What is e-ink?

E-ink in general refers to electronic ink. It is a type of technology that aims to mimic the characteristics of real ink on real paper in the electronic world. In other words, it tries to give you the benefit of modern, electronic documents (cloud storage, easy to edit, etc.) and the benefits of real paper (easy to read and hold, easy to write on, etc.). It is also called e-paper – the name e-ink actually refers to a brand of e-paper that has roughly 90% market share.

E-ink can be used in a variety of products – labeling on supermarket shelves, posters, and so on. This blog deals specifically with consumer devices: mainly e-readers and e-tablets. As the names imply, e-readers are devices which can be used to read material, such as Kindle devices from Amazon. e-Tablets, are very similar devices but accept input from pen-like devices – the pen is used to create notes, drawings etc. on the tablet.

What are the advantages of e-ink?

Why would people choose e-ink devices over normal, lcd based devices, such as the Apple iPad devices, and a plethora of Android LCD devices?

In the end, it boils down to you and your preferences. There are several advantages of e-ink devices over LCD devices. Below follows an overview of the advantages:

• E-ink looks like the real thing. The text on an e-ink device can fool you into thinking that you are looking at real paper. This is because the text is actually made up of thousands of little black particles that are real. When power is no longer applied to the device, the image stays on! The device manufacturers also make sure that:
  • The text is as close to the top layer of the device as possible, enhancing the impression of it being real paper.
  • The top layer of the device is textured, to give the same look and feel of paper (it is not a glossy surface, as with a normal LCD tablet.

• E-ink devices have no backlight. Because the e-ink devices don’t have a backlight, they are softer on the eyes. This helps tremendously to remove eye-strain (especially when reading for long periods). Not having any lighting, means that you use ambient light to illuminate the device to be able to read. In the dark, you cannot see e-ink unless it is illuminated. But fear not, many devices (especially e-readers) have excellent lighting. They utilise a front-light as opposed to a backlight to illuminate the e-ink. These lights are usually LED based and are sometimes called glow lights. Because the lights don’t shine at you from the back, it is better on your eyes.

• E-ink loves sunshine. Unlike your LCD phone which is difficult to read in direct sunlight, e-ink devices love sunlight – the more ambient light there is, the easier it is to read on your device.

• Reclaim your focus. Ok, so maybe this is not necessarily an advantage of e-ink technology – but it is definitely a deliberate design element in a lot of e-ink devices! Modern LCD devices have many notifications and distractions that prevent you from focusing and reaching your goals. E-ink devices have a range from absolute minimalism all the way to full distraction mode – the choice is yours. A big allure of these devices to consumers – is precisely that they are generally minimalist. This is a conscious design effort to allow you to focus without interruption – which I think is a rare thing these days.

• Batteries for days and weeks. E-ink uses an electric charge to arrange the particles to form letters or pictures on the screen. Once the particles are positioned, they stay in place without the support of any electric charge. It only uses electricity when the picture needs to change again. This makes e-ink devices really power efficient and they can go for days and weeks without charging. Of course, if the device has a front light, that will reduce the battery. Likewise, any connectivity (wifi, bluetooth, etc.) will reduce the battery. But the LCD screen is one of the biggest consumers of battery life on electronic devices, so the e-ink displays are super efficient.

So why are people mostly using LCD tablets, like an iPad?

e-Ink has a specific use. There are several limitations to the technology when compared to LCD technology. For instance, e-ink devices are usually monochromatic – black and white. There are color devices, but they don’t have the same bright colours that a good LCD or OLED panel can produce. They are becoming increasingly good at colour, though.

Because e-ink has to apply a charge every time the screen changes, it is not suitable for any screen animation, especially video. The screens are also prone to an effect called “ghosting” – where you can see a previous image still on the screen, until you refresh the entire screen. Some companies have ways of dealing with this, but at the cost of battery life.

That’s life…

Life, in general, is just a number of compromises to get to a certain result. The same goes for choosing whether you need an LCD or e-ink based device. Once you decide that you need an e-ink device, the same story applies – there are several devices on the market, and many similarities between devices. Choosing the right device for you, depends on a number of factors.

The purpose of this website is to help you make the most informed choice based on your specific requirements. There is no one size fits all – but the most important thing is to make a decision and move forward. The devices that are available today, are exceptionally good at what they do, and whatever your choice, you will benefit from increased productivity and enjoyment of your device.

Of that, I am sure!