5 ms·

Every couple of weeks I find myself wondering: "It's (insert year here), why no e-ink picture frames yet?". Much as I like tinkering, I don't want a cobbled to

by hanoz 6y ago

Every couple of weeks I find myself wondering: "It's (insert year here), why no e-ink picture frames yet?". Much as I like tinkering, I don't want a cobbled together raspberry pi plus lower power mamagement module with some alibaba special screen, all wrapped together with duct tape. I just want a nice looking consumer grade device, maybe 8x6" or thereabouts, reasonable resolution, grayscale is fine if necessary, an sd card slot where I can stick a load of jpegs and let it run with a photo change or two a day, with about six months in between recharges. Is that too much to ask? I'm sure the first company to do this is going to make a killing.

TylerE 6y ago
Because eink color is garbage, and people want color for photos.
- hanoz 6y ago
  People may think they want colour, but I'm convinced it's not as much as they don't want something resembling a glaring low grade android device, propped up on a bookshelf, with a usb power lead trailing out of it to the nearest socket. A nice sharp grayscale, hang and forget (maybe on an actual wall), with the e-paper aesthetic, is going to beat this hands down.
  - TylerE 6y ago
    Even monochrome ink is pretty lousy without a strong backlight.
    - sammorrowdrums 6y ago
      I'd disagree entirely. As mentioned in my other comment, I have an e-ink tablet on a stand on my desk[1], and I think it looks stunning, especially contrast wise. It has that "real physical object" kind of aesthetic, that is virtually irreplaceable if you want a thing of beauty. It doesn't glow in low light, and it's only increasingly visible as Ambient light gets brighter. Those are features for a static thing to look at in my book. https://www.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/jem97h/most_of_my_joy_from_the_lumi_has_come_from/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share https://www.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/jem97h/most_of_m...
      - TylerE 6y ago
        I mean, if you don't care about your "white" being closer to a dull orange and having, typically, 4 shades of grey, I guess. eInk is great for text, but lousy for anything even resembling art.
        sammorrowdrums 6y ago
        That orange glow was actually terrible white balance because of the context I took the photos. I Should have corrected those pictures, that orangy hue is not how it looks. And if cartoons, graphic novel panels, newspapers rendered on e-ink don't seem like "anything even resembling art" to you that's fine. It's the most subjective thing in the world, but there are a lot of people who do. My photos were not meant to be representative of the peak of how good the screen can look, else I'd have taken them again. [edit: typo]
luka-birsa 6y ago
I know right! Consumer market is all about quantities and pricing, so it's really hard to launch a successful consumer product in this space as E Ink internet connected photo frame is as niche you can get. We actually offer a device that can be used in this way (it's intended for business use) - it's a 13" device that will work up to a year on battery power, can be mounted with a magnet (no drilling) and has a Red Dot award for design (https://getjoan.com/shop/joan-13 https://getjoan.com/shop/joan-13). You can upload images or connect whatever webpage you want. So you asked - we delivered. :)
- joelthelion 6y ago
  Any plans for even smaller ones?
car 6y ago
Inkplate[1] is an affordable E Ink picture frame, that uses an old Kindle display. Got mine for $99 at Crowdsupply[2]. [1]https://inkplate.io https://inkplate.io [2]https://www.crowdsupply.com/search?q=inkplate https://www.crowdsupply.com/search?q=inkplate

by hanoz 6y ago

TylerE 6y ago

Because eink color is garbage, and people want color for photos.

hanoz 6y ago
People may think they want colour, but I'm convinced it's not as much as they don't want something resembling a glaring low grade android device, propped up on a bookshelf, with a usb power lead trailing out of it to the nearest socket. A nice sharp grayscale, hang and forget (maybe on an actual wall), with the e-paper aesthetic, is going to beat this hands down.
- TylerE 6y ago
  Even monochrome ink is pretty lousy without a strong backlight.
  - sammorrowdrums 6y ago
    I'd disagree entirely. As mentioned in my other comment, I have an e-ink tablet on a stand on my desk[1], and I think it looks stunning, especially contrast wise. It has that "real physical object" kind of aesthetic, that is virtually irreplaceable if you want a thing of beauty. It doesn't glow in low light, and it's only increasingly visible as Ambient light gets brighter. Those are features for a static thing to look at in my book. https://www.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/jem97h/most_of_my_joy_from_the_lumi_has_come_from/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share https://www.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/jem97h/most_of_m...
    - TylerE 6y ago
      I mean, if you don't care about your "white" being closer to a dull orange and having, typically, 4 shades of grey, I guess. eInk is great for text, but lousy for anything even resembling art.
      - sammorrowdrums 6y ago
        That orange glow was actually terrible white balance because of the context I took the photos. I Should have corrected those pictures, that orangy hue is not how it looks. And if cartoons, graphic novel panels, newspapers rendered on e-ink don't seem like "anything even resembling art" to you that's fine. It's the most subjective thing in the world, but there are a lot of people who do. My photos were not meant to be representative of the peak of how good the screen can look, else I'd have taken them again. [edit: typo]

luka-birsa 6y ago

I know right! Consumer market is all about quantities and pricing, so it's really hard to launch a successful consumer product in this space as E Ink internet connected photo frame is as niche you can get. We actually offer a device that can be used in this way (it's intended for business use) - it's a 13" device that will work up to a year on battery power, can be mounted with a magnet (no drilling) and has a Red Dot award for design (https://getjoan.com/shop/joan-13 https://getjoan.com/shop/joan-13). You can upload images or connect whatever webpage you want. So you asked - we delivered. :)

joelthelion 6y ago
Any plans for even smaller ones?

car 6y ago

Inkplate[1] is an affordable E Ink picture frame, that uses an old Kindle display. Got mine for $99 at Crowdsupply[2]. [1]https://inkplate.io https://inkplate.io [2]https://www.crowdsupply.com/search?q=inkplate https://www.crowdsupply.com/search?q=inkplate