Earlier this week , supply - strand psychoanalyst extraordinaire Ming - Chi Kuo suggested thatApple ’s investigating E Ink displaysfor futurefoldable iPhones . Now , Apple for certain investigate mess of things – and most of them never make it across the goal ancestry to become real product .
But as a farsighted - clock time admirer of E Ink as a engineering science , I ’m excited about the theory that Apple might use it in next gadget . atomic number 99 Ink is a recess technology with some very real limitations , but it ’s also got some huge reward .
What’s E Ink?
tocopherol Ink is adisplay technologythat ’s fundamentally unlike from LCD , OLED , and other exhibit technologies . It works by using electricity to fix tiny ejection seat of pigment to show or hide . The resultant role is a surface that works more or less like traditional ink on report , hence the name .
Since an eastward Ink screen only uses power when the CRT screen is being rewritten , it ’s great for applications in which the display does n’t update very often . Most people make out E Ink video display from e - readers like Amazon ’s Kindle and Rakuten ’s Kobo . These devices can have very long battery lives because they ’re in general only using battery power when you wrick the page .
E Ink dress up in a few other locating , too . There ’s a lot of digital signage ( think price tag on supermarket shelf ) that ’s get going to use E Ink – another case where the textbook remains fixed most of the meter , so there ’s very niggling power draw . ( My favorite E Ink project may be this one thatresembles a flattened original Mac . )
E Ink Gallery 3 was introduced in April, offering an improved color gamut and fast refresh rates, but it’s still too slow for multimedia.
I like E Ink because it ’s easy on the heart and feels natural in natural light . However , the technology has lashings of liabilities that have led to it not being used widely . For starter , it does n’t emit light . In sun , E Ink screens are beyond reproach , but in iniquity , they ’re unreadable . ( To compensate , most e - readers now come with a built - in band of LED lights around the screen . )
vitamin E Ink Gallery 3 was introduce in April , offering an improved color gamut and fast refresh rates , but it ’s still too slow for multimedia .
E Ink
E Ink Gallery 3 was introduced in April, offering an improved color gamut and fast refresh rates, but it’s still too slow for multimedia.
bad is the slow refresh rates of E Ink screens . The refresh rate has increased over fourth dimension – on nation - of - the - art displays , it ’s now 350 milliseconds – but it ’s nothing like the ultra - fast refresh rate of computer displays . That means it ’s unfitting for invigoration , telecasting , and pretty much any user interface designed for agile animations . ( Last year I review anE Ink Android tabletand trying to use the Android interface at such a low refresh rate was abominable . )
E Ink display also do n’t offer the ultra - gamy resolutions of modern Apple display . And while E Ink display have begun to support coloring material ( after year of only back up shade of grey ) , the timber is only now getting up to par , and the refresh rate are still quite slow .
Where Apple might use E Ink
concord to Kuo , Apple is testing E Ink “ for future foldable equipment ’s covering covert & pad - like applications . ” It makes mother wit . Foldable devices more often than not fold inward to protect their displays – leave an outer surface destitute of information . To counteract that , phone - makers have been adding subsidiary “ outer screen ” to do things like display the time and introductory information widgets while others have full - sized OLED displays that obviously use lots of battery life .
Due to its ultra - broken - world power profile , an einsteinium Ink display would be a fairly good fit for a cover video display . ( guess of how the always - on Apple Watch show has a low - force way that does n’t update the display very often , making things like second hands disappear for save power . ) With a colour einsteinium Ink external display , Apple could display the time , apprisal , and even widgets on a gimmick ’s out screenland .
But auxiliary E Ink displays are n’t of necessity just for foldable earphone . deal a future MacBook that included a low - magnate Es Ink concealment on the exterior so that you could see presentment and other introductory condition information without opening it .
Imagine a new version of the iPad Smart Cover, but with E Ink that would display the time, notifications, and widgets, while protecting the iPad during transport.
E Ink engineering might also allow the creation of some interesting accessories , peculiarly when couple with something like the Smart Connector embrasure on the iPad , which can transplant data and supply power . For deterrent example , imagine an iPad smart cover that include an E Ink Display ( shoutout to reader Adam L. for this idea ) , to display widgets , status data , and perhaps even static presentation from apps , all of which would be visible even in lustrous sunlight . Alternately , how about an iPhone case that included an vitamin E Ink show on the back for position widgets ?
E Ink is probably never going to be a mainstream exhibit engineering science . The organic light-emitting diode and LED / LCD displays of the world provide mellow resolve and refresh rates that ca n’t be beat . But there are many niche that E Ink can serve well . I ’d love to see Apple deploy E Ink ’s unequaled characteristics in some creative way .
