8 ms·

Bendable? No thanks. Where is the kindle style monitor (no backlight)? Staring at an LED panel all day for decades isn’t great. I’d love to see improvements

Bendable? No thanks. Where is the kindle style monitor (no backlight)? Staring at an LED panel all day for decades isn’t great. I’d love to see improvements to non-backlit monitor tech but it seems the demand for that is low, and somehow lower than the demand for a bendable monitor.

NonNefarious 4y ago
I agree with you, but the refresh rate on E-paper is so hideous. And the panels are expensive as hell.
yusefnapora 4y ago
I'm hoping that we see more reflective LCD displays in the future. There's a 32 inch 1080p panel by Sun Vision that seems pretty remarkable, but I'm holding out hope for more pixel density, etc. If you haven't seen it, there's a very well done review at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQms-iHX9RQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQms-iHX9RQ
rcarr 4y ago
The way forward isn’t monitors and tvs at all, but 4k ultra short throw laser projectors like Samsung Premiere and Optoma P2. They’re like something out of Star Wars, don’t even need the curtains closed to use them. They’re starting to come down in price as well to around the £1500-£2000 mark, won’t be long before they break the £1000 mark. Can’t wait to get one of these for my home office in a few months.
- egypturnash 4y ago
  Have you seen these in action? I am skeptical of all "don't need curtains" claims for projectors unless they are based on actual experience, every shitty $100 pocket projector says you "don't need curtains" which is barely even technically true in most cases.
  - rcarr 4y ago
    I was sceptical at first but then I saw some photos and YouTube videos of people using them. Have a look at this, it’s not an ultra short throw one but it is a 4k laser one. The guy is using it outside in broad daylight to watch Netflix: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nebula-Polaris-Pro-Projector-Black-Gray/dp/B09BJM4BZQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?crid=TYBWXFHJ44XY&keywords=anker+nebula+4k&qid=1662652990&sprefix=anker+nebula+4k%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1#review-media-gallery_1662653027545 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nebula-Polaris-Pro-Projector-Black-...
    - mburee 4y ago
      It claims 2400 lumens - I have a couple of flashlights in excess of 6000 and yeah, the light beam is visible in daylight but I can't see any way you'd project something with decent contrast even with that.
    - marcosdumay 4y ago
      You mean the promotional videos? You don't get to make black over a white surface in daylight.
      - rcarr 4y ago
        No I mean the user posted video and photo reviews on Amazon and also the odd YouTuber. And yes, it is not going to be as good as a TV outside in broad daylight. But they are almost definitely good enough to use inside with the curtains open. And if the light isn’t directly in your eyes like a monitor, do you even have to code in dark mode anymore?
    - tolmasky 4y ago
      That says it has a brightness of 2400 ISO Lumens, which roughly translates to about 600 nits according to this site[1], (although my back of the napkin math of 3.426 nits to lumens would give a worse 408 nit rating, but I think this page probably did a better job, so we'll go with that). This seems pretty low compared to even OLED TVs, which are of course worse than LCD TVs. I may be comparing peak brightness to average brightness though, hard to get a clear idea here. But, if my understanding is correct, with a project you'll also miss out on true blacks, right? 1. https://cybershack.com.au/cybershack/nebula-cosmos-laser-4k-finally-a-mini-projector-that-sees-the-light-review https://cybershack.com.au/cybershack/nebula-cosmos-laser-4k-...
- Auracle 4y ago
  I’ve had projectors ever since I was 14 years old but there’s no getting around the fact that the darkest their black level can get is however dark the screen is. Dark screens help but until we can project on something that’s essentially black they won’t be great for daytime viewing.
  - jaywalk 4y ago
    Looking at the marketing pages for the two projectors mentioned is hilarious. They show images projected onto brightly-lit white walls with areas that are significantly darker than the wall, which is of course impossible. Unless/until some material comes along that is tuned somehow to only reflect light that comes from the projector, they'll have to remain limited to dark rooms.
    - rcarr 4y ago
      Have a look at this, looks pretty visible to me: https://youtu.be/nu2OZq8A-AI https://youtu.be/nu2OZq8A-AI
      - jaywalk 4y ago
        I wasn't talking about visibility. I was referring to the marketing pictures showing the projectors essentially "projecting darkness" which is impossible. No part of a projected image can possibly be darker than the surface it's being projected onto.
      - pwinnski 4y ago
        That video demonstrates the problem exactly. The "before" shot shows a clip from Lightyear which takes place in the black of space, and the screen is filled with high-contrast bright colors on a completely-black background. The "after" shot is of a bright sunny day where a car (low contrast despite the bright red color, to my eyes) drives through a desert. You could hardly ask for more directly opposite videos. For a real comparison, I'd have liked to see the same Lightyear clip on both setups.
    - unstatusthequo 4y ago
- xxs 4y ago
  You will have to paint your walls in (vanta) black.
  - detritus 4y ago
    I know you're joking, but that would just result in a pretty-much black screen, no matter how much white was thrown at it :)
    - madetoshareqs 4y ago
      On the other hand, the contrast ratio would be really good. :)
      - jstanley 4y ago
        How would it?
        hnuser123456 4y ago
        One photon in bright areas is infinite contrast ratio to zero photons in black areas
- NonNefarious 4y ago
  My "TV" is a projector, but I don't consider it practical for computer work. When 100" micro-LED panels come out, the projector is going away for good.
  - smileysteve 4y ago
    Or the opposite, when glasses can have built in 1440p "augmented reality" oleds, each viewer can have as big of a display, with black pixels, as they want.
    - mrguyorama 4y ago
      My VR headset is 1400p per eye and GARBAGE for looking at text on a virtual screen. Any display tech that expects you to focus at a virtual plane for long periods of time will really hurt your eyes, and be basically unusable for many people. If you struggle in nice 3D movies to feel like your eyes are comfortable, you will have that same feeling in a VR or AR glasses situation. Basically, any system that requires your eyes to focus on a physical screen that isn't the same distance as virtual objects will piss off your brain, because it knows something is going on, and hates being tricked without consent. Some people I think can ignore this effect to some extent, others cannot. It also strains your eyes more than focusing on an actual 2D screen so increases eye fatigue compared.
    - NonNefarious 4y ago
      If that's your idea of a fun viewing party, go for it. I'll stick with the big-screen experience.
- jnsie 4y ago
  How long before we can replace monitors with virtual monitors via AR? I feel like we take for granted that we have TVs taking up huge chunks of our living rooms and monitors of our offices. Obviously resolution is a (huge) issue. Another, for TV at least, is the communal aspect (synchronized virtual TVs, anyone?) but it seems like the future is on without physical monitors/TVs. I wonder how distant a future that is...
  - rcarr 4y ago
    There’s the nreal air glasses that you can buy today for £400 and some Lenovo glasses that were posted on hn recently that are coming next year. The future is already here: https://youtu.be/bj8hMtWeTUg https://youtu.be/bj8hMtWeTUg
  - autoexec 4y ago
    > How long before we can replace monitors with virtual monitors via AR? Hopefully never. People who don't wear glasses don't need something on their face to watch TV, people who do need glasses don't need to worry about AR googles meaning they have to choose between seeing a screen clearly or everything else and nobody has to worry about the AR goggle company watching and logging everything you see and plastering everything in your line of sight with ads. I don't think physical screens are going anywhere anytime soon. I wouldn't mind having every wall in my home capable of being a screen though. Screen-as-wallpaper would be very nice since you could create smaller virtual screens on any wall wherever you needed one and it would mean you could change your wallpaper/color on a whim.
- unstatusthequo 4y ago
  Yes these are great. I have one from VAVA, and got a special screen to display it on that also helps prevent other light from affecting the lasers from the UST lens. It’s great for TV. Sure, black levels aren’t perfect, but I’ll give that up for a 10 foot screen. Not sure I’d use it for my office. I feel like an array of monitors or a really nice 8k would be better.
nebula8804 4y ago
Here is a video comparing two that are on the market. [1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fycfiWPypkY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fycfiWPypkY
user3939382 4y ago
I resisted ebook readers since the day they came out, out of an irrational sense of betraying "real" books which I love. I recently got one (Kobo Libra 2) and mannn these eink displays are SO nice to look at compared to my LED display. Literally night and day.
- NeuNeurosis 4y ago
  Thanks for sharing. Do you have one of those that you shared? If you do what is your experience like?
- marssaxman 4y ago
  I had a similar experience. I love real books and hate locked-down corporate ecosystems. But... at my sweetie's suggestion, I bought a Kobo Libra for a trip where I had no space for books, and I have to admit that it is nice. It weighs nothing, pages turn effortlessly, it remembers my place, the battery lasts forever, and the screen is really sharp. You can resize the text, and the device just magically reworks the layout, as if it came from the press that way. Beyond that, it syncs with my library account - I don't even use the Kobo store! I've actually been using it to read with my ten-year-old. We take turns, alternating chapters. "Snuggling up on the couch with a child and an e-reader" does not have the same romantic ring, but the stories are just as engaging and I think the e-reader with its push-button page-flip is actually better for smaller, less-dextrous hands.
  - pjerem 4y ago
    > the battery lasts forever That is true. I recharge my E-ink reader multiple times … per year.
- boltzmann-brain 4y ago
  as someone who's spent ages reading books before ebooks were a thing and before LCD technology became popular, I'm quite the opposite - I can't be happy enough about LCD technolgy being around, especially if compared to an old yellowed book that's been printed off the same plates for 20 years and which you're reading in an only moderately well lit room. although LED technology again helps here because all that books-before-LCD experience comes from the days of incandescent light bulbs and nascent "energy saving" fluorescent compacts with edison screw.
tsol 4y ago
You know I've never considered this, but that's probably one of the only pain points with monitors now. If they can find some way to not make it feel like I'm been staring at light bulb during the night time I would really be interested in paying premium prices. Screens definitely mess with my circadian rhythm. Otherwise at this point all I'm interested in is a basic monitor
- whatshisface 4y ago
  If you combine an accurate ambient light sensor with a regular old LCD you can do that pretty well, because you don't need to vary the brightness across the screen to simulate diffuse reflections from an uneven light source to get the effect you want. Also check out those programs that redshift your monitor. Finally, try turning down your monitor's brightness.
- Night_Thastus 4y ago
  It's not a cure-all, but third-party tools like f.lux can change the colors of the monitor at early morning/late night to drastically reduce the problem. I used to have incredibly sore eyes from late-night sessions, and now that problem is completely gone. Been using it for years and will never go back. It does take a little while to get used to at first, but it quickly becomes natural. Windows also has a built-in tool to do the same thing, but it's not as robust/customizable iirc.
- nix0n 4y ago
  Blue-light blocking glasses have helped me with this.
- NonNefarious 4y ago
  The long-overdue move away from inverse color schemes (dark text on a white background) has certainly helped.
- marcosdumay 4y ago
  Just adding a reasonable control on the brightness is already enough to solve this. Make the monitor's bottom some not too bright white, and it's solved for outside usage too. Liquid crystal displays can actually adapt to almost any circumstance. It's the manufacturer's fault that they force it into "store-bright" and won't let you change.
stetrain 4y ago
https://www.sunvisiondisplay.com/reflective-lcd-monitor https://www.sunvisiondisplay.com/reflective-lcd-monitor
dominotw 4y ago
Has e-ink been shown to be better for eyes. I was under the impression that most of the damage comes from focusing your eyes on screen all day ( vs backlight )
ianai 4y ago
Maybe bendable screens are a valley we have to go through to get the transparent, nearly expendable phones from the Expanse?
vvilliamperez 4y ago
From what I know, e-ink tech is and has been very feasible, but is on hold since it's under patent. The company that holds the patent is notoriously slow to reach any licensing deals in a timely fashion to bring a product to market. Not to mention their exorbitant licensing fees. The end product turns out to be to expensive to market. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink
- robinsoh 4y ago
  > From what I know, e-ink tech is and has been very feasible, but is on hold since it's under patent. The company that holds the patent is notoriously slow to reach any licensing deals in a timely fashion to bring a product to market. Not to mention their exorbitant licensing fees. The end product turns out to be to expensive to market. "From what I know". Could you clarify? This is first hand knowledge based on industry experience? Could you please cite which specific patent you're referring to and what you mean by "e-ink tech" and "has been very feasible"? I'm assuming you actually have detailed knowledge of the display technology. Could you also please cite some evidence for the "notoriously slow to reach any licensing deals"? I'm assuming you actually have detailed knowledge of these licensing deals you're referring to. Hopefully your citation will be something other than a HN post by a throwaway account and blogs that cite that specific HN post and other HN posts that infinite loop circle back on those blog posts. Hopefully you'll give the rest of us first hand evidence and a reply based on actual experience that you personally have from years working in the electrophoretic display industry where you were held back under E-Ink's titanium and carbon coated jack boot and patent-waterboarded with high viscosity electrophoretic solvent? :-D That's the evidence the rest of us have been eagerly seeking to see and hear. I look forward with bated breath. Thank you. I ask this, perhaps a little comically disingenously since I work in the display industry (not for E Ink) and I've asked the exact same question so many times on HN and have never gotten even a remotely satisfying answer which makes me think your extremely confident claim in your post, like the many before it are just Dunning Kruger in effect. But I'll still keep a sliver of a slightly open mind so that I can be convinced. Otherwise, I would recommend everyone treat your type of comment as equivalent to someone in the farming industry alleging that a good solid operating system has been very feasible but IBM is holding back the software industry with their patents and is notoriously slow to reach any licensing deals.
Kerrick 4y ago
Right here! https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1683182-REG/boox_opc0875r_25_3_boox_mira_pro.html https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1683182-REG/boox_opc0... $1800 for a 25" monochrome E-ink monitor. The resolution is 3200 x 1800, but remember to consider that resolution in the context of E-ink rather than LCD.

NonNefarious 4y ago

I agree with you, but the refresh rate on E-paper is so hideous. And the panels are expensive as hell.

yusefnapora 4y ago

I'm hoping that we see more reflective LCD displays in the future. There's a 32 inch 1080p panel by Sun Vision that seems pretty remarkable, but I'm holding out hope for more pixel density, etc. If you haven't seen it, there's a very well done review at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQms-iHX9RQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQms-iHX9RQ

rcarr 4y ago

The way forward isn’t monitors and tvs at all, but 4k ultra short throw laser projectors like Samsung Premiere and Optoma P2. They’re like something out of Star Wars, don’t even need the curtains closed to use them. They’re starting to come down in price as well to around the £1500-£2000 mark, won’t be long before they break the £1000 mark. Can’t wait to get one of these for my home office in a few months.

egypturnash 4y ago
Have you seen these in action? I am skeptical of all "don't need curtains" claims for projectors unless they are based on actual experience, every shitty $100 pocket projector says you "don't need curtains" which is barely even technically true in most cases.
- rcarr 4y ago
  I was sceptical at first but then I saw some photos and YouTube videos of people using them. Have a look at this, it’s not an ultra short throw one but it is a 4k laser one. The guy is using it outside in broad daylight to watch Netflix: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nebula-Polaris-Pro-Projector-Black-Gray/dp/B09BJM4BZQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?crid=TYBWXFHJ44XY&keywords=anker+nebula+4k&qid=1662652990&sprefix=anker+nebula+4k%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1#review-media-gallery_1662653027545 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nebula-Polaris-Pro-Projector-Black-...
  - mburee 4y ago
    It claims 2400 lumens - I have a couple of flashlights in excess of 6000 and yeah, the light beam is visible in daylight but I can't see any way you'd project something with decent contrast even with that.
  - marcosdumay 4y ago
    You mean the promotional videos? You don't get to make black over a white surface in daylight.
    - rcarr 4y ago
      No I mean the user posted video and photo reviews on Amazon and also the odd YouTuber. And yes, it is not going to be as good as a TV outside in broad daylight. But they are almost definitely good enough to use inside with the curtains open. And if the light isn’t directly in your eyes like a monitor, do you even have to code in dark mode anymore?
  - tolmasky 4y ago
    That says it has a brightness of 2400 ISO Lumens, which roughly translates to about 600 nits according to this site[1], (although my back of the napkin math of 3.426 nits to lumens would give a worse 408 nit rating, but I think this page probably did a better job, so we'll go with that). This seems pretty low compared to even OLED TVs, which are of course worse than LCD TVs. I may be comparing peak brightness to average brightness though, hard to get a clear idea here. But, if my understanding is correct, with a project you'll also miss out on true blacks, right? 1. https://cybershack.com.au/cybershack/nebula-cosmos-laser-4k-finally-a-mini-projector-that-sees-the-light-review https://cybershack.com.au/cybershack/nebula-cosmos-laser-4k-...
Auracle 4y ago
I’ve had projectors ever since I was 14 years old but there’s no getting around the fact that the darkest their black level can get is however dark the screen is. Dark screens help but until we can project on something that’s essentially black they won’t be great for daytime viewing.
- jaywalk 4y ago
  Looking at the marketing pages for the two projectors mentioned is hilarious. They show images projected onto brightly-lit white walls with areas that are significantly darker than the wall, which is of course impossible. Unless/until some material comes along that is tuned somehow to only reflect light that comes from the projector, they'll have to remain limited to dark rooms.
  - rcarr 4y ago
    Have a look at this, looks pretty visible to me: https://youtu.be/nu2OZq8A-AI https://youtu.be/nu2OZq8A-AI
    - jaywalk 4y ago
      I wasn't talking about visibility. I was referring to the marketing pictures showing the projectors essentially "projecting darkness" which is impossible. No part of a projected image can possibly be darker than the surface it's being projected onto.
    - pwinnski 4y ago
      That video demonstrates the problem exactly. The "before" shot shows a clip from Lightyear which takes place in the black of space, and the screen is filled with high-contrast bright colors on a completely-black background. The "after" shot is of a bright sunny day where a car (low contrast despite the bright red color, to my eyes) drives through a desert. You could hardly ask for more directly opposite videos. For a real comparison, I'd have liked to see the same Lightyear clip on both setups.
  - unstatusthequo 4y ago
xxs 4y ago
You will have to paint your walls in (vanta) black.
- detritus 4y ago
  I know you're joking, but that would just result in a pretty-much black screen, no matter how much white was thrown at it :)
  - madetoshareqs 4y ago
    On the other hand, the contrast ratio would be really good. :)
    - jstanley 4y ago
      How would it?
      - hnuser123456 4y ago
        One photon in bright areas is infinite contrast ratio to zero photons in black areas
NonNefarious 4y ago
My "TV" is a projector, but I don't consider it practical for computer work. When 100" micro-LED panels come out, the projector is going away for good.
- smileysteve 4y ago
  Or the opposite, when glasses can have built in 1440p "augmented reality" oleds, each viewer can have as big of a display, with black pixels, as they want.
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    My VR headset is 1400p per eye and GARBAGE for looking at text on a virtual screen. Any display tech that expects you to focus at a virtual plane for long periods of time will really hurt your eyes, and be basically unusable for many people. If you struggle in nice 3D movies to feel like your eyes are comfortable, you will have that same feeling in a VR or AR glasses situation. Basically, any system that requires your eyes to focus on a physical screen that isn't the same distance as virtual objects will piss off your brain, because it knows something is going on, and hates being tricked without consent. Some people I think can ignore this effect to some extent, others cannot. It also strains your eyes more than focusing on an actual 2D screen so increases eye fatigue compared.
  - NonNefarious 4y ago
    If that's your idea of a fun viewing party, go for it. I'll stick with the big-screen experience.
jnsie 4y ago
How long before we can replace monitors with virtual monitors via AR? I feel like we take for granted that we have TVs taking up huge chunks of our living rooms and monitors of our offices. Obviously resolution is a (huge) issue. Another, for TV at least, is the communal aspect (synchronized virtual TVs, anyone?) but it seems like the future is on without physical monitors/TVs. I wonder how distant a future that is...
- rcarr 4y ago
  There’s the nreal air glasses that you can buy today for £400 and some Lenovo glasses that were posted on hn recently that are coming next year. The future is already here: https://youtu.be/bj8hMtWeTUg https://youtu.be/bj8hMtWeTUg
- autoexec 4y ago
  > How long before we can replace monitors with virtual monitors via AR? Hopefully never. People who don't wear glasses don't need something on their face to watch TV, people who do need glasses don't need to worry about AR googles meaning they have to choose between seeing a screen clearly or everything else and nobody has to worry about the AR goggle company watching and logging everything you see and plastering everything in your line of sight with ads. I don't think physical screens are going anywhere anytime soon. I wouldn't mind having every wall in my home capable of being a screen though. Screen-as-wallpaper would be very nice since you could create smaller virtual screens on any wall wherever you needed one and it would mean you could change your wallpaper/color on a whim.
unstatusthequo 4y ago
Yes these are great. I have one from VAVA, and got a special screen to display it on that also helps prevent other light from affecting the lasers from the UST lens. It’s great for TV. Sure, black levels aren’t perfect, but I’ll give that up for a 10 foot screen. Not sure I’d use it for my office. I feel like an array of monitors or a really nice 8k would be better.

nebula8804 4y ago

Here is a video comparing two that are on the market. [1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fycfiWPypkY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fycfiWPypkY

user3939382 4y ago

I resisted ebook readers since the day they came out, out of an irrational sense of betraying "real" books which I love. I recently got one (Kobo Libra 2) and mannn these eink displays are SO nice to look at compared to my LED display. Literally night and day.

NeuNeurosis 4y ago
Thanks for sharing. Do you have one of those that you shared? If you do what is your experience like?
marssaxman 4y ago
I had a similar experience. I love real books and hate locked-down corporate ecosystems. But... at my sweetie's suggestion, I bought a Kobo Libra for a trip where I had no space for books, and I have to admit that it is nice. It weighs nothing, pages turn effortlessly, it remembers my place, the battery lasts forever, and the screen is really sharp. You can resize the text, and the device just magically reworks the layout, as if it came from the press that way. Beyond that, it syncs with my library account - I don't even use the Kobo store! I've actually been using it to read with my ten-year-old. We take turns, alternating chapters. "Snuggling up on the couch with a child and an e-reader" does not have the same romantic ring, but the stories are just as engaging and I think the e-reader with its push-button page-flip is actually better for smaller, less-dextrous hands.
- pjerem 4y ago
  > the battery lasts forever That is true. I recharge my E-ink reader multiple times … per year.
boltzmann-brain 4y ago
as someone who's spent ages reading books before ebooks were a thing and before LCD technology became popular, I'm quite the opposite - I can't be happy enough about LCD technolgy being around, especially if compared to an old yellowed book that's been printed off the same plates for 20 years and which you're reading in an only moderately well lit room. although LED technology again helps here because all that books-before-LCD experience comes from the days of incandescent light bulbs and nascent "energy saving" fluorescent compacts with edison screw.

tsol 4y ago

You know I've never considered this, but that's probably one of the only pain points with monitors now. If they can find some way to not make it feel like I'm been staring at light bulb during the night time I would really be interested in paying premium prices. Screens definitely mess with my circadian rhythm. Otherwise at this point all I'm interested in is a basic monitor

whatshisface 4y ago
If you combine an accurate ambient light sensor with a regular old LCD you can do that pretty well, because you don't need to vary the brightness across the screen to simulate diffuse reflections from an uneven light source to get the effect you want. Also check out those programs that redshift your monitor. Finally, try turning down your monitor's brightness.
Night_Thastus 4y ago
It's not a cure-all, but third-party tools like f.lux can change the colors of the monitor at early morning/late night to drastically reduce the problem. I used to have incredibly sore eyes from late-night sessions, and now that problem is completely gone. Been using it for years and will never go back. It does take a little while to get used to at first, but it quickly becomes natural. Windows also has a built-in tool to do the same thing, but it's not as robust/customizable iirc.
nix0n 4y ago
Blue-light blocking glasses have helped me with this.
NonNefarious 4y ago
The long-overdue move away from inverse color schemes (dark text on a white background) has certainly helped.
marcosdumay 4y ago
Just adding a reasonable control on the brightness is already enough to solve this. Make the monitor's bottom some not too bright white, and it's solved for outside usage too. Liquid crystal displays can actually adapt to almost any circumstance. It's the manufacturer's fault that they force it into "store-bright" and won't let you change.

stetrain 4y ago

https://www.sunvisiondisplay.com/reflective-lcd-monitor https://www.sunvisiondisplay.com/reflective-lcd-monitor

dominotw 4y ago

Has e-ink been shown to be better for eyes. I was under the impression that most of the damage comes from focusing your eyes on screen all day ( vs backlight )

ianai 4y ago

Maybe bendable screens are a valley we have to go through to get the transparent, nearly expendable phones from the Expanse?

vvilliamperez 4y ago

From what I know, e-ink tech is and has been very feasible, but is on hold since it's under patent. The company that holds the patent is notoriously slow to reach any licensing deals in a timely fashion to bring a product to market. Not to mention their exorbitant licensing fees. The end product turns out to be to expensive to market. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink

robinsoh 4y ago
> From what I know, e-ink tech is and has been very feasible, but is on hold since it's under patent. The company that holds the patent is notoriously slow to reach any licensing deals in a timely fashion to bring a product to market. Not to mention their exorbitant licensing fees. The end product turns out to be to expensive to market. "From what I know". Could you clarify? This is first hand knowledge based on industry experience? Could you please cite which specific patent you're referring to and what you mean by "e-ink tech" and "has been very feasible"? I'm assuming you actually have detailed knowledge of the display technology. Could you also please cite some evidence for the "notoriously slow to reach any licensing deals"? I'm assuming you actually have detailed knowledge of these licensing deals you're referring to. Hopefully your citation will be something other than a HN post by a throwaway account and blogs that cite that specific HN post and other HN posts that infinite loop circle back on those blog posts. Hopefully you'll give the rest of us first hand evidence and a reply based on actual experience that you personally have from years working in the electrophoretic display industry where you were held back under E-Ink's titanium and carbon coated jack boot and patent-waterboarded with high viscosity electrophoretic solvent? :-D That's the evidence the rest of us have been eagerly seeking to see and hear. I look forward with bated breath. Thank you. I ask this, perhaps a little comically disingenously since I work in the display industry (not for E Ink) and I've asked the exact same question so many times on HN and have never gotten even a remotely satisfying answer which makes me think your extremely confident claim in your post, like the many before it are just Dunning Kruger in effect. But I'll still keep a sliver of a slightly open mind so that I can be convinced. Otherwise, I would recommend everyone treat your type of comment as equivalent to someone in the farming industry alleging that a good solid operating system has been very feasible but IBM is holding back the software industry with their patents and is notoriously slow to reach any licensing deals.

Kerrick 4y ago

Right here! https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1683182-REG/boox_opc0875r_25_3_boox_mira_pro.html https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1683182-REG/boox_opc0... $1800 for a 25" monochrome E-ink monitor. The resolution is 3200 x 1800, but remember to consider that resolution in the context of E-ink rather than LCD.