.com. Initially launched in Japan in slightly different form as the Librie, the Sony Reader is the first consumer application to use an electronic-paper display based on electronic ink developed by E Ink (Cambridge, MA). The core mechanism relies on the movement of charged black and white electrophoretic particles suspended in fluid within microcapsules. The particles respond to an applied pixelated electric field; a layer of millions of these capsules creates the appearance of printed text (see www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/91578).
Electronic paper displays offer much greater resolution than conventional portable devices (approximately 170 pixels per inch), and are viewable in bright sunlight or a dimly lit room, just like newspaper. As small as a paperback novel and with adjustable font size, the Sony Reader is also power efficient: users can turn 7500 pages before recharging the battery. Contact Darren Bischoff at [email protected].