Kyobo e-reader packs e-ink, color, and Gingerbread for $310 in South Korea
Unless you're talking about the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet or the Amazon Kindle Fire when discussing e-readers with your friends, you're most likely discussing black-and-white e-ink displays. The main reason those types of displays are used is for readability; when you add LCD panels, outdoor "use" is anything but, and even inside can make for an unpleasant reading experience. The downside to e-ink, though, is its rather monochromatic appearance.
Luckily, Kyobo and Qualcomm share that view and have finally put Mirasol displays into production. Mirasol displays offer some of the same qualities as e-ink displays, like terrific readability and low-power draw, but also adds something quite vital to a pleasurable viewing experience: color.
What you see above is the Kyobo eReader, the first e-reader to utilize Mirasol technology. It does it pretty well, too. Its 5.7-inch display has a relatively high resolution of 1024 x 768, which brings the PPI to a nice 223. On that display, you'll see Android 2.3 running thanks to a 1GHz Snapdragon processor.
Unfortunately, the $310 e-reader is currently only being sold in South Korea. I personally haven't plunged on a true e-reader yet because I would like to be able to do other things on it, as well as read. With a color display and Gingerbread, this might be the one for me. That is, if it arrives stateside sometime.
[SlashGear]