Does using inverted colors decrease the lifespan of the display?

[Pizza_Cant_Read]

Hey guys, quick question. Does inverting the colors on an e-ink display decrease the lifespan of the display?

[Cinisajoy]

Why would it?

[Barty]

Assuming you are using inverted mode because thou find it more comfortable, the question is: does not using inverted mode decrease the lifespan of your vision?

[Pizza_Cant_Read]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Why would it?

Just a random question. I have read articles about how eink screens 'work' but such high level overviews can't be expected to deal with screen health. I read on this forum that temperature plays a role but besides that I can't find anything that might limit the lifespan of a screen besides major mistakes that involve physical trauma and destruction via the normal means.

What I understand is that the screen have bits which are white on one side and black on the other and an electric field causes them to change back and forth. Do these bits cover the entire area of the screen, like a fence or do they move around where needed? Does the field needed to keep most of the screen black versus the normal white give any extra wear and tear?

Completely random late night question but now I am feeling like a kid asking why the sky is blue ;p

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Pizza_Cant_Read

Just a random question. I have read articles about how eink screens 'work' but such high level overviews can't be expected to deal with screen health. I read on this forum that temperature plays a role but besides that I can't find anything that might limit the lifespan of a screen besides major mistakes that involve physical trauma and destruction via the normal means.

What I understand is that the screen have bits which are white on one side and black on the other and an electric field causes them to change back and forth. Do these bits cover the entire area of the screen, like a fence or do they move around where needed? Does the field needed to keep most of the screen black versus the normal white give any extra wear and tear?

Completely random late night question but now I am feeling like a kid asking why the sky is blue ;p

What I understand about e-ink screens is they have static screens until they get hit with a charge. So I figure since the screen doesn't change until you change it, I don't see what color is on the screen would make a difference.

Oh and the sky is blue due to light reflections.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Pizza_Cant_Read

Just a random question. I have read articles about how eink screens 'work' but such high level overviews can't be expected to deal with screen health. I read on this forum that temperature plays a role but besides that I can't find anything that might limit the lifespan of a screen besides major mistakes that involve physical trauma and destruction via the normal means.

What I understand is that the screen have bits which are white on one side and black on the other and an electric field causes them to change back and forth. Do these bits cover the entire area of the screen, like a fence or do they move around where needed? Does the field needed to keep most of the screen black versus the normal white give any extra wear and tear?

Completely random late night question but now I am feeling like a kid asking why the sky is blue ;p

The screen is laid out as a grid of pixels in fixed locations. Each pixel has several spheres that are half black and half white, whose orientation is controlled by an electric field. When the page is changed, some of the pixels with white up turn black and some with black up turn white. When the screen colors are inverted, the same pixels have to change, just opposite color, so no difference in wear and tear.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

The screen is laid out as a grid of pixels in fixed locations. Each pixel has several spheres that are half black and half white, whose orientation is controlled by an electric field. When the page is changed, some of the pixels with white up turn black and some with black up turn white. When the screen colors are inverted, the same pixels have to change, just opposite color, so no difference in wear and tear.

Oh so an ereader pixel is like an Othello piece. Cool.

[rem736]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Oh so an ereader pixel is like an Othello piece. Cool.

that's a cool way to look at it.

[vrf]

I've purchased a few used Kindle Touch models for my kids, with (probably) varying amounts of use on each device. I thought it was pretty amazing how different the "same" display can look... from a murky gray to a nice high-contrast panel. I know there's some variation to begin with, but I'm convinced that hard use, whether lots of reading or more challenging conditions, does decrease the quality of the display, and probably the lifespan of it.

So it's possible flipping more area of the screen on every page turn is harder on the device over its life.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by vrf

I've purchased a few used Kindle Touch models for my kids, with (probably) varying amounts of use on each device. I thought it was pretty amazing how different the "same" display can look... from a murky gray to a nice high-contrast panel. I know there's some variation to begin with, but I'm convinced that hard use, whether lots of reading or more challenging conditions, does decrease the quality of the display, and probably the lifespan of it.

So it's possible flipping more area of the screen on every page turn is harder on the device over its life.

Since it is electromechanical, the display can certainly wear out, but exactly the same number of pixels flip, whether it is in normal or inverted mode.

[vrf]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

Since it is electromechanical, the display can certainly wear out, but exactly the same number of pixels flip, whether it is in normal or inverted mode.

What if you have it set to only do a partial refresh? (on normal, not inverted mode.) Would that result in less "wear" on the panel? But I guess then you would have all the wear happening in the same areas.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by vrf

What if you have it set to only do a partial refresh? (on normal, not inverted mode.) Would that result in less "wear" on the panel? But I guess then you would have all the wear happening in the same areas.

To the extent that you use the same font size, line spacing, and margin, the places with text will wear out the fastest in both normal mode and inverted mode.

[ProDigit]

I think another question might be, if the device uses more power to display black, than white; not in terms of color display, but in terms of magnetism.
Like, is it harder to repel the pixels, or is it harder to attract them?

Not knowing the answer to this, without any measurable proof, I think it's pretty safe to say, that the power used by displaying night mode, will be well within 10% of the power used to display regular mode.

The screen itself uses only a fraction of the power used by the entire system, so that 10% might reflect in a less than 1% battery difference.
The CPU, WIFI, and screenlight, each use far more battery than the screen itself.

A second argument may be, that if you're reading at night, and use the screen light, you might need more screen light for white text on a black background, than on standard view; and thus need more backlight.

I would conclude, that in broad daylight, it is much better to the eyes, to read in 'night mode' on the screen (less bright white on the screen, means less burning in the corona), and at night, 'night mode' needs to be off.
Totally opposite of an LCD monitor.