New Ebook Reader Chip To Improve the Overall Reading Experience
Freescale Semiconductor, a company that makes the chips for current ebook readers like the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, says that a new chip is in development. This chip will reportedly be available to to ereader manufacturers at a cheaper price, which in turn could lower retail cost of ebook reading devices to the consumer. Although it currently costs $259, market analysts predict that we may see the Kindle price tag drop below $150, with the new chip said to be sold to ebook companies for about ten bucks apiece for bulk orders.
In addition to cost, this new chip will:
Double the speed at which the current crop of ereaders “turn” the pages of an ebook.
Freescale claims that the new chip will be capable of displaying a new book page in less than a half a second. Nice feature, as it probably takes longer for a human to turn a page in a hardback. Additionally, the chip will offer “headroom” above the page for applications.
Increase the battery life.
The new chip has battery-extending power modes that turn off certain peripherals when they aren’t in use. Because the Kindle is already known for its outstanding battery life, imagine how long it will last now!
Support larger color screens
Bigger screens with high resolutions are the wave of the future, and the chip has evolved to support a colorful reading experience. Freescale claims that whatever E-ink technology launches, this processor will be able to drive it.
Freescale has named the chip the i.MX508. It has an integrated ARM cortex A8 processor and an e-ink display controller. What does this mean? That the chip has increased processing power that will make room for much improvement including the ability to run more apps on the device.
This is the first chip to be designed with an ebook reader in mind. Prior to the development of the ereader chip, general purpose processors were utilized and so they were not created with application optimization. Now Freescale is meeting the demand of the popular ereader realm.
Freescale hopes the new chip will be available for “select customers” later this year, and we can assume they mean customers like Amazon of Kindle fame or Barnes and Noble for the Nook. The company also says that gadgets with the new chip will be available on the market for consumers by the end of the year. Hopefully they will succeed in reducing the system cost and extending the battery life of the ebook reader.