4 ms·

I don't know if anyone is really working on this, the "killer feature" of eInk is that the display only draws power when it's refreshing. You can drive them muc

I don't know if anyone is really working on this, the "killer feature" of eInk is that the display only draws power when it's refreshing. You can drive them much faster, iirc there have been several proof of concepts using extant consumer screens going at 60Hz, so it's totally possible. I just don't think there's much market for it and I bet it stresses the tech in weird ways to run it that fast. Definitely possible though.

j88439h84 7y ago
The other feature is it doesn't shine light.
- errantspark 7y ago
  Neither do most of the other common display technologies available to us! EDIT: Can't reply to TeMPOraL, but I think that's not true, they need polarized light. I'm not an expert on this but my intuition is there are unrealized advances to be made in the field of reflective LCD-based displays. I just don't think there's much demand to research these applications and connect the dots. I would be surprised if you couldn't make a pretty decent, high refresh rate reflective display using an LCD based approach.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    But they do! If they don't emit lights from pixels, they usually need a backlight to be legible. E-ink is nice because it does not need a light source to be fully legible in any condition in which print is.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - BlueTemplar 7y ago
      Transflective LCDs do not need a light source either, and, unlike e-ink, can use a backlight in low light conditions.
      - TeMPOraL 7y ago
        They're just an exception confirming the rule, though.
    - jmiserez 7y ago
      E-ink does need a light source, it's impossible to read without sufficient environmental lighting (like real paper).
  - BlueTemplar 7y ago
    One thing I noticed with my Pebble Time is how, unlike any other LCD I've seen so far, polarized glasses don't have an effect on it for some reason ! (It might be due to multiple layers of weird liquid crystals ?)
- thdrdt 7y ago
  This would be the main reason I would buy an eInk monitor. There are already a lot of reflective LCD displays. For example in digital clocks and watches but they are all monochrome. Pixel Qi promised reflective displays but I believe the reflective mode is only grayscale.
  - BlueTemplar 7y ago
    Color ones exist too : Game Boy Color, Pebble Color...
RL_Quine 7y ago
The Sharp "memory LCD" displays are nearly zero power and can update at 60hz if you really felt like it. They stopped making them sadly, but they were used in the Pebble Watch (it's marketing claimed ePaper, it wasn't).
- lokl 7y ago
  The just-released Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera uses a "memory LCD" with dimensions that match one made by Sharp.
  - RL_Quine 7y ago
    Interesting. I thought they were long gone.
  - BlueTemplar 7y ago
    Nice, so we might get a new Pebble-like smartwatch ?
simias 7y ago
I'm optimistic because devices like smart phones and smart watches are things that benefit from having very low idle power when just displaying mostly static info but require a much faster refresh rate in active use. Being able to read them easily in bright daylight would also be a great plus. That's a good market. Even laptops would probably benefit from it, when you're typing some text or reading a document you don't need 60fps refresh rate (especially if you can only refresh portions of the screen). That might save a significant amount of battery.
- opencl 7y ago
  Non-backlit LCDs already have pretty low idle power though. Normal digital watches last about a decade on a battery and smartwatches like the Amazfit Bip last about a month on a charge with the screen always on (and bluetooth, heart rate monitor, etc which are surely a pretty large fraction of the power draw). And then the biggest smartwatch manufactures have decided to use OLED and have 2 day battery life for some reason.
- wpietri 7y ago
  For what it's worth, I have a Garmin 645 smartwatch, which uses a transflective display; the user experience is about the same as e-ink. I love it. The "white" is kinda silver-grey, but it's perfectly functional, and I get a week's battery life. As a former Pebble owner, I think the trend toward smartwatches with OLED displays and short battery life is a terrible one.

j88439h84 7y ago

The other feature is it doesn't shine light.

errantspark 7y ago
Neither do most of the other common display technologies available to us! EDIT: Can't reply to TeMPOraL, but I think that's not true, they need polarized light. I'm not an expert on this but my intuition is there are unrealized advances to be made in the field of reflective LCD-based displays. I just don't think there's much demand to research these applications and connect the dots. I would be surprised if you couldn't make a pretty decent, high refresh rate reflective display using an LCD based approach.
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  But they do! If they don't emit lights from pixels, they usually need a backlight to be legible. E-ink is nice because it does not need a light source to be fully legible in any condition in which print is.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - BlueTemplar 7y ago
    Transflective LCDs do not need a light source either, and, unlike e-ink, can use a backlight in low light conditions.
    - TeMPOraL 7y ago
      They're just an exception confirming the rule, though.
  - jmiserez 7y ago
    E-ink does need a light source, it's impossible to read without sufficient environmental lighting (like real paper).
- BlueTemplar 7y ago
  One thing I noticed with my Pebble Time is how, unlike any other LCD I've seen so far, polarized glasses don't have an effect on it for some reason ! (It might be due to multiple layers of weird liquid crystals ?)
thdrdt 7y ago
This would be the main reason I would buy an eInk monitor. There are already a lot of reflective LCD displays. For example in digital clocks and watches but they are all monochrome. Pixel Qi promised reflective displays but I believe the reflective mode is only grayscale.
- BlueTemplar 7y ago
  Color ones exist too : Game Boy Color, Pebble Color...

RL_Quine 7y ago

The Sharp "memory LCD" displays are nearly zero power and can update at 60hz if you really felt like it. They stopped making them sadly, but they were used in the Pebble Watch (it's marketing claimed ePaper, it wasn't).

lokl 7y ago
The just-released Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera uses a "memory LCD" with dimensions that match one made by Sharp.
- RL_Quine 7y ago
  Interesting. I thought they were long gone.
- BlueTemplar 7y ago
  Nice, so we might get a new Pebble-like smartwatch ?

simias 7y ago

I'm optimistic because devices like smart phones and smart watches are things that benefit from having very low idle power when just displaying mostly static info but require a much faster refresh rate in active use. Being able to read them easily in bright daylight would also be a great plus. That's a good market. Even laptops would probably benefit from it, when you're typing some text or reading a document you don't need 60fps refresh rate (especially if you can only refresh portions of the screen). That might save a significant amount of battery.

opencl 7y ago
Non-backlit LCDs already have pretty low idle power though. Normal digital watches last about a decade on a battery and smartwatches like the Amazfit Bip last about a month on a charge with the screen always on (and bluetooth, heart rate monitor, etc which are surely a pretty large fraction of the power draw). And then the biggest smartwatch manufactures have decided to use OLED and have 2 day battery life for some reason.
wpietri 7y ago
For what it's worth, I have a Garmin 645 smartwatch, which uses a transflective display; the user experience is about the same as e-ink. I love it. The "white" is kinda silver-grey, but it's perfectly functional, and I get a week's battery life. As a former Pebble owner, I think the trend toward smartwatches with OLED displays and short battery life is a terrible one.