By: E&P Staff Plastic Logic hopes the electronic newspaper reading device it is debuting Monday at the DEMOfall 08 show in San Diego transforms the market for e-readers the way Motorola's Razr shook up cell phones -- by redefining how thin they can be while offering a full-size screen.
The as-yet-unnamed device uses the display technology developed by E Ink Corp. that's found in Amazon.com's Kindle reader. But the Plastic Logic device has a screen that is two and a half times the size of Kindle so it is better sized, the company argues, for newspaper use.
Plastic Logic's device is two ounces heavier than the Kindle, but only about one-third its thickness.
"The display is the key to the digital reading experience, and this is the key differentiator that sets Plastic Logic's product apart," said DEMO Executive Producer Chris Shipley said in a statement.
Plastic Logic contends that in contrast to the "fragile glass screens" of other reading devices, its plastic display technology, developed at Cambridge University, is lighter, less expensive, and more environmentally friendly. The technology "uses high-resolution transistor arrays on flexible plastic substrates, manufactured at a low temperature," the company explained.
"We have created fundamentally advanced plastic electronics technology, enabling us to develop reading devices that will transform the way we publish, distribute and consume content," Plastic Logic CEO Richard Archuleta said in a statement.
Like other devices using E Ink technology, the Plastic Logic reader is so far in black-and-white only.
The price of the Plastic Logic reader will be announced when the product ships in the first half of 2009, the company said.
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