
E-Ink Case Turns the Back of Your Phone Into a Second Screen - rkudeshi
http://www.wired.com/design/2012/11/popslate-e-ink-phone-case/
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JanezStupar
As a guy with hands on e-ink experience I have to point out that the actual
product will prove to be extremely underwhelming.

Please note that this video is a montage and that there is absolutely no way
this kind of performance could be achieved in present day. Also their plans
for future (and indeed promises) rests solely on vapourware (think somebody
promising a sick mod for Duke Nukem Forever in 2003).

These guys will learn the hard way that setting expectations too high can
backfire massively.

To me the disconnect between "demoed" product and actual capabilities of
technology are in the same ballpark as enterprise software sales.

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MiguelHudnandez
Does anyone else have a problem with the obviously unrealistic video? I have
never seen an e-ink display running at ~30FPS smoothly.

~~~
jdlshore
Yes, it makes me question the legitimacy of the whole project. In addition to
the surprising smoothness, the picture of the bridge is in (washed out) color,
although they said color wouldn't be available until 2014. And how is the case
drawing power? I would expect there to be a bulge at the base of the case.
Also, they showed touch-sensitivity in the video. Is that real?

According to his LinkedIn profile, Gregory Moon is an MD. I couldn't see
Yashar Behzadi's LinkedIn profile, but he's listed under
"Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing," which is a bit reassuring. Still, I
want to see evidence of a real prototype.

~~~
MaxGabriel
The article says that they don't have any touch sensitivity -- their app uses
the iPhone accelerometer to detect touches. Sounds like a good feature for the
app (like as a way to preview what your photos will look like on the e-ink),
but it would only work when the app is running, and the indiegogo page doesn't
make that clear.

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toyg
Personally, I would love this and I'll probably reserve one after Christmas.

To make a real splash they'll need to push the price down to $49 IMHO, and
teenagers will go wild. Then have an expensive version for the grown-up tablet
market, "a Kindle without the Kindle".

If they can push the price down enough, in the long run, this is the future of
gadget cases.

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goldfeld
Can't wait to see it come to Android--I'd even change into whatever model they
support first, as I think this back screen would see far more use from me than
my smartphone ever does. Now if only it could support Wacom, and if that
wasn't crappy like the Galaxy Note, that'd be my dream phone.

By not crappy, I mean something feeling quite close to writing on paper, such
as the old HP TC1100 (can't get rid of mine). I wonder if there's any new
tablet that feels as good.

~~~
bsimpson
Can e-ink address individual pixels like that? Seems like it should be able
to, but the demos you see always involve full screen refreshes.

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bitwize
Yes, you can change individual pixels or sub-full-screen regions. But because
the pixels are cells of white titanium-dioxide particles suspended in a
liquid, simply writing a new pixel value may leave a few particles floating
around.

To correct this, older Kindles and Nooks used to flash the screen all white
and then all black before displaying a new page. Later models only do this
every few page turns (I think on my Nook Simple Touch it's 6).

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cwe
Link to actual project on indiegogo:

<http://www.indiegogo.com/popslate>

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a1k0n
The refresh rates on the demo video are incredible for an e-ink screen. Is
that even real? Is this some new generation e-ink screen?

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nodata
Compare with the Nook Playstation video:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?fv=mXiiaprv3do>

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Penol
Did you mean: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXiiaprv3do> ? ;) Interesting
anyway, if it's real. Is there a way to obtain the sourcecode or binaries
anywhere?

~~~
CrazedGeek
Looks to me to be FPse [1] running on a rooted NST [2].

[1]
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emulator.f...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emulator.fpse)

[2] To root: <http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1675706> . It's
not a simple process, sadly.

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bcoates
They claim to be using a plastic substrate and to be "nearly indestructible"
(which makes sense, a glass substrate e-ink would last about a day the way I
use a phone).

Is that really available on the market yet? As far as I can tell I can't buy a
plastic substrate e-reader today, although it's been predicted to be a few
months away for years.

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nicw
I'm not seeing details on whether the Lightning port is still available for
docking & data. The 'specs' say that it uses the lightning port for power, but
not if you can still plug in your own device.

I don't think you can because of this (from the site FAQ): How do I charge my
phone with popSLATE?

There is a micro-USB charging port on your popSLATE that passes charge through
to your phone so you don't have to take the cover off.

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state_machine
> There is a micro-USB charging port on your popSLATE that passes charge
> through to your phone so you don't have to take the cover off.

Almost as appealing as the screen is that I could charge my phone with any
Micro USB cord, instead of these $20 Lightning cables.

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savrajsingh
About two years ago I wrongly guessed that the iPhone 5 would have e-Ink on
the back, because the iPhone 4 had glass on both sides, hinting that the back
would eventually become a display, too. Glad someone is doing this, cool stuff
if it works! ;)

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Amadou
I'd rather use the back and sides as a "smart" chording-keyboard -- make the
entire surface pressure sensitive with a decent enough resolution to map each
finger and then automagically assign the right key to each finger based on the
location and total number of all detected fingers.

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freshfey
I'm wondering whether it is going to be possible to use this for reading.
Because right now in the video it looks more like a screensaving feature with
the pictures.

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ville
Reminds me of Geode that used a similar screen in an iPhone cade as a "virtual
payment card". I think it might be more suitable for a vanity product like
this.

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wooptoo
I'm still wanting for the hybrid LCD - eInk display.

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shardling
But how would that work, exactly? Neither can be made transparent to the
other, in their current incarnation.

Seems likely to me that we'll have fast refresh, color e-ink displays before
it becomes possible to meld them with LEDs.

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broabprobe
Darn, I had this idea like 5 years ago. Oh well, at least now it's real and I
didn't have to make it myself.

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Tyrant505
You had 5 years :)

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ansgri
This is one of those ideas that you wish someone executed but don't want to
dedicate whole 2--5 years to it yourself.

