What exactly is e-ink technology ?

[patrickt]

JeremyR: "Is it just me, or is one of the most infuriating things about the internet when someone just says "Google it" or patronizingly gives a link to Google?"

No, JeremyR, what I find most infuriating are the self-centered people who think it's my job to do their research for them. It's especially infuriating when it would take all of thirty seconds to do it themselves. I suspect the reason a person would want others to serve them is an overwhelming sense of inferiority.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Also what are you doing in a forum where people talk to people and ask questions to people since it can all be done with google.

But to answer your question: I suspect he's here for the problems that can't be solved and questions that can't be answered by a simple google search.

[Bricorn]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

e-Ink is a display technology developed by e-Ink Holdings, Inc., growing out of research done at MIT's Media Lab, and often called "electronic paper". e-Ink is the designer, and licenses the technology to foundries who actually make the displays.

Wikipedia has a good background article on the technology here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink

e-Ink's official explanation of the technology is here:
http://www.eink.com/technology.html

It's popular in dedicated ebook readers for several reasons.

First, it requires no power to maintain the screen display once it has been rendered. Other devices using things like LCD displays require a constant trickle of power to keep the screen refreshed. The screen is the single largest consumer of battery power in an electronic device. A display that uses no power to maintain the display has vastly longer battery life, and e-Ink based readers may go weeks before requiring charging.

Second, many users of e-Ink devices find the screen easier to read for extended periods, and complain of headaches and eyestrain using LCD screens. (This is not universal, and has been the subject of a lot of debate on MR.) e-Ink screens provide an experience a lot like reading on paper.

Third, e-Ink screens are not back-lit, and are readable out of doors, where LCD devices normally aren't, unless the device permits turning the backlight entirely off.

There are drawbacks to e-Ink. One is lack of color support. Current e-Ink devices are all grey scale displays. If what you want to view requires color, e-Ink is not suitable. (A 12 bit color e-Ink display is available, but only one manufacturer is sampling devices using it.) Another is a relatively slow refresh rate. It's acceptable for static text and images, but utterly unsuited for things like video. A third is that because it isn't backlit, it's not readable under low light conditions.

e-Ink is under continual development, and current e-Ink displays offer improved contrast and faster refresh than early models, as well lower pricing. A number of vendors now incorporate e-Ink displays in their devices. See https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_devices for a list.
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Dennis

Comprehensive, concise, not patronising. I like this guy.