This article is from WeChat official account:AppSo (ID: appsolution), author: Zhu Hai, from the head of FIG: pixabay
Recently, according to a video from GoodEReader.com, the electronic ink company (E Ink Corporation) has developed a foldable electronic reading Prototype.
After the prototype of this reader is unfolded, the screen is 10.3 inches. The folding part adopts a hinge design. There are two lighting strips on the top. There are 5 dedicated buttons on the lower right side of the device. The prototype also integrates Wacom technology to achieve Use pen to write notes, make notes and highlight paragraphs and other functions.
In recent years, electronic ink screens have been exploring their own application scenarios, and many ink screen products have appeared, such as ink screen tablets, ink screen smart alarm clocks, electronic paper, etc. Even a few years ago, many people were not optimistic. Ink screen mobile phones also ushered in the “spring of consumption”.
Why does the electronic ink display save power?
▲SONY electronic paper. Picture from: SONY official website
In 1996, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory conducted a study using electrophoresis technology to achieve the effect of screen display. The study found that the display effect of the screen was very close to real paper, so it was called “electronic paper.”
The reason why the electronic ink screen saves power is that the electronic ink is very similar to the ink used in printing, and they are made of pigments. Electronic ink is usually made into a thin film consisting of a large number of microcapsules, which are only the diameter of a human hair. The black and white pellets in the microcapsules are pigment particles with different charges. In the initial state, the pigment particles are suspended in the microcapsules. When an electric field is applied in a certain direction, the corresponding pigment particles are pushed to the top, and the microcapsules will show different Different colors of microcapsules make up various characters and patterns.
Therefore, the electronic ink screen consumes almost no power when displaying static content. Even if the electronic ink screen is not powered by electricity, it can always display the final still image, and there is no stroboscopic during the static display process, which can greatly relieve eyesight fatigue.
The three outstanding features of “display effect close to real paper”, “low power consumption” and “eye protection” are destined to have a place in the consumer market for electronic ink screens.
cover instant noodles? Not only kindle
From the statistical table, the price of readers under 8 inches ranges from 600 yuan to 2,000 yuan, and we can find any “cover artifact” that meets the needs.
The tablet market? I also want to plug in the ink screen
▲iReader Smart and kindle
The success of the iPad has allowed manufacturers to see the potential of large-screen products, and e-reader manufacturers naturally want to get a share. However, the electronic ink screen has encountered a fatal problem: uneven backlighting.
With the popularity of e-readers, reading in a dark environment has become a rigid demand. For this reason, developers have added backlights to the ink screen.
The backlight of the ink screen is generally placed on the top and bottom of the screen. The bright screen effect is achieved by scattering, and it is difficult to achieve absolute uniform lighting.
▲The problem of uneven backlight at night is more obvious
InkWhen the size of the water screen is small, this shortcoming is not very prominent. When the size becomes larger, the shortcomings are enlarged, which greatly affects the reading experience. A few years ago, many readers over 8 inches did not have a backlight function for this reason.
With the advancement of technology, the backlight problem has been solved. In some scenes, it is difficult for users to distinguish with the naked eye whether the backlight is uniform, and the ink screen also sounded the clarion call to “enter” the tablet market: equipped with electromagnetic pens, suitable for design Large screen UI, development of apps suitable for ink screen tablets, etc. This established the second form of electronic ink screens: multifunctional electronic paper.
The ink screen that solves the backlight problem is no longer a simple reading screen, but can also carry many functions. The previous closed system can no longer meet the needs, so many manufacturers have equipped their products with Android systems, which has expanded the memory. Take notes, annotate PDF, listen to music, browse the web and even watch videos. The ink screen finally broke the last barrier-the system, which allowed more people to try it.
▲WeChat Reading app is the first to launch an ink screen version. Picture from: WeChat Reading official website
Mobile phone? Ink screen means “I can”
▲YotaPhone 2
Mobile Internet has cultivated people’s reading habit using mobile phones, but many people report that reading with mobile phones can cause eye fatigue and even cause and aggravate eye diseases.
The factors restricting the advancement of ink screens have been solved one by one, and people have the need to protect their eyes and read on mobile phones. The combination of ink screens and mobile phones appears to be a matter of course.
The first ink-screen mobile phone that attracted large-scale attention from domestic users was YotaPhone. It has an AMOLED screen on the front and an electronic ink screen on the back. Both screens are driven by the mobile phone’s CPU and other core components.
The dual-screen design of YotaPhone is both an advantage and a disadvantage. If the user needs a mobile phone-sized ink screen, it can meet the demand well, but this requires the user to sacrifice the experience of the mobile phone. Using one may not be satisfactory. The mobile phone you need.
So why not be thorough and separate the smartphone from the ink screen phone?
Because of this, mobile phones equipped with a single ink screen have appeared. Ink screen phones such as Tencent PocketRead, Hisense A5, and PalmRead FaceNote F1 have been sought after by niche groups, and they have emerged in the e-reader and smartphone markets. Here opened up a new market segment-ink screen mobile phone readers.
This established the third form of electronic ink screens: Internet portals.
▲Left: Tencent Pocket Reader. Right: Hisense A5
fold? For what?
From the reading screen, to the multifunctional electronic paper, to the Internet portal, the “toss” of the electronic ink screen has not stopped, and it has ushered in a foldable form.
When I first saw the prototype of the foldable e-reader, I was a little confused. In order to carry a 10.3-inch ink screen with 6 inches of space, the appearance of creases and the increase in weight obviously make this behavior more than worthwhile.
So what is the purpose of developing a folding electronic ink screen? This should be found from the origin of the electronic ink screen.
In recent years, some kindle users believe that the progress of ink screen readers has basically stagnated. It is nothing more than the problems of “big and small”, “black color” and “closed and open” screens. Even the ink screen color mobile phone can not escape its own limitations, “essentially a smarter ink screen.”
These seemingly small features of variable space are precisely the advantages of the electronic ink screen. It is a refreshable, controllable, and energy-saving information output carrier.
In many scenes, electronic ink screens have outstanding advantages, such as stop signs at bus stations, price tags in supermarkets, and display screens for calling numbers in hospitals. Using printed matter such as paper or plastic for information output is wasteful and cannot be refreshed. Repeated disassembly and installation require more labor. If you use an electronic ink screen, these problems can be solved.
▲Ink screen product labels have been widely used
If the electronic ink screen can be folded, it will change from a two-dimensional information output carrier to a three-dimensional. In the future, there will be ink in corners, curved parts, and any irregular or uneven shapes. The possibility of the appearance of the screen, its form will have a new round of changes.
For example, the wristbands used by hospitalized patients may one day have electronic ink screens, and the system controls to display basic patient information and medication reminders. It is light enough to save power, no direct light source does not affect sleep, display content is controllable, and it saves labor and resources.
Some people say that the future of electronic ink screens lies in whether it can become more and more like LCD screens. I only agree with half of this view. Ink screens can only become more and more like LCD screens in certain physical characteristics. A good future depends on whether it can maintain the three advantages of “display effect close to real paper”, “low power consumption” and “eye protection”.
Just as Li Zhenghao, Chairman of Yuantai Technology’s (the company that acquired E Ink) said: “The future goal of electronic paper is to replace paper. Instead of competing with LCD screens.”
This article is from WeChat official account: AppSo (ID: appsolution) , Author: Zhu Hai