Recent patent filings indicate that Amazon may be eyeing the creation of a dual-screen tablet.
Essentially, the device would boast two separate screens: a color display on one side and a low-power E Ink display on the other.
![](https://images.assettype.com/tgdaily/2016-09/617569c1-0b98-4df0-a5df-073ce3f45128/amazon-dual.jpg)
The LCD display would likely feature typically high refresh rates for playing games, watching videos and browsing the web in full color. Meanwhile, the low power sipping E Ink screen would be used to read books, simple text documents and emails.
As Liliputing’s Brad Linder points out, such a device would potentially allow Amazon to neatly bridge the gap between its current Kindle and Kindle Fire devices – allowing users to buy one device and use it as an eReader some of the time and a full-fledged Android tablet the rest of the time.
”While tablets like the Apple iPad can run for 10 hours on a charge, eReaders like the Amazon Kindle can run for up to 30 hours thanks to their lower power E Ink displays,” explained Linder.
“It doesn’t take any power at all to sustain text or pictures on an E Ink screen. The display only draws power when it’s refreshing the image, which pretty much only happens when you ‘turn’ a page in a book.”
In related news, E Ink recently showcased a rather interesting smartphone design that features a full-color LCD screen on one side and an E Ink display on the other.
![](https://images.assettype.com/tgdaily/2016-09/0ee0460d-9d59-4899-9e38-6d54b389cbad/dual-ink.jpg)
As with Amazon’s above-mentioned tablet concept, you can use the full-color and glossy LCD for watching videos or browsing the web and the E Ink screen for books and emails.
Being able to keep that power sucking LCD turned off when using the low power sipping E Ink display would definitely be a popular option among many smartphone and tablet users. Fortunately, there are reports that at least one unnamed smartphone manufacturer is working on a device that will boast both E Ink and LCD screens.