

EInk Screen Acts Nearly Like An LCD Screen - mikecane
http://mikecanex.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/eink-screen-acts-nearly-like-an-lcd-screen/

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zzzmarcus
It's hard to tell from the video, but he's showing both before and after the
hack. Each time he switches to a new activity he shows the normal mode with
full refreshes every time anything happens, then he taps the screen four times
on the right side of the screen and it switches to the higher refresh rate
where animation looks significantly better.

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joshu
He switches at :24, for those that closed the window the first time.

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cbr
It's all about low expectations. If I didn't know how hard it is to do this
with e-ink that video would have made me think "man, that tablet sucks!".

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jonny_eh
My Kobo Touch, released last year, can do the same stuff. What's so special
about not refreshing an eink display?

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polshaw
This is potentially fantastic. But what i'd really like to know is how does
this affect the battery life-- how much more power efficient (if at all) is it
than an LCD when you are scrolling or such??

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ekianjo
I wonder why we still use the same old E-ink technology on the market right
now. There are a number of other technologies (Mirasol, Liquavista, and more)
which are better in terms of contrast, refresh rates and all. It could be all
linked to pricing: if nobody is ready to pay for a e-reader costing more than
xxx dollars, maybe we will be stuck with E-ink for a long time. It may be "Ok"
for some people, but for me e-ink has a far too low resolution to be
attractive enough to replace paper.

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antimatter15
This is a bit off topic but my Kindle Touch makes a high pitched squeal every
time the E-Ink display updates (It sounds sort of like a muffled hard drive
seeking). It's only possible to notice when it's really really quiet, and it
might be high enough that adults can't hear it. I've been wondering if this is
specifically a Kindle thing or an E-ink thing in general, and if the screen
didn't refresh the noise might become extremely irritating if used in a quiet
setting.

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mbell
most likely a ceramic capacitor in the display power circuit (piezoelectric
effect).

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joejohnson
Wow, that looks awful. I'm sure it's terrible for battery life, too, so why
not just use a screen that's designed to be more than static paper? I guess
this is kind of clever... what will be really amazing is when LCD/eInk hybrid
screens become a reality.

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replax
You may want to take a look at PixelQi Displays, they already built a hybrid.
It is not perfect by all means, but it gets really close. There is a tablet
based on it as well, the NotionInk Adam [1].

[1] www.notionink.com

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joejohnson
That's kind of cool, thanks.

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gojomo
Not too shabby. I could get used to the lag and flashing, in return for
visibility in sunlight.

Any idea if this ruins screen lifetime or brings battery life to even worse
than LCD (with so many repaints)?

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gnarbarian
it would wreck your battery life because the life of the battery is almost
directly tied to the number of screen refreshes.

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corysama
I wonder why it's so slow sometimes and so fast others. Also, where the `ell
are the Pixel Qi readers? The B&W mode on the original OLPC is like a LCD
pretty effectively emulating eInk as opposed to this case of eInk trying to
catch up to an LCD.

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polshaw
As the linked XDA developers thread explains, this is showing both 'normal'
and fast-refresh mode. So the times when it is fast are the point of this
video.

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redthrowaway
This reminds me of my dad's old 486 laptop with monochrome monitor and
ridiculously slow refresh rates. To get this out of e-ink, a technology
designed for static text and images, is pretty damned cool.

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warfangle
This looks absolutely terrible compared to some electrowetting technologies
(e.g., <http://www.pixelqi.com/> )

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URSpider94
Pixel Qi is not electrowetting, it's LCD.

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staunch
EInk is screwed right? Am I right in thinking that its only advantages are
superfluous readability and battery life?

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noveltyaccount
It's a matter of taste, as evidenced by the success of both eInk and LCD
devices on the market. For me personally, I think the improved readability is
well beyond superfluous: I regularly bring my Kindle to the beach and read in
direct sunlight, a feat that's not possible with other display tech right now.
Plus I can bring an eInk device with me on holiday and not worry about
charging it or even packing a charger is a win in convenience.

Someone pinch me when PixelQi becomes mainstream, or Samsung does something
with their Liquavista purchase, or maybe when Mirasol shows up in the market.

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jonhendry
Everything I've seen of Mirasol makes it look like the colors are really
washed out. Reminds me a bit of Polaroid transfers:

[http://media.lawrence.com/img/croppedphotos/2008/08/23/psu_b...](http://media.lawrence.com/img/croppedphotos/2008/08/23/psu_behind_lens_polaroid_th_t640.jpg?a6ea3ebd4438a44b86d2e9c39ecf7613005fe067)

