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How E Ink developed full-color e-paper

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Re: How E Ink developed full-color e-paper

#81

Post by hutzlibu »

Retric wrote: post #79
hutzlibu wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From wikipedia: "As of 2015, the IMOD Mirasol display laboratory in Longtan, Taiwan, formerly run by Qualcomm, is now apparently run by Apple." So even if something comes out of it - it would be probably just locked into apples garden.

That’s just Apple reusing the physical factory not the tech. Qualcomm completely abandoned the technology and couldn’t find anyone to license it.

Thanks, but that is allmost equally disappointing as it hints there were major problems with the technology.

Re: How E Ink developed full-color e-paper

#82

Post by ineedasername »

smasher164 wrote: post #45
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #2

This is second hand info, so sorry if it's totally wrong, I'll edit this: E-ink tech is great, but patents and other paper-limitations are slowing down developments of cheap e-ink devices devices, and e-ink will become "great again", when patents expire. I personally see many, many usecases of e-ink all around me, but the prices are way too high for anything that is not either really small or a repurposed old existin…

Yeah, I'd love a mechanical keyboard where each individual keycap was its own E-ink display. This would let you change layouts on the fly and have it reflected on the keys.

This claims to be shipping in March: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nemeio-the-customizable-g...

Re: How E Ink developed full-color e-paper

#83

Post by salamandersauce »

solarkraft wrote: post #46
ineedasername wrote: post #38

The article misses a significant device: Onyx Nova 3. The major difference between its prior color offering (poke 2) is the integration of a Wacom layer that makes this very good for note taking. The other hardware and software improvements appear to be incremental. Of particular note with all Onyx readers is that they run Android, opening up the ecosystem of the Play store and particularly your note-taking app of ch…

I have a Boox Nova 2 and can mostly recommend it. It's true that Onyx violates the GPL and has some privacy concerns around it, but on the upside the bootloader is unlocked by default and you can root the system fairly easily, allowing you to install a firewall restricting some of the phoning home ( https://blog.tho.ms/hacks/2021/03/27/hacking-onyx-boox-note-... ). I'm beginning to use it as a general purpose Android…

Why do you say the Boox Note app is unusable? It works well in my experience, it can sync automatically to Dropbox and I can sync notebooks between my two Boox devices. The only thing that sucks is the text recognition IMO. But it's got templates, layers, different stroke types down.

Having tried the Onenote mode it's a bit of a hack and doesn't feel great to use.

Re: How E Ink developed full-color e-paper

#84

Post by empalms »

nebula8804 wrote: post #63
empalms wrote: post #20

Every time an E Ink article is posted the patent defeatism is inevitable. I’m curious if there are other techniques to implement reflective(?) displays being explored that wouldn’t fall within the scope of E Ink’s defensible moat, or, if their parents are simply so broad as to stifle most hopes of accessible solutions and broader consumer/professional adoption. Frankly, I’m quite sick of straining my eyes and circadi…

Have you seen Dasung's Paperlike 253 monitor? [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aUizYZNbAE

Amazing, but does it stray into E Ink’s protective sphere?

No doubt there are manufacturers around the world who are exploring quality general-purpose reflective displays for consumer applications, the tech has been around for some time. I could be mistaken but it seems more a question of commercial viability rather than technical capability

Re: How E Ink developed full-color e-paper

#85

Post by smeej »

I've been using an Onyx Boox Poke 2 Color for about a year now, mostly to upload epubs and highlight in 4 colors using Google Play Books, which then sends all the highlights to a Google Doc per book. I'd say that device is "color" like the Gameboy Color was "color." It certainly isn't vivid, but the colors are distinguishable.

I wish I knew how to take that output (a really annoying table format) and process it into an outline, though. That would be a real game-changer for me!

Re: How E Ink developed full-color e-paper

#86

Post by smasher164 »

ineedasername wrote: post #82
smasher164 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'd love a mechanical keyboard where each individual keycap was its own E-ink display. This would let you change layouts on the fly and have it reflected on the keys.

This claims to be shipping in March: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nemeio-the-customizable-g...

Those clear plastic key-caps do not look nice to type on. Also, this seems to be using a single E-ink screen underneath.

Re: How E Ink developed full-color e-paper

#87

Post by nicoburns »

hutzlibu wrote: post #69
nicoburns wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Qualcomm are sitting on a reflective display technology "mirasol" that: 1. Doesn't hit E-ink's patents 2. Is colour 3. Has fast lcd-like refresh rates The reviews of the few devices that were made were excellent. The main problem seemed to be the quality of other aspects of the devices that featured them. I find it incredibly frustrating that this hasn't made it into the mainstream.

From wikipedia: "As of 2015, the IMOD Mirasol display laboratory in Longtan, Taiwan, formerly run by Qualcomm, is now apparently run by Apple." So even if something comes out of it - it would be probably just locked into apples garden.

I don't think they are, but Apple coming out with this tech would be ideal: everyone copies Apple!

Re: How E Ink developed full-color e-paper

#88

Post by withinboredom »

smasher164 wrote: post #45
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #2

This is second hand info, so sorry if it's totally wrong, I'll edit this: E-ink tech is great, but patents and other paper-limitations are slowing down developments of cheap e-ink devices devices, and e-ink will become "great again", when patents expire. I personally see many, many usecases of e-ink all around me, but the prices are way too high for anything that is not either really small or a repurposed old existin…

Yeah, I'd love a mechanical keyboard where each individual keycap was its own E-ink display. This would let you change layouts on the fly and have it reflected on the keys.

“George, why did you send ‘I’m a panda’ in the main channel?” George: “I think someone hacked my keyboard when I went to the bathroom.”

Re: How E Ink developed full-color e-paper

#89

Post by cogman10 »

aeturnum wrote: post #34
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #2

This is second hand info, so sorry if it's totally wrong, I'll edit this: E-ink tech is great, but patents and other paper-limitations are slowing down developments of cheap e-ink devices devices, and e-ink will become "great again", when patents expire. I personally see many, many usecases of e-ink all around me, but the prices are way too high for anything that is not either really small or a repurposed old existin…

There are areas where I am more skeptical of how patents are used (see: publicly funded medical research that creates privately owned patents), but I just don't see this as a problem in this case. This isn't an essential technology - it's a nice addition to our display options. There's every reason to believe that new tech has actual new costs associated with it and that inventions might require elevated rates to mak…

The issue is the length of time. It takes a year or 2 for most companies to make these sorts of breakthroughs. Yet they are grant 20 years of ownership over the idea. It isn't as if the e-ink investment was a billion dollars and years of arduous research.

By them owning the patents to e-ink, others that might contribute and advance the technology are blocked out all together.

To me, it's reasonable to simply cut the tech patent timeframe. Rather than 20 years, what if we moved it back to 15, 10, or 5 years?

Re: How E Ink developed full-color e-paper

#90

Post by ineedasername »

amelius wrote: post #24

The colors in the opening image look faded.

They are very faded compared to a normal screen. With no backlight and in direct natural light, the Kaleido screens look similar to a color newspaper or many comics. (Some comics use paper and printing that produces much more vibrant color though)

In artificial light a lot depends on the specifics of the environment. Trying one out in warmer light, somewhat indirectly (light overhead, screen partly vertical for reading) it was a little dark, and needed the backlight. It was a cool backlight, so the warm overhead light combined with it to counteract a bit of the shift toward blue. In the dark w/o external light, the cool backlight very much shifted color towards blue.

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