E Ink has unveiled Kaleido 4, the next generation of its color e-paper display technology, aiming to correct shortcomings that have limited earlier Kaleido screens. The new displays double the color gamut volume of Kaleido 3, increase white reflectance by 15%, and improve contrast by 50%, which should make both images and text look less washed out and muddy.
The technology still has constraints. Like Kaleido 3, it produces only 4,096 colors, far fewer than LCD or OLED screens, and color images appear at lower resolution than black-and-white text. The upgrade also uses a new oxide TFT backplane to push refresh rates up to 18 frames per second, fast enough for video and smoother note-taking than the slower Gallery 3 displays used in devices like the Remarkable Paper Pro.
First to ship Kaleido 4 is Hanvon Technology’s M10C II tablet, launching in China with a micro-etched glass surface designed for note-taking. No major e-reader maker has yet announced a Kaleido 4 device, so the technology’s real-world impact will depend on adoption beyond this initial release.