Trials completed with color e-reader

An e-reader that seems to have taken a back seat but has been floating around for a while is Fujitsu's FLEPia, which the company claim was the first color e-reader to be developed in the world.

 

Details were reported by the Nikkei Electronic's Tech-on publication which stated that trials were undertaken earlier this month at Termina Kinshicho Fujiya Restaurant in Tokyo.

 

The test, which is being conducted as a joint venture between SoftBank Telecom and Mainichi Newspapers, hopes to establish whether the electronic paper module can be accepted as a terminal for reading newspapers, weather reports, train timetables and whether the service can promote sales and boost customer satisfaction. The restaurant will look at selling advertising space on the reader with a view that it will pay for itself. The system uses the "BB Mobile Point" wireless LAN service to deliver the content being displayed.

 

Like other e-readers on the market that use electronic paper, power is only used when the page is turned - not when the text or image is sitting static, which means the battery can run for 50 hours (when 3,000 pages are displayed every 1 minute on 8 color display). The device can sit at a table without any wires while the restaurant is open and be charged during the night when not in use once the battery has drained.

 

These are not the first trials that Fujitsu Frontech has been involved in with the FLEPia - they actually released a limited number a couple of years ago for field trials by companies who were considering making use of the device in their business.

 

The price currently reported is a hefty $900 which is substantially higher than Amazon's Kindle 2 which is advertised at $359.

 

Swedish design studio Propeller in conjunction with Halmstad University (Media IT), SVID, and the Swedish Newspapers' Association developed a concept color e-reader called Newsboy which was part of the European project Diginews. Plastic Logic, who are yet to release their e-reader, are also working towards making color a reality in the future.

 

Source top image: Tech-on

 

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