The Sony Reader, which we examined last week, is a unique device, powered by some of the most impressive technology available. Using a screen that requires very little battery power to operate, the Reader can display 7,500 page turns per charge, and doesn’t require a backlight in order to illuminate the screen. How is this possible? It’s actually quite simple; it’s all thanks to a little technology called electronic ink (also known as electronic paper).

Electronic Ink Screen

Electronic ink is a new type of display technology that changes how we use a screen in many ways. Electronic paper reflects light like normal paper does, making the need for a backlight obsolete. The screen is highly flexible (not quite like paper, but developers are working on that problem), extremely lightweight, and highly durable; it’s reportedly very difficult to scratch or damage an e-ink screen like one could damage a traditional LCD panel. The screen, by virtue of its lack of need for backlighting, uses a fraction of a normal screen’s power, and due to the reflective nature of the e-ink screen, it can be read from almost any angle. The screen on the Sony Reader features a resolution of 170 pixels per inch, which is more than double that of a normal LCD display.

The e-ink technology has a variety of uses. Sony’s Reader is expected to be the first of many electronic ink-based e-books, the popularity of which might increase now that e-book technology rivals that of normal print. In addition, while the Sony Reader’s e-ink screen can only do monochrome, e-ink with polychrome capabilities (the ability to display color) is on its way. We might very well be approaching the day where instead of buying books at a traditional bookstore, you simply jump onto an iTunes Music Store-like bookstore, download your books to memory cards, and load them up inside e-books.

This magic technology isn’t limited to just e-books, either. Did you just go out and buy an LCD flat-panel display to replace that large, heavy CRT monitor? Image your LCD being a fraction of the size it is now, and requiring substantially less power to operate while functioning at a much higher resolution. While this might be difficult to believe, the technology for such a display exists, and I feel that we’re not too far off from seeing them enter the marketplace. In the meantime, if you want to see just how impressive e-ink really is, grab a Sony Reader when they’re launched this spring.