E Ink produces an HDTV-sized ePaper display

LAS VEGAS – Traditional HDTVs aren’t the only things getting bigger and bigger. 

Thanks to E Ink, we now have a 42-inch high-definition ePaper display that the company unveiled this week at CES in Las Vegas. 

Each display is 25.9 in. wide x 34.8 in. tall x 0.65 in. thick and offers a resolution of 2160 X 2880 (85 dpi). The 42-inch length is measured diagonally. The display can operate in portrait or landscape mode and offers wide viewing angles. The ePaper display is also extremely power efficient because it’s not based on power-draining backlit technology.

E Ink representatives explained that display is backed with a glass substrate and is not flexible. However, “the display may use a flexible display in the future if there is significant interest in large, rugged (plastic backplane-based) ePaper displays,” said a representative.

Even though ePaper powers popular ereaders like Amazon’s Kindle, you should also not expect the low-power, monochrome displays to end up in an over-sized e-reader. Its first application is in QuirkLogic’s Quilla, a connected eWriter. The 22 lb. display mounts on a wall and multiple displays can be connected together to create a battery-powered, wall-sized writing space. You just have to get used to the bezel breaks between your doodles.

“To facilitate a free flow of ideas, tools for team brainstorming and concept work need to be simple, familiar, and easy to use. With Quilla, users can walk up, grab a pen, and comfortably ink out ideas, actions, and plans without hitting setup hurdles and quickly pick up where they left off,” said Nashir Samanani, QuirkLogic’s co-founder and CEO.

The battery-operated Quilla is completely wireless. Whatever’s written on the ePaper display can be saved to a mobile device-based central library and retrieved at will. Monochrome images can be loaded onto the screens and then marked up, with all annotations automatically saved. There’s also a touch-based menu system where users can access copy, erase, move and zoom functions.

Such a display might be particularly attractive to businesses currently relying on expensive and complicated digital whiteboard systems or giant touchscreen displays like Microsoft’s Surface Hub.

E Ink’s displays go into production early this year and QuirkLogic is currently accepting applications for its early adopter program. Pricing has not been set.

E Ink also expects businesses to adopt the 42-inch e paper display for signage. “E Ink continues to deliver innovative products to meet the needs of the digital signage market,” Harit Doshi, the head of Signage Business at E Ink, said in a release. “The world’s largest ePaper display … will enable E Ink to bring low power signage solutions in large form factors that can truly replace static displays.”