Mass production of 'world's first' color e-paper display over 30-inches begins

A Chinese firm has started to mass produce a 31.2-inch color e-paper display. Local media reports (machine translation) that Guangzhou Aoyi Electronic Technology Co Ltd worked with Shenzhen Jin Yatai Technology Co Ltd to meld display, image processing, and FPGA technologies to realize this new screen which is capable of "smooth video playback" at 18 frames per second.

For years the adoption of e-paper displays has been held back by devices with low refresh rates and slow response times. The new 31.2-inch display purportedly manages to overcome these undesirable traits by implementing a handful of technical tricks. "Its core innovation lies in the unified control of split-screen, optimized image processing algorithms and local display functions," explains Hong Kong News. This means that the monitor can "dynamically refresh only local areas of the picture and control the synchronous display of large-screen split-screen, significantly improving the response speed and refresh efficiency."

The tech tweaking by Aoyi and Jin Yatai delivers some more worthwhile benefits to the e-paper experience, according to the source. In addition to the improved performance, screen flickering is claimed to be reduced. Moreover, e-paper displays have a reputation for washed-out color, but the new technology is claimed to deliver a wider color gamut, and more vivid visuals.

A video of the new 31.2-inch color e-paper display in action was shared on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The video can't be claimed to be awe-inspiring, especially as it seems to be heavily compressed, but the on-screen animation seems smooth enough (it looks like a clip from Ne Zha 2). It still looks like this monitor lacks color depth and contrast compared to mainstream monitor technologies like TN, IPS, VA, and OLED. That lack of color quality isn't anything new for e-paper.

Returning to the positives about this new 31.2-inch color e-paper display, any advance in this technology should be welcomed. E-paper and similar screen technologies have several desirable features that the mainstream can't rival. We are talking about how e-paper can reduce the possibility of eye strain, offers the best readability in strong light, and can have very low power consumption. From perusing the development firm's website, we think the resolution of the new panel will likely be 2,560 x 1,440 pixels.

The Chinese news source mentions that this new screen might find a home in applications like digital signage, bus stop signs, public information screens and so on. We'd also like to see this 31.2-inch display commercialized by e-paper monitor specialists like Dasung, and others who see an opportunity. Dasung's largest color Paperlike display is a 25.3-inch model, which can be had in curved or flat monitors. However, it also has a 10.3-inch display which can run at up to 60 Hz.