These would make a great wristwatch, so you can get perpetual display of time with virtually zero power, and should get long battery life.
E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?
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Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?
#22It's always going to be dodgy until the graphical OS you're running is aware of what eInk is, and adapts the UI toolkit and general rendering to play to eInk's strengths.
This might be one of those situations where things have to move forward imperfectly. First some people get eInk monitors, then OS developers see that there are at least some real users and some concrete reason to believe there's a payoff in supporting them. Then decent software support will encourage more people to get eInk monitors, and that will encourage OS developers to turn decent software support into good soft…
My worry is that E-Ink Monitors will never reach the "minimum quality" point at which they are adopted by a sufficient number of people to get the ball rolling.
I don't suffer from any medical reason to use one, but, I would absolutely purchase one this second (any pay a lot for it) if it worked well. Unfortunately, what I've seen so far from the Dasung and the Onyx, isn't worth $800. I just hope these companies have enough runway to continue improving the product such that early adopters like myself, will jump in.
Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?
#23I wish Sharp Memory LCDs[1] were made in 20"+ format. They're a hybrid between LCDs and E-paper displays with extremely fast refresh rates and the contrast is almost as good as ePaper displays. I think monochrome displays would be fantastic for distraction-free coding or reading. What's interesting is that you just need to toggle VCOM signal either through software or external source every 1-2 seconds for about 10ms.…
Fascinating stuff. I wish this technology was available for computer monitor usage. I'd love to try it out.
Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
You get a LOT more light from a backlight than from reflection, at least in indoor conditions.
I can turn my monitor down so it's dimmer than a sheet of white paper on my desk. If I aim a desk lamp directly at the paper I can make it brighter than the monitor on full brightness. There's no standard brightness for monitor or paper.
But can you actually READ your monitor when it’s dimmer than a sheet of paper in ambient light?
Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can turn my monitor down so it's dimmer than a sheet of white paper on my desk. If I aim a desk lamp directly at the paper I can make it brighter than the monitor on full brightness. There's no standard brightness for monitor or paper.
But can you actually READ your monitor when it’s dimmer than a sheet of paper in ambient light?
If the contrast of the text is high enough, yes. For many websites this means custom CSS to disable the gray font color, but I do that anyway.
Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?
#26A 40 Hz model is already down to $1000. We may be on the cusp of some kind of sea change here. How insanely light could an E-Ink flatscreen monitor get? You don't need a backlight, so the power requirements would be much smaller and that would be a huge advantage to making something light. I could imagine an updated version of a "Sunflower" iMac built using one. MacOS resembling a magazine seems to be what Steve Jobs envisioned and what Apple is aiming for right now. Could they be made in such a way as to resemble good sheet material for acoustic exciters?
Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?
#27I would give up my code colouring for an e-ink monitor for coding. Such a delightful possible future here.
Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?
#28And with Exeger e-ink devices will have eternal life :)
Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17724995 Was a good thread
I don't see anything related to reflectivity vs. backlight illumination. Most of the discussion is around the wavelength of light (blue) and its effects.
does light have any other intrinsic properties besides spectrum/wavelengths and intensity (EDIT: properties that vary based on the light source alone)? It doesn't matter if it came from a backlight or reflection, the electromagnetic waves are still electromagnetic waves. If the color spectrum is unpleasant, it's possible to use Night Shift or other features to shift the spectrum. If the intensity is unpleasant, just turn down the brightness.
Re: E-Ink Monitors: Ready for Prime Time?
#30> It turns out that staring at back-lit computer monitors for 40+ hours a week might not be the best thing for you. Source? Light is still hitting your retinas, whether it comes from reflection or from a backlight. I really enjoy E-Ink displays, but not because of perceived health benefits from reflected light. I enjoy how readable they are under sunlight, how they consume zero energy to show a static image, and how…
You get a LOT more light from a backlight than from reflection, at least in indoor conditions.
That's just a function of monitor brightness, it has no connection to whether the light was reflected or not.
If a monitor has bad contrast and you turn up the brightness, that's not the fault of the light source. That monitor still won't even come close to the amount of blue light that a blue sky emits, even at maximum brightness.
Personally, I think all monitors made in the last 10 years should be as legible at low brightness as a piece of paper is in an equally poorly lit room.