I have periodically reviewed the e-Ink market looking for usable products w ithout a lot of experimentation. Most of what I find are displays without driver boards, a few high priced combos of displays with separate driver bo ards, but few docs and very few displays and driver boards with some sort o f docs and/or library support. The one thing that always seems to be missi ng is an easy to find and easy to read document describing exactly what the y will do and what they won't do. Mostly the docs are a couple of poorly m ade videos with no real explanation.
I saw one video (don't recall the vendor or site) showing a display with pa rtial updates such as would be needed for a display of a real time device s uch as a... ventilator for example. That looks promising. But the display is monochrome (as opposed to three color) and I still didn't find any docs on exactly how it would be interfaced to a system.
My main interest in them is to provide a display optimally viewable in any lighting.
There seems to be more than one manufacturer of these displays. When they are sold by third parties (mostly through Aliexpress) it is hard to tell wh ich brand of display they are. If I understand correctly one company owns the patents with multiple manufacturers licensing.
All of the inexpensive displays are pretty tiny. One maker includes touch screens even on 1.5 inch displays! My finger tip is not much smaller than that. The prices rise rapidly with size. A 4 inch display is pushing $40.
Anyone used any of these displays? Anyone happy with these displays? Tips ? Cautions?
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Thanks for the links, but I've seen them. In fact, Adafruit is the poster child for having interesting products but no real data on them other than t he manufacturer's data sheet... and they don't even have that in this case.
The Digikey web page links to a PDF which is just an Adafruit web page prin ted out. The Adafruit page links to Github with C++ files and a Readme fil e that links to another Adafruit page. lol
It seems like there are the big volume users that get lots of attention fro m the manufacturers and they are selling hobby kits through a few web sites . Nothing in the middle still unless I am just missing it.
I am pretty sure I don't want the three color units. They have significant update times and no partial updates as far as I can tell. Good luck tryin g to find out who makes the controller chips (TCON for Timing Controller). I finally reached a company who had a chip for a few boards some years ago . I just wanted the timing requirements so I could roll my own controller in an FPGA (that's sort of what I do really). No one in the chain would co ugh them up in sufficient detail for me to create my design. The TCON comp any wanted me to buy their chip of course, but they didn't have one for the display I wanted to use.
Anyway... I'm still looking, but thanks for your time.
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On a sunny day (Tue, 19 May 2020 17:40:17 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Ricketty C wrote in :
I looked into it a year or so ago, bought an pocket book e-ink reader, and yes you can use it in bright sunlight and also in the dark with its backlight, and yes for reading books it is probably OK, here a draft of 'art of .."
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display is better than the picture I took, much sharper. When you get pdfs with real color graphs and pictures it is no good.
It is hard to beat a good LCD, and for the 40$ you buy a small PAL / NTSC monitor on ebay! 'Viewable in any lighting' is a tall order.... Viewing angle of the e-ink display is very good though. Same goes for the small oled displays you can now buy on ebay for a few dollars. Some of those have 2 colors.
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My ebook reader is back in the box, maybe only comes out in summer in bright sunshine on the boat, it is waterproof it says... If it is for an intensive care unit the lighting conditions are more normal I'd expect, viewing angle becomes important perhaps, OLEDs have excellent viewing angle, but those have burn in after a few years.
Those 2 character 2 line green backlight LCDs are also cheap and viewable over a wide distance, and last for many years. Same for the 128x64 etc graphics backlight LCDs. How much data do you need to display? And e-ink is slow.
If you want to impress use a cheap NTSC / PAL monitor:
formatting link
bought that in in 2012 and it is still working :-) ebay search mini 3.5" TFT Color LCD Car Monitor for analog pal ntsc < 20$ Can also play video! Instruction video for using equipment?
Anyways the gist of this tale is that I won't be using e-ink for anything.
That's why I like eInk. LCDs are ok if the backlight is bright enough. I' ve seen monitors that claim they are sunlight viewable. But that is far to o much monitor for this product. It needs to be visible in dim room lighti ng and also if the sun is shining through the window. Yes, tough to do wit h little 2 line LCDs, but a small eInk display should do nicely, especially if it has partial update capability.
ollars.
Don't really need color. I can't tell if that display is character or grap hic, but the text looks too small. The information needs to be easily view able. What size is that, 1.4 inches?
ght sunsh> If it is for an intensive care unit the lighting conditions are more norm
al I'd expect,
le, but those have burn in after a few years.
I believe the idea is for emergency use so perhaps not in an ICU proper and so perhaps not fully equipped or even well lit. I just don't see a reason for the display to be a limitation if it is not a problem to provide.
I just don't get why these things are so poorly marketed. I remember Latti ce coming out with a new generation of FPGAs, not much more boring than tha t! But they created an infomercial parody about XO - XO - XO2! eInk gets nothing! If they would just cough up some technical info I'd be happy to h elp solve the problem. I'm just not going to throw my time and money at an idea that doesn't have support of those who will make money on it.
over a wide distance,
I would dispute that. LCD has viewing angle issues. That's why they refer to them as 12 o'clock or 6 o'clock. I have one made for viewing on a desk slightly tilted away... sucks hanging on a wall where you look down on it. I'm always bending my knees to see the damn thing.
I don't know how fast you need to update data but 1 Hz should be enough for virtually any application that isn't providing feedback for quickly turnin g a knob.
.
Ok, but that's not the same as saying they aren't good for anything. Good Display has some units that aren't too pricey which include partial refresh . I might bite the bullet and buy one. I just hate the idea of having to use their library without knowing what it does. It's like programming on a processor where they give you a C compiler, but no info about the instruct ion set. You have to trust that everything will work and you won't have an y problems with getting it to work with your application.
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On a sunny day (Fri, 22 May 2020 02:55:57 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Ricketty C wrote in :
Well I have one 2 line LCD in use that gets the sun all afternoon and no problem reading it. it is in my lab power supply, on 24/7, green backlight is always on though. Just tested the viewing angle, and I can easily read it from the side, from the top and horizontal, from below the table I cannot see it :-)
Yes, it is graphics
0.96" Yellow Blue White 128X64 OLED I2C IIC Serial LCD LED SSD VCC SDA Display
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about 2$50
1.54" 128x64 is already 9$, price goes up exponential it seems. And again, those burn in after a year or so.
There is a reason, people want color and moving stuff,
I bookmarked this in 2017: WS 296x128 e-paper 2.9inch E-Ink display SPI interface supports partial refresh
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about 22$ but have not ordered it....
Yea, well the OLEDs also have build in controllers, and same for LCDs. I wrote that OLED driver in Microchip PIC asm, some LCD drivers in asm and C. Al you need is a datasheet for the driver chip... PAL video I have long ago generated with FPGA :-) (you need a DAC but R2R network will work too). So before you buy such a SPI e-paper thing make sure you get the controller part number and find the datasheet. Google is a great help there. Writing graphics drivers from scratch is a lot of work, like this for X, how it displays on various displays all depends on your content on e-reader (via it webreader):
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on laptop:
formatting link
size is set to 800*480.
For 'some project' like arduino or whatever, raspberries, use the libraries. I have my own written over the years, but use the libraries too. Code is on my site.
That's the other issue with OLED, the burn in. I cant' see this display do ing much other than displaying basic status info and allowing parameter adj ustments. Displaying text is going to burn in even if changing the text, t hat's why they can display numbers with just 7 segments, characters have si milar features.
bright
ormal
angle,
and
on
ttice
t!
nothing!
Are you talking in the ads or the product? What people "want" in this prod uct is not the issue. This is a purely functional item and zero considerat ion is being given to aesthetics.
efresh
Internet is almost down at the moment, so I can't load that page. It sound s like a 2.7 inch unit. That's too small to be useful for me, but the pric e is right. It might be ok for the project, but we don't have requirements yet, so I don't know. My main issue is the near total lack of documentati on. I'm not a happy camper with a mystery library being dangled (oh, shiny ).
ing.
isplay
use
ction
I know the LCD controllers have data sheets and there are many display whic h can be bought as complete units. I guess I don't see much difficulty wit h the LCDs while looking at the docs on the eInk displays I don't have conf idence in either understanding the interface or the reliability of the libr ary. It's not a library from source X. The code is presented as "open sou rce" with no support.
d C.
BINGO! You need a coherent data sheet.
network will work too).
er part number
One company makes the e-Ink controllers to the best of my knowledge. Their data sheets are crap. Did you find any useful docs with the ebay unit abo ve? The web page finally loaded and I see nothing.
"Comes with development resources and manual (examples for Raspberry Pi/Ard uino/STM32)"
I'd like to find these before I bother getting a board. I'm not sure I hav e the patience to play with one of these anyway. At least I could make the font any size I can see!
They don't even tell you if the display comes with a controller or not!
Not if you don't have a part number.
es.
Libraries are great, but not if you don't have full docs.
It also helps if your internet connection is working. :(
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On a sunny day (Fri, 22 May 2020 11:24:52 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Ricketty C wrote in :
..
Sure, ebay no longer has it it seems, but this should find the datasheet LCD-16-HC160204.pdf from that:
Mechanical data
requirement of RoHS regulation. Our company is doing the best efforts to Obtain the equivalent certificate from our suppliers. So then google ks0065 datasheet same for the KS0065
To get back to the e-paper thing, look in the open source drivers, specifically the header files, arduino should be Cplushplush, chip type and #defines should be all over it, then google datasheet and write your own in any language you want. That is how I did it with some chips drivers for PC that had arduino open source code.
Yes, nothing is perfect, OTOH, use an LCD, if you have problems writing code for rendering fonts use a LCD character display. Not sure character e-ink displays exist, maybe the chip has a build in character generator..
Look at the source code for the chip ID!!
All displays have a build in controller AFAIK; LCD, OLED, e-ink.
Yes is it that bad there? I am all the time on 4G wireless (5G is starting here now too in some areas) and works everywhere with my Huwaei stick. None of that 'is WiFi here?' Fir the LAN I use an old Raspberry Pi 1 as router with a Huawei stick, and have an other Huawei stick that I can put in the laptop anywhere and be online. Before that I had a 3G Huawei stick.... online even in the train in the previous century. Anyways, 2 seconds google for an e-ink driver chip finds:
Google arduino e-ink driver from that
formatting link
notice the header: Adafruit_IL0373.h
So that gives likely IL0373 google IL0373.pdf downloaded it, YES the driver datasheet
# l IL0373.pdf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 874938 May 23 08:38 IL0373.pdf
without a lot of experimentation. Most of what I find are displays withou t driver boards, a few high priced combos of displays with separate driver boards, but few docs and very few displays and driver boards with some sort of docs and/or library support. The one thing that always seems to be mis sing is an easy to find and easy to read document describing exactly what t hey will do and what they won't do. Mostly the docs are a couple of poorly made videos with no real explanation.
partial updates such as would be needed for a display of a real time device such as a... ventilator for example. That looks promising. But the displ ay is monochrome (as opposed to three color) and I still didn't find any do cs on exactly how it would be interfaced to a system.
y lighting.
y are sold by third parties (mostly through Aliexpress) it is hard to tell which brand of display they are. If I understand correctly one company own s the patents with multiple manufacturers licensing.
h screens even on 1.5 inch displays! My finger tip is not much smaller tha n that. The prices rise rapidly with size. A 4 inch display is pushing $4
>
ps? Cautions?
Hey Ricky, How high are the requirements? E.g., if the display needs to be ...
- readable (C/R > 10) from complete dark to bright sun
- durable
- long lifetime (least amount of dimming or contrast shift), > 20k hours
- wide viewing angle
- color graphics
- fast refresh you're probably looking for a TFT-LCD, IPS-type (in plane switching) or its variants. Avoid VA and TN types unless the lower price matters more. Anti-glare and hard coatings. Integrated backlight. An interface that match es your controller. Have you tried this or similar website?:
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There are lot of choices especially in "smartphone" size range. Other displ ay technologies are there too, like OLED, EPD,... in case the need is less demanding.
ts without a lot of experimentation. Most of what I find are displays with out driver boards, a few high priced combos of displays with separate drive r boards, but few docs and very few displays and driver boards with some so rt of docs and/or library support. The one thing that always seems to be m issing is an easy to find and easy to read document describing exactly what they will do and what they won't do. Mostly the docs are a couple of poor ly made videos with no real explanation.
h partial updates such as would be needed for a display of a real time devi ce such as a... ventilator for example. That looks promising. But the dis play is monochrome (as opposed to three color) and I still didn't find any docs on exactly how it would be interfaced to a system.
any lighting.
hey are sold by third parties (mostly through Aliexpress) it is hard to tel l which brand of display they are. If I understand correctly one company o wns the patents with multiple manufacturers licensing.
uch screens even on 1.5 inch displays! My finger tip is not much smaller t han that. The prices rise rapidly with size. A 4 inch display is pushing $40.
Tips? Cautions?
be...
e.
ches
play
The other guys on the project are thinking in terms of a 2 line, 16 char LC D display for the critical operational stuff and a tablet connected by an u nspecified connection so far for "graphs". They talk like the Arduino is n ot powerful enough to support a small graphic display, but how will it prov ide data for the tablet to display? I guess the tablet will receive data a s it is collected and massage it for display.
I have an aversion to cheap LCD displays. There are none that are easily v iewed in all lighting conditions. Transflective is the most common which s ucks equally in all conditions. I hope I haven't been unclear in how I fee l about the small, cheap LCD displays.
I found something today that shows partial updates on Epaper or eInk that h appen in 0.3 seconds. That is all you need to update a few numbers on a sm all panel.
The web site you linked to is interesting. I gave it a shot and it turned about 15 displays that might fit my perceived requirements. However, somet hing like 11 of them are obsolete. You can't select obsolete as a filter b ut once you get results there are tabs for All models, In production, Disco ntinued. So I made sure to check out all the Discontinued units... lol. I wonder why the list them. I guess so you can see what you are missing.
Still, a selection guide is great, but still no more information and I see no sign of displays made by Good Display. Actually, I just realized every EPD (the generic abbreviation for these displays) that shows up in a search is obsolete (17 units). But if I search on the brand name "E Ink" I get 3
3 in production. They are mostly listed as EPD type. Weird.
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e no sign of displays made by Good Display. Actually, I just realized ever y EPD (the generic abbreviation for these displays) that shows up in a sear ch is obsolete (17 units). But if I search on the brand name "E Ink" I get 33 in production. They are mostly listed as EPD type. Weird.
Nope, I misread and all 33 displays are listed as Discontinued
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FWIW: I have the opposite aversion. I'm keen on backlit LCD displays and they're usually my "go-to" for wheneve r I just need to display text information back to the user (mostly, industr ial type products). I accept that the "Joe Public" consumer wants color, v ideo, bling and glitz.
Now, there's probably a difference between "cheap" LCD modules (Amazon, eBa y, China, etc..) and what you can buy at Digikey/Mouser. But even in the p rojects where I've used a cheap-o variety, I don't think we've ever had one fail. (Out of several thousand.) I'd have to check, but I don't think so. ?
White text on a blue background seems to work pretty well. I'm not (Since at least the 1990's) a fan of non-backlit character LCD disp lays.
All that said, I was pumping gas the other day (sorry, no Tesla here) :) And the pump had a REALLY NICE LCD numeric display on it. I mean super-nic e. Big numbers, easily readable at all angles. I've got a mental note to find out what they used, (Gilbarco or Wayne, I forget now which). But, it'll p robably end up being something they had specially made for them.
But as far as LCD character displays go: this was the nicest (and probably most expensive?) that I've ever seen. The kind of thing where you might go out of your way to design something around it. :)
As for e-ink or paper-ink, I played around with that for a while on one or two projects. I got busy and ended up giving it to one of our interns to finish. It was one of those I2C jobs. The only thing I remember "liking" about it was that the current consumption (once it had an image) was neglig ible. But the update was slow, the memory requirements huge, and the displ ay size smaller than I personally would have liked.
But, the display in my Kindle Paperwhite reader is wonderful - so there's t hat. Maybe e-ink and paper displays aren't in their prime yet? But again, the venerable backlit character LCD can't be beat in my opinion. DECADES of proven use. And hard to ignore for the price. (But, admittedly, not gl itzy enough for today's generation, I guess.)
ver I just need to display text information back to the user (mostly, indus trial type products). I accept that the "Joe Public" consumer wants color, video, bling and glitz.
That's a straw man. No one here is talking about color, video, bling or gl itz... aren't those last three a law firm in NYC, Video, Bling and Glitz? Yeah, I know they were in the news about something.
Bay, China, etc..) and what you can buy at Digikey/Mouser. But even in the projects where I've used a cheap-o variety, I don't think we've ever had o ne fail. (Out of several thousand.) I'd have to check, but I don't think s o.?
Failure rates are also a straw man. No one has impugned LCD reliability. Pretty much all electronics are reliable other than electrolytic caps and b atteries.
splays.
All passive LCDs have viewing angle issues. They all also have illuminatio n issues. As I've pointed out, the viewing angle issues are clearly indica ted by the difference in 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock viewing angles. They als o have limits in viewing from the sides. The illumination issues are inher ent in the technology. LCDs require illumination to be viewed. The source of light can be natural (refective), provided (transmissive) or a combinat ion (transflective). The first two do not work well in the lighting the ot her excels in. The latter does not work well in any lighting. If you pref er one type of lighting, it's because your needs don't require the lighting it does poorly under.
ice.
nd out what they used, (Gilbarco or Wayne, I forget now which). But, it'll probably end up being something they had specially made for them.
ly most expensive?) that I've ever seen. The kind of thing where you migh t go out of your way to design something around it. :)
r two projects. I got busy and ended up giving it to one of our interns t o finish. It was one of those I2C jobs. The only thing I remember "liking " about it was that the current consumption (once it had an image) was negl igible. But the update was slow, the memory requirements huge, and the dis play size smaller than I personally would have liked.
The power required to maintain a display is zero. Once the tiny ink pigmen ts have been moved they stay in place. A new type that has a color in addi tion to the black and white pigments. This display seems to acquire a tint of the color to the white areas after a day.
Whole panel updates can be slow, but slower on the bigger panels. The smal ler units update more quickly. Mostly the issue is that they are graphic d isplays rather than character. Character displays are custom. There are n ewer technologies that offer partial updates of the portions of the screen that have changed, much faster. A spec sheet I recently saw said 0.3 secon ds. A video showed the display updating numeric values every second. This is exactly what is needed in my app.
that. Maybe e-ink and paper displays aren't in their prime yet? But agai n, the venerable backlit character LCD can't be beat in my opinion. DECADE S of proven use. And hard to ignore for the price. (But, admittedly, not glitzy enough for today's generation, I guess.)
Decades of showing their limitations. I was looking for an EVSE for person al use and an open source unit used one of these displays. The numbers are tiny and unless the location is dark can't be easily seen. And e-Ink disp lay would be much more legible under pretty much any lighting. I suspect y ou are younger with much better eyes than I have. e-Ink is a better techno logy if the limitations are not an issue, just as LCD is a better technolog y when its limitations are not an issue.
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ver I just need to display text information back to the user (mostly, indus trial type products). I accept that the "Joe Public" consumer wants color, video, bling and glitz.
Bay, China, etc..) and what you can buy at Digikey/Mouser. But even in the projects where I've used a cheap-o variety, I don't think we've ever had o ne fail. (Out of several thousand.) I'd have to check, but I don't think s o.?
splays.
ice.
nd out what they used, (Gilbarco or Wayne, I forget now which). But, it'll probably end up being something they had specially made for them.
ly most expensive?) that I've ever seen. The kind of thing where you migh t go out of your way to design something around it. :)
r two projects. I got busy and ended up giving it to one of our interns t o finish. It was one of those I2C jobs. The only thing I remember "liking " about it was that the current consumption (once it had an image) was negl igible. But the update was slow, the memory requirements huge, and the dis play size smaller than I personally would have liked.
that. Maybe e-ink and paper displays aren't in their prime yet? But agai n, the venerable backlit character LCD can't be beat in my opinion. DECADE S of proven use. And hard to ignore for the price. (But, admittedly, not glitzy enough for today's generation, I guess.)
thanks - that is my opinion too. LCDs have come a _long_ way. There are LC formulas for just about every application now, like all-weather outdoor kio sks.
eInk is great for super-low power (Battery) devices and not-too-fast refres h. But if you're device isn't power constrained, then why limit yourself.
never I just need to display text information back to the user (mostly, ind ustrial type products). I accept that the "Joe Public" consumer wants colo r, video, bling and glitz.
eBay, China, etc..) and what you can buy at Digikey/Mouser. But even in t he projects where I've used a cheap-o variety, I don't think we've ever had one fail. (Out of several thousand.) I'd have to check, but I don't think so.?
displays.
)
-nice.
find out what they used, (Gilbarco or Wayne, I forget now which). But, it' ll probably end up being something they had specially made for them.
ably most expensive?) that I've ever seen. The kind of thing where you mi ght go out of your way to design something around it. :)
or two projects. I got busy and ended up giving it to one of our interns to finish. It was one of those I2C jobs. The only thing I remember "liki ng" about it was that the current consumption (once it had an image) was ne gligible. But the update was slow, the memory requirements huge, and the d isplay size smaller than I personally would have liked.
's that. Maybe e-ink and paper displays aren't in their prime yet? But ag ain, the venerable backlit character LCD can't be beat in my opinion. DECA DES of proven use. And hard to ignore for the price. (But, admittedly, no t glitzy enough for today's generation, I guess.)
C formulas for just about every application now, like all-weather outdoor k iosks.
esh. But if you're device isn't power constrained, then why limit yourself.
Have you used E Ink? Tried a demo kit?
For me it's nothing about the power. It's about the clarity of the display . I've never found passive LCD technology to be suitable. The thermostat in my house is hard to see even with the back light on, the many small gadg ets with LCDs are hard to see. LCDs never have good contrast even in good lighting conditions and every style of LCD has lighting that ruins the cont rast.
If your application is limited to one type of lighting, then maybe LCDs are fine. But for many uses eInk is a suitable display type and offers a much higher clarity.
I would go ahead and buy a unit and fight the tools to get some code tested out, but I haven't done much MCU programming in C in ages. It's not the l anguage I don't care for, it's the tools. I much prefer to code in Forth with much simpler tools, but without proper documentation adapting the lib raries would be a huge PITA.
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henever I just need to display text information back to the user (mostly, i ndustrial type products). I accept that the "Joe Public" consumer wants co lor, video, bling and glitz.
n, eBay, China, etc..) and what you can buy at Digikey/Mouser. But even in the projects where I've used a cheap-o variety, I don't think we've ever h ad one fail. (Out of several thousand.) I'd have to check, but I don't thi nk so.?
D displays.
:)
er-nice.
o find out what they used, (Gilbarco or Wayne, I forget now which). But, i t'll probably end up being something they had specially made for them.
obably most expensive?) that I've ever seen. The kind of thing where you might go out of your way to design something around it. :)
ne or two projects. I got busy and ended up giving it to one of our inter ns to finish. It was one of those I2C jobs. The only thing I remember "li king" about it was that the current consumption (once it had an image) was negligible. But the update was slow, the memory requirements huge, and the display size smaller than I personally would have liked.
re's that. Maybe e-ink and paper displays aren't in their prime yet? But again, the venerable backlit character LCD can't be beat in my opinion. DE CADES of proven use. And hard to ignore for the price. (But, admittedly, not glitzy enough for today's generation, I guess.)
LC formulas for just about every application now, like all-weather outdoor kiosks.
fresh. But if you're device isn't power constrained, then why limit yoursel f.
ay. I've never found passive LCD technology to be suitable. The thermosta t in my house is hard to see even with the back light on, the many small ga dgets with LCDs are hard to see. LCDs never have good contrast even in goo d lighting conditions and every style of LCD has lighting that ruins the co ntrast.
re fine. But for many uses eInk is a suitable display type and offers a mu ch higher clarity.
ed out, but I haven't done much MCU programming in C in ages. It's not the language I don't care for, it's the tools. I much prefer to code in Fort h with much simpler tools, but without proper documentation adapting the l ibraries would be a huge PITA.
No, not yet. My opinion is based on the hundreds of various consumer produc ts, big and small, that have come thru the lab. I've simply noticed how active- matrix color LCD has been the main choice by manufacturers, even for non-vi deo informational displays. OLEDs have been appearing a more in the last few ye ars, on some models of battery-operated products (amart watches, smart phones, a few printers). Some low-end printer models use a monochrome segmented 1- or 2-l ine LCD. eInk/EPD has been quite rare, mostly limited to e-readers. Granted, this is all cost-constrained mass-market stuff, not industrial gea r.
Anyway, you can certainly choose eInk, or whatever best fits your design an d resource constraints. If your product is competing among others, than the "look" of eInk will stand out, if customer appeal is a factor. But being a medical device, I'd be concerned about reliability & durability. I'm not su re EPD has proven itself here (in the size/form factor that you need). Whereas , smartphones are being dropped and can survive. (We do drop testing on porta ble devices; the displays are usually fine. Of course the good package design greatly helps here.) So you might want to take some protective measures, like a clear hard plastic window, in front of the eInk. I think your device will need to survive disinfection procedures, yes?
Don't get me wrong, Ric... I agree with you that e-ink displays are (or can be) clean and sharp and readable in nearly any lighting condition.
But for the things I typically develop, a plain old character LCD display usually gets the job done -- and for those, I of course prefer the backlit variety.
I wouldn't mind a project using e-ink, but there's not one on the foreseeable horizon yet.
OLEDs are pricey and wear out in frequent use. LEDs are power hungry, but mostly just not available for anything other than basic numeric display. L CDs are the only other option for most apps. Vacuum fluorescent is common in auto apps although the larger TFT LCDs work pretty well, but still wash out in direct sunlight. I wouldn't buy a Honda pickup because they make no effort to protect the LCD from direct sunlight and during a test drive at times it was not visible. Many people ignore such issues since you can wai t until you turn the corner (but which corner?) or shade some of the screen with your hand. The point is the problem exists and if it can be resolved with another type of display that's a good thing.
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You seem to not understand the difference between glass and plastic. Clear plastic films need to be protected from harsh chemicals. Glass is impervi ous to nearly everything other than rocks and hydrofluoric acid.
You also overrate smartphone display ruggedness. Display damage is not at all infrequent. The rest of the phone keeps on tickin', but the display ha s that spider web pattern.
It's the LCD display modules that I'm concerned about. They start out hard to view and likely will get only worse with age and wear. I pay attention to the products I find in the stores and in other people's homes as well a s my own. LCDs have low contrast and other visual issues. eink has better viewing, but higher cost which is the main issue in most applications.
I remember talking to an engineer working on a new thermostat design long b efore "smart" appliances. It would have saved a couple of pennies by doing some integration of a signal that would give a temperature using a very lo w end processor. I don't recall the details, but it could have been fixed by adding some component. He said it would cost a couple of pennies more a nd so was not practical. The dollars higher cost of eink means there has t o be a compelling need or that the cost doesn't matter. In most products t here is no compelling need since LCDs are "good enough" like most products in the dollar stores. In this product cost is not such a big factor, so a few dollars more to get a better display may well be worthwhile.
I don't know that we have anyone on the team who is accustomed to enclosure s for medical applications. If anyone here is familiar with that type of d esign, the team could use some help.
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Rick C.
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You mentioned cell phone glass so let me just throw this out there....
Kyocera made a handset called the Brigadier.
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I was at an industry trade show when these first hit the market. The rep in the booth took one of those HUGE metal push-pins (like you might use on a cork bulletin board, only super-sized) and proceeded to scratch, scrape, gouge and chisel away at the phone's display. And he wasn't holdin g back. I mean, he was abusing this phone in ways you or I would never eve n dream of -- even after a few important calls dropped! :)
So, he does this, and after what seemed like a good 15-20 seconds, he takes out a small cloth and wipes the surface. It's perfectly untouched! Spotl ess! Not a scratch on it!
When Verizon started carrying the phone, I immediately went to try one out. The problem was: Although the screen was practically bulletproof, the audio was downright terrible. Probably something to do with it being waterproof . Plus, it only had 16GB or memory and no way to increase it.
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