Early this year, Qualcomm broadened the audience for its mirasol display technology by announcing a new, mirasol-equipped e-reader from Taiwanese company Koobe. The Koobe device, known as the Jin Yong Reader, is the fourth mirasol e-reader to be announced in the past 10 weeks. The rapid adoption indicates increased interest in a technology Qualcomm has spent years developing.The Jin Yong Reader joins the C18 from China’s Hanvon, the Bambook Sunflower from China’s Shanda Networking Co. and the Kyobo eReader from South Korea’s Kyobo Book Centre. The four companies have been able to bring out e-readers in quick succession because most of them utilize the same base hardware. The Hanvon C18 is an exception; with a thickness of 10 mm and weight of 300 grams it is thinner and lighter than the others, including the new Jin Yong Reader.
The Jin Yong Reader is almost identical in design to the Kyobo eReader, but stands out as the first mirasol e-reader for the Taiwanese market. Qualcomm is currently pouring a reported $1 billion into a mirasol manufacturing facility in Taiwan. Once that “fab” comes online in late 2012, Qualcomm hopes other tech companies will take up the technology for phones, tablets and other devices. Having a mirasol device on sale in Taiwan, where many computing components are made and gadgets are designed, could help popularize the technology.
San Diego-based Qualcomm has been refining mirasol since acquiring the technology from a startup in 2004. Mirasol displays eliminate the need for backlights by reflecting light between two conductive plates. Qualcomm says the setup enables bright colors in direct sunlight, weeks-long battery life and an image refresh rate fast enough to support video.
The combination is key because for years e-readers could not offer color and interactivity without negatively affecting outdoor visibility and battery life. Qualcomm generates most of its revenues from licensing mobile technology and selling mobile chips to other companies but considers mirasol a potentially valuable side business.
Like the other mirasol e-readers on the market, the Jin Yong Reader has a 5.7-inch “XGA” format touchscreen display (1024 x 728 pixels, 223 ppi resolution) and runs on a 1.0 GHz Snapdragon (S2, single-core) processor from Qualcomm. Its operating system is a custom interface on top of a Google Android (version 2.3) base. The e-reader takes its name from the popular Chinese novelist and will come pre-loaded with all 15 of Jin Yong’s books.
Koobe has not disclosed pricing or exact availability for the Jin Yong Reader, but the device is expected to be available soon in Taiwan.
Koobe introduced its first e-reader in 2010. That device was black-and-white-only. The company considers the mirasol-equipped Jin Yong Reader to be its “next-generation” e-reader. Both devices were unveiled at the Taipei International Book Exhibition, the largest book fair in Asia.
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