{
  "id": 14737540,
  "title": "E Ink upgraded the screen found in most color e-readers",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/15/e-ink-upgraded-the-screen-found-in-most-color-e-readers",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-15T16:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Verge",
    "slug": "the-verge",
    "url": "https://www.theverge.com/tech/1011384/e-ink-paper-color-kaleido-4-screen-upgrade-gamut-contrast-brightness"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "E Ink has unveiled its latest innovation in color e-paper technology, known as Kaleido 4, set to make its debut in a new note-taking tablet sold in China. E Ink detailed the enhancements of the new technology today, highlighting several key improvements. Existing Kaleido 3 displays, found in e-readers and tablets from brands like Kobo, PocketBook, and Boox, as well as Amazon's Kindle Colorsoft, will benefit from the upgradations. The new Kaleido 4 technology tackles some of the shortcomings of Kaleido 3, offering improved color representation, enhanced contrast, and faster screen refresh rates. Unlike Gallery 3, which utilizes colored pigments, Kaleido 3 employs a color filter over an e-paper panel with only black and white pigments. Despite this, Kaleido 3 offers fast refresh rates but at a lower resolution and with a limited color palette, resulting in desaturated images and darker plain text compared to traditional e-readers. E Ink asserts that Kaleido 4 doubles the \"color gamut volume\" of its predecessor, improving the visual quality of color images. However, the technology remains limited to producing just 4,096 colors, falling short of modern LCD and OLED displays' millions of color options. Although Kaleido 4 boosts white reflectance by 15% and increases contrast by 50%, plain text may still appear less muddy than with Kaleido 3. The Gallery 3's slow refresh rate has been a limiting factor in its widespread adoption, but Kaleido 3's faster refresh rates, up to 18fps, have addressed this issue. With an oxide TFT backplane, Kaleido 4's performance is further enhanced, allowing the screens to play back video. Currently, major companies like Amazon and Kobo have not announced devices featuring Kaleido 4, but Hanvon Technology will be the first to incorporate this technology in its upcoming M10C II tablet, available exclusively in China. The M10C II will boast a Kaleido 4 display with a micro-etched tempered-glass surface designed to reduce glare and provide a paper-like feel when taking notes with its battery-free pen.",
  "summary": "E Ink announced the next generation of its Kaleido color e-paper screen technology today, delivering several welcome improvements. The company's existing Kaleido 3 displays can be found in e-readers and tablets from companies like Kobo, PocketBook, and Boox, while Amazon's Kindle Colorsoft uses a customized version to improve performance. The new Kaleido 4 technology addresses […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}