E Ink, Wacom and Linfiny announce next-generation Digital eNote solutions
E Ink Holdings (Billerica, Massachusetts), a leading innovator of electronic ink technology, Wacom, the world’s leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays and digital interface solutions, and Linfiny, a joint development between E Ink and Sony Semiconductor Solutions, recently announced their next-generation Digital Paper solutions. These solutions feature Wacom’s EMR technology, which provides greater accuracy, with 4096 pressure sensitivity and support for faster pen speeds. Offered in a 10.3” and a 13.3” size, the new solutions feature a higher contrast ratio and faster page turns, through the use of the latest E Ink Carta 1250, and improvements in pen writing speed and an enhanced user interface for application offerings. Linfiny has worked closely with E Ink over the past three years to integrate the newest Carta ink and tuning the visual performances into the solution to bring the full benefits of the new film to the device.
With a super-thin, paper-like feel and ergonomic design, the 10.3” model weighs only 261 grams and is 5.85mm in thickness; the 13.3” model weighs 368 grams and is only 5.7mm in thickness. Both products feature a digital pen supported by Wacom’s EMR and faster writing, with update times of less than 30 milliseconds. The pen writing has a smooth feel, with a non-slip, non-glass surface, giving a true experience of writing on paper. Wacom’s EMR will support other Wacom-enabled pens, such as the Shinonome Pen, for precise drafting and fine line renderings. Each eNote solution has incredible battery life, with up to three weeks of usage on a single charge, and offers reading and notes viewing in a 2-page view. The devices will come with 32GB of internal memory, for storage of more than 10,000 PDF files. Each device has advanced security features allowing for secure encryption of user’s data.
The new Digital Paper devices will be commercialised in summer of 2021, and E Ink and Linfiny are actively looking for OEM partners who want to develop their own Digital Paper devices on this platform. The Digital Paper Control Server Software (DCSS) will provide high security solutions to system vendors to develop their own paperless solution to enterprise, industrial, medical, education or public office markets. In addition, the eNote solutions are built on Android OS, allowing for development of custom software solutions. The Linfiny team is developing middleware that provides a more flexible and open software development environment, allowing customers to streamline their software development efforts as well as using existing Android applications. The first version of the middleware APK will be released in fall of 2021.
“E Ink is very excited to participate in the next generation Digital Paper device development,” said Johnson Lee, CEO, E Ink. “We believe strongly in the capabilities of eNote devices, and the benefits they bring to the educational and office environments, especially as learning and working remotely becomes a new normal in our society. We continue to work to build out a strong ecosystem and enable more companies to bring solutions to their customers.”
“Linfiny is proud to be a leader in the eNote market, bringing an ergonomically designed, truly paper-like writing device that is the world’s lightest to our customers,” said Naoki Sumita, president, Linfiny. “We believe in continuous innovation and in assisting our ecosystem partners to develop paperless solutions based on our platform to fit their unique market needs.”
“It was a pleasure working with Linfiny over the past two years to create a digital writing device that recreates the experience of pen writing on paper,” said Nobutaka Ide, CEO, Wacom. “E Ink, Linfiny and Wacom are sharing the long-term vision to keep delivering the optimised experience of ‘pen and paper,’ and we are honoured that Wacom technology can be a part of this new experience.”
Caption: The next generation of Digital Paper is about to be commercialised (photo: E Ink)