Fujitsu demonstrated a next generation cholesteric LCD color digital paper module at the International Digital Publishing Expo.

"This is the newest module, and the brightness, contrast and color replication range are better than anything yet."

Cholesteric liquid crystals do not require polarizing plates, reflecting plates, color filters or back lights, so they can be thin, light and bright. This trial model weighs 220g, so it is thinner and lighter than the previously commercialized FLEPia Lite, which also used the same display technology. The OS was changed from Windows to Linux, and the processing speed has been greatly improved. The writing speed is 0.7 seconds, and the 4,096-color range remains unchanged from before, but as dithering has been eliminated, the color display has been improved.

"Actually there is a trade-off between writing speed and display colors, and while it is 4,096 colors and 0.7 seconds right now, if we reduce the writing speed we can make a full color display."

Other major specifications include an 8" screen with resolution of 157 dpi, a reflection ratio greater than 34%, a contract ratio of 8:1, 20 percent coverage of the NTSC color space, and it can display JPEG, PDF, and EPUB files.

"At the Fujitsu laboratories we intend to continue to work on development of the device to improve its fundamental capabilities."