Ebooks are the next hot gadgets

DUTCH EBOOK FIRM Liquavista is showing off its ereader advances and prototypes at CES.

The firm is showing Liquavistacolor, which combines full colour with interactivity and hi-fidelity video in a low power system.

"The market for Ereaders is set to be revolutionised by the availability of high performance color displays for the very first time," stated Guy Demuynck, Liquavista's chief executive. "We believe our new display technology, Liquavistacolor will mean that fully interactive color devices will now become available to consumers with all the advantages of true mobility".

The firm expects its technology to be used for reading books, news feeds, magazines and newspapers, regardless of the amount of sunlight shining on their screen. "Users will now get to see the true power of magazine quality performance in fully interactive mobile devices," added Nigel Litchfield, chairman of Liquavista

Liquavista and GBO Design-Engineering are also showing a concept ereader, nicknamed the Pebble, that they said showed off the true potential of their displays. The Pebble is a black and white screen device that the firms hope will display the benefits of their technology, particularly in comparison with other devices on the market.

"This collaboration demonstrates the way that our displays can be visualised and the impact that our technology will have on next generation devices," added Demuynck. "With the Pebble concept and the launch of our new color display Liquavistacolor, consumers can now read not only books but also enjoy magazines or newspapers as well as browse photos, video clips, enjoy social networking and make video calls. This is a true realisation of a device that drives the long term functionality of Ereader products."

Commenting on the design of the Pebble, Tom Schreuder, product designer at GBO Design-Engineering, added, "Ergonomically this design is a major improvement over the flat shape that digital readers predominantly have and has been designed with the consumer in mind - The Pebble is both small and lightweight, has a smooth touch and fits neatly in the hand of the user." In case you were wondering, unlike the competition the Pebble has a curved, smooth surface, so it presumably feels more like you are holding a book rather than one of Moses' tablets when you are using it on the train.

Also on the collaboration front, Liquavista said it is working with Texas Instruments, which has promised to adopt the former's electrowetting displays on its OMAP processor based development platform. "Liquavista's promising solutions will introduce many benefits to the mobile consumer market, including cost and power savings, brighter user interfaces, and more intuitive responsiveness for display technologies," said Elie Belmand, general manager of TI's mobile consumer business. "We look forward to working with Liquavista as they bring the next generation of colour Ereaders to consumers across the globe."

The firm also made enhancements to its Liquavistabright technology platform, which offers black and white pictures and video. Liquavista said that the improvements included an increase in brightness, fully interactive touch panel technologies, and improvements to its 'finish', which will make the display look more papery.

Somehow we still tend to doubt it'll ever manage to beat the experience and pleasurable satisfaction of handling and reading a well made hardcover book, though. µ