E Ink (Cambridge, Mass.) also announced Wednesday (May 9) an upgraded range of display controllers and a developer kit for the new technology.

"E Ink continues to be at the forefront of the electronic paper revolution. This is a major improvement because the electronic ink in the imaging film switches twice as fast and the image is 20 percent brighter," said Russ Wilcox, president and CEO of E Ink in a statement.

"Simultaneously, we are enhancing our whole solution with more screen sizes, improved electronics, support for more gray levels, and developer kits for prototyping," added Wilcox.

E Ink has also linked with PrimeView International (PVI), which currently is the only active matrix EPD maker, to develop TFT modules built with Vizplex, in an expanded size range that includes 1.9 inch, 5 inch, 6 inch, 8 inch and 9.7 inch diagonal displays.

The modules will be available this summer and are targeted at monochrome device applications such as mobile phones, MP3 players, PC accessories, smart handheld devices, signage, electronic dictionaries, e-books, and tablets.

The previous display generation was only available in a 6 inch format and was targeted specifically at e-books.

The latest Metronome Display Controller, a simple, low-power chip that can drive a range of display sizes and resolutions and supports added grayscale depth and lower-level control over the display, is now available for sampling. The controller is designed to integrate with the host processor and memory to reduce the costs.

E Ink stresses it will continue to support the Apollo controller architecture that emulates a parallel printer port and offers ease of integration for rapid prototyping.

And the latest EPD prototyping kits from E Ink will come in more sizes and with both Metronome and Apollo display controller options. Again, the existing AM-100 prototyping kit will continue to be supported.

E Ink's electronic ink technology is already used in many consumer electronic products such as Sony's PRS-500 Reader, the iRex Iliad, Emano Tecs Medical Tablet, the Seiko Watch, and Motorola's Motofone, and is the basis of third party display technologies and products under development by firms such as Polymer Vision and Plastic Logic.

E Ink is a private corporation that includes among its investors and strategic partners Toppan Printing Company, Royal Philips Electronics, The Hearst Corporation, Intel Capital, CNI Ventures, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Vossloh Information Technologies, and Motorola, Inc.