alt.hn

6/18/2026 at 11:41:21 AM

Modos Color Monitor Pushes E-Paper Displays Further

 https://spectrum.ieee.org/modos-e-paper-monitor

by Vinnl

6/18/2026 at 1:55:48 PM

There is an awesome YouTube video about this from the person who made it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nHbA2-_qzH4

by varun_ch

6/18/2026 at 1:59:19 PM

This link is way more interesting than the original ieee.

It was submitted to HN 2 times already but unfortunately it flew under the radar: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwa...

by nzach

6/18/2026 at 3:23:27 PM

Upvoted them both. I’m an ECE prof, and the video summed up why working with students is so rewarding.

by ckemere

6/19/2026 at 5:32:50 PM

Okay, that video is great.

Product questions that I couldn't find an answer to. From https://www.crowdsupply.com/modos-tech/modos-flow, I see "On the go, you can power Flow at up to 40 Hz with a single USB Type-C cable. At a desk, you can connect additional power and take advantage of its full 60 Hz refresh rate."

1) This surprises me a bit... is USB-PD incompatible with DisplayPort alt mode, or is this just based on an observation that display port devices tend to give limited power output?

2) Is every DisplayPort alt mode host able to give enough power to run at 40 Hz? In particular, can this be driven on the go directly from an iPhone?

3) Is that second USB port usable as a data port hubbed to the device when powering over the DisplayPort port?

4) I know it's possible to provide power from the display back to the host device when using DisplayPort alt mode -- when powering the display from the second USB-C port, is the connected device also powered?

The two use cases that would be super interesting to me is plugging this in to my iPhone or similar on-the-go, and plugging a USB-C keyboard into the second port on it for quick e-mails at the coffee shop and similar; and plugging this in to an iPhone, plugging my power bank into the monitor and keeping the monitor in high-power mode and the iPhone charging while working with a Bluetooth keyboard.

Obviously I don't expect it to handle these use cases out of the box, but... open source! This is really a question about what the hardware design is capable of, not the current software/firmware/FPGA capabilities.

by addaon

6/20/2026 at 7:17:29 AM

1) Lots of desktop displays provide picture and high power, but very few laptops (and rarely even desktops) can provide any significant power from their ports (can be done of course but it is a cost thing).

2) I'd say yes (if the iphone supports it). Biggest caveat in my mind is whether the iphone allows enough current to drive the display.

3) Doubt it.

4) That is how these normally work, I don't know but that would be my expectation.

by tjoff

6/19/2026 at 8:06:45 PM

I really want to buy it so I searched for the same questions bit in the end I just decided to go for it

by alex7o

6/19/2026 at 12:17:15 AM

I was watching the video the other day, and my jaw dropped. Wenting is a display-technology beast. Watch his other videos too; he seems to be able to squeeze every last bit of possible performance out of every kind of display, and then some.

by deepspace

6/18/2026 at 5:37:55 PM

Wow, I'm glad to see that person is getting some more recognition for this work.

A claim in the video that I can't verify but makes economic/logistic sense is that the speed problem isn't the panels but the controllers. The current crop of controllers are optimized for low power, which fits the e-reader use case but that is not optimal for the interactive use case.

by adolph

6/19/2026 at 1:50:13 AM

> A claim in the video that I can't verify but makes economic/logistic sense is that the speed problem isn't the panels but the controllers.

I don't understand the claim. It is lacking in specifics. Are they claiming that electrophoretic materials (meaning the panels) can actually switch (meaning move pigments) faster than say x.y micrometers per second? I don't think that is true. The article shows that what Wenting did ("binary transition") is pretty much the same as what companies like Dasung did. Instead of trying to have grayscale, it is faster to hit somewhat-black and somewhat-white and give the illusion of fast movement than actual fast movement.

by freewestpapua

6/19/2026 at 1:15:51 PM

> Are they claiming that electrophoretic materials (meaning the panels) can actually switch (meaning move pigments) faster than say x.y micrometers per second?

No, I think the claim is that the controllers are slower that what the panels can theoretically support.

by adolph

6/20/2026 at 2:49:14 AM

> > Are they claiming that electrophoretic materials (meaning the panels) can actually switch (meaning move pigments) faster than say x.y micrometers per second?

> No, I think the claim is that the controllers are slower that what the panels can theoretically support.

That claim that controllers are slower than panel (that's the electrophoretic material) doesn't seem reasonable to me. I guess that's why there's no specific numbers and data shown.

by freewestpapua

6/18/2026 at 7:27:55 PM

> The current crop of controllers are optimized for low power, which fits the e-reader use case but that is not optimal for the interactive use case.

Why try to contort the technology for something it's not good at, instead of using a more appropriate technology like transflective LCDs? Eink isn't the only option for reflective displays. If you increase the power use of eink to get better refresh rates, I imagine you'd end up using more power than (and still end up with lower refresh rates than) an MIP display.

I don't understand the growth of the market as a whole for eink monitors, when tLCDs exist and are disappearing from the market.

by jolmg

6/18/2026 at 8:36:47 PM

I'm pretty sure e-ink has a much higher ceiling for reflectance than TLCDs/RLCDs, so you'll be able to use it comfortably without a frontlight in a lot more situations which could more than make up for increased power usage. I think they are also naturally better in terms of glare compared to any type of LCD.

by enragedcacti

6/18/2026 at 8:58:55 PM

Viewing angles are also fantastic compared to almost all T/R LCDs - they tend to be fairly directional. It's a great display tech for many things that don't need 60+fps.

by Groxx

6/19/2026 at 3:24:52 AM

And contrast ratio seems far higher to add on to the benefits. I want to like reflective displays, and there are many new ones lately too, but they just fall a bit short, especially if they try to do color

by manwe150

6/19/2026 at 4:43:28 PM

I'm currently reading your post on a transflective LCD monitor. The problem with them is the very low contrast ratio which requires very high ambient illumination to make them readable or other workarounds like what they did for the Daylight DC-1.

by ThrowawayR2

6/18/2026 at 8:01:02 PM

It isn't clear to me that eink's underlying display technology isn't good at the interactive computing use case so much as the implementations aren't optimized for it. There could be a position where more power than an eink reader is used but still far less than traditional active displays since unchanged pixels aren't driven.

by adolph

6/18/2026 at 9:01:30 PM

That's how I think about it too.

E-readers are vertically integrated devices: the hardware, software, UI, and refresh behavior are all tailored around reading. E-ink tablets like reMarkable are similar, but optimized around writing and annotation.

A traditional monitor is much more general-purpose, so it doesn't get the same kind of end-to-end optimization for the display medium. I think there's room for an in-between category: a more interactive e-ink device where both the hardware and software are designed around the strengths and limits of the panel.

There's some related work happening in this direction:

https://nlnet.nl/project/epd-wayland/

by alex-a-soto

6/19/2026 at 11:41:34 AM

It should be good enough for interactive use, but not for watching movies.

In TFA it is said that for these new faster panels the transition time of a pixel is around 50 ms. This is comparable with some old LCDs.

by adrian_b

6/18/2026 at 4:42:01 PM

I found the video on YouTube before the IEEE article. It's a fascinating story.

by techwizrd

6/18/2026 at 8:22:15 PM

Been casually following the ePaper/eInk device space for years now and Modos is one of the more exciting developments I've come across in the space. Seriously impressive.

That said, I'm curious what impact the increased refresh rate might have on a Carta panel's longevity. I assume the physical medium that allows each 'pixel' to be on/off has a certain tolerance after which the screen begins to degrade beyond a usable state.

Separately, I also want to understand more about how Wenting's approach differs (or not) from the flickering modern displays use to emit a picture, and, whether the direction actually addresses eye strain or reproduces the same issues (I'm assuming are) inherent in LCD/LED displays — i.e. it's the flickering that strains our eyes, not just light.

Maybe someone more versed than I am in this space would know. After 10+ years of computer work... my eyes hurt and I really want this to be a game changer.

by empalms

6/18/2026 at 8:51:47 PM

In normal use, we don't expect fast refresh to significantly reduce an E Ink panel's lifetime.

The E Ink material itself is long-lived, the main stress is on the driving electronics and waveform behavior during refreshes. Our approach doesn't add extra refresh cycles, the display starts responding sooner, which improves perceived speed without adding extra refreshes.

So far, fast refresh hasn't been the dominant failure mode in our testing. Physical stress, bending, pressure, heat, and moisture are much larger risks.

On eye strain: E Ink is reflective and bistable, so a static image doesn't require continuously emitted light. Fast updates can still produce artifacts like flashing, dithering, or ghosting, but that's a different issue from a display that continuously flickers.

So I'd say this addresses an important part of the problem, though comfort will vary by person.

Also I recommend checking out the following resources:

- https://github.com/Modos-Labs/Glider

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okjJURIejIY

by alex-a-soto

6/18/2026 at 3:15:18 PM

Between this, the Daylight computer (I know it's RLCD), and some of the flagship Boox devices, I'm very excited for where alternative display technology is going in the next couple years. Displays that you can use outside and that drain the battery way slower open up so many possibilities for auxiliary devices. My ideal device would be an ultralight android tablet with a keyboard case and an outdoor display good enough to watch youtube on, that needs to be charged less than once per day. Hopefully this product is super successful and Modos move on to standalone devices next.

There are counter trends, like Garmin discontinuing their e-paper smartwatches. But hopefully that has more to do with that market being too narrow for viable alternatives, and not a fundamental issue with the economics of the displays themselves.

by jackb4040

6/18/2026 at 3:20:32 PM

Pebble is back, with MIP reflective LCD. I have one. It's great.

https://repebble.com/

by afandian

6/18/2026 at 4:00:44 PM

Bangle.js 2 (https://banglejs.com/) also has a transflective LCD. It's very fun product with a great community.

Bangle.js 3 is being discussed: https://github.com/orgs/espruino/discussions/7341

by abrowne

6/18/2026 at 9:06:11 PM

Bangle.js 2 is the only smartwatch I've kept since Pebble. It's definitely not a polished experience, so I can only recommend with pretty strong caveats, but it has the main things I want from a tool: notifications, long battery life, easily-visible screen in all conditions, and isn't a giant slab on my wrist that gets in the way.

Nothing else has satisfied that so far, after trying nearly a dozen. They've all had flaky connections, bad battery life, and/or screens that need me to shield from the sun sometimes. And the apps they require, holy crap are they bad. Gadgetbridge isn't shiny but it at least lets you control what you need.

I truly wish it was button-based though. Touchscreens on your wrist suck so bad.

by Groxx

6/18/2026 at 9:54:35 PM

> Touchscreens on your wrist suck so bad.

I don't mind myself, and especially in winter with mittens on I can – and often do – use my nose :-D

by abrowne

6/18/2026 at 11:25:22 PM

I don't really mind having a touchscreen, it's the requiring use of it that bugs me.

And in some situations I much prefer it to be disabled, otherwise it reads phantom touches. (Bangle.js 2 has an option to ignore touches, though I forget the details. iirc until button press, or tapping a very small unlock button on the corner of the screen. Works well as a preventative measure, but I've never seen that on other watches)

by Groxx

6/18/2026 at 9:03:35 PM

Cool! I didn’t know it was transreflective. Do you have one? How’s the contrast?

by afandian

6/18/2026 at 9:10:54 PM

A bit low when not in a relatively bright area (say a house during the day without lights on), but that's largely solved by the backlight or a small tilt to catch light better. And in direct sunlight it's excellent.

The display isn't as nice as Pebble Time (fewer colors, more directional, overall slightly dimmer) but it's more than functional enough. Transflective is obviously the right choice for watches, I don't know why everything else has gone for phone-like panels that are often unreadable and kill battery life.

by Groxx

6/18/2026 at 7:28:47 PM

As a defense of Garmin, even without reflective/transflective/whatever displays (which would be better in sunlight), they still manage decent battery life. I can easily go a full week without charging mine, or several days with a daily ~1hr activity which uses GPS. It's certainly nothing compared to the ~month I managed on my previous watch, but plugging it in during my shower every few days totally eliminates battery anxiety, so I'm satisfied.

by delecti

6/18/2026 at 11:32:24 PM

> Garmin discontinuing their e-paper smartwatches

Wait what? Do you have a source? I can't find anything about that, and I see the Instinct 3 is still being sold. Very disappointing if so, as that line has been the perfect pebble replacement for me.

by efskap

6/18/2026 at 11:52:33 PM

Their flagship devices used to be split into two lines - Epix (AMOLED) or Fenix (MIP). The latest Fenixs (8 series) are AMOLED like the Epix, so you can't get MIP anymore in those lines. I can't speak to their other lines, frankly I've never understood their naming and what each line supposedly does.

by pcchristie

6/19/2026 at 12:17:06 AM

Ah, thanks for clarifying. Fenix 8 Solar is still MIPS but I can see why AMOLED is the "premium default" that they'd de-emphasize in their flagships. MIPS just shines less in the showroom, and doesn't have the phone display parity people expect.

I can't see them ever removing it from the Instinct line though, as that's the rugged one that signals tool.

by efskap

6/18/2026 at 1:58:20 PM

> two-person startup is back fund-raising for Modos Flow, a 13.3-inch color e-paper monitor with a higher native resolution of 3,200 x 2,400, touch input, and a 60Hz refresh rate

Those are some mighty specs. Godspeed.

by xnx

6/18/2026 at 2:27:50 PM

If I had the 600-odd dollars, I'd absolutely buy this. It's a damn shame it's so expensive.

by user_7832

6/18/2026 at 2:40:58 PM

I think the 600 dollar price is more than double the price of the same diplay as a mass-produced product it's a price for enthusiasts of the technology

and it's open source so nothing stops a bigger producer of copying the exact technology with institutional funding and manufacturing expertise

by acc_297

6/18/2026 at 9:42:37 PM

There is no mass market product with the same specifications. The closest equivalents from established companies are the Dasung Paperlike 13K and Bigme B13, both of which cost the same or more than the Modos.

by ndiddy

6/19/2026 at 1:42:27 PM

I wasted 2k on a color e-ink monitor that ended up being pretty much unusable. Reviews said as much but the risk was worth it to me for the chance to spend my days looking at something that doesn't feel like a screen. I believe it's an "if you build it they will come" thing especially for anyone working on a computer all day.

by davebren

6/18/2026 at 11:25:50 PM

yeah i'm waiting for a 32" mass production model for this pricepoint.

by sleepybrett

6/18/2026 at 4:13:53 PM

I'd buy it but i want it in a laptop form or maybe tablet, or something. Being a monitor means the usefulness for me, ie being able to program outside, is kinda moot.

by unshavedyak

6/18/2026 at 4:28:55 PM

i think it's a portable 13in monitor, you can plug it into your phone or something if you want

by throawayonthe

6/18/2026 at 4:48:03 PM

Yea it's definitely portable, it's just not a friendly formfactor for where my compute sits, where my keyboard sits, etc. If i'm in a chair at the part i'd need a literal lap-top, three components (keyboard, compute, monitor) without a frame connecting them would make that difficult.

by unshavedyak

6/18/2026 at 7:45:57 PM

It's in the same ballpark as reMarkable's Pro offerings or the Supernote Manta (each are $4-500). e-ink is expensive. I went with Supernnote for the repairability even if it cost a bit extra.

by throwaway219450

6/18/2026 at 9:45:12 PM

I've seen these portable e-ink monitors available for nearly 10 years now, but this one seems to be the first that's responsive enough for general usage, which is a big step forward. Out of curiosity, if anyone here has one, what do you use it for? There must be something people are using them for if they've been a product niche for so long, but I can't think of what I would do with a standalone 13 inch e-ink monitor.

by ndiddy

6/18/2026 at 3:39:28 PM

> Don’t make yourself regret the things you didn’t do

Nothing to add, but it bears repeating. A shimmer of indie tech resilience

by dleeftink

6/18/2026 at 5:07:19 PM

This paired with LLMs....Looks like we'll have harry potter magic portraits soon! You could have a conversation with a portrait on your wall....

by mikeweiss

6/18/2026 at 6:42:23 PM

If you update that often it’s probably going to chew through the battery though.

by dyauspitr

6/19/2026 at 9:01:18 AM

Last time I read about them (here in HN) somebody highlighted that the problem wasn’t to get them to function at a high refresh rate, the problem is they stop being energy effecient at that rate. Now I mostly skimmed the article but I couldn’t find any information regarding that.

by zero0529

6/19/2026 at 1:11:49 PM

I think that's true, but energy efficiency is only one potential benefit of epaper displays, and not one that is a goal with this product.

by abrowne

6/18/2026 at 8:12:05 PM

Dimensions of monitor are: 315 x 254 x 16 mm - but what are dimensions of visible screen ? - is it enough to match A4 format 297 x 210 mm ?

by t23414321

6/18/2026 at 4:42:47 PM

The Crowd Supply website mentions the high power consumption but it would be great if I could connect it to a smartphone to work on the go!

by MrPapz

6/19/2026 at 1:33:02 AM

How awesome would it be if it was reasonably priced AND doubled as a large eReader ?

by locusofself

6/19/2026 at 4:32:51 PM

When will I be able to get a 35” color e ink display with this high refresh rate?

by billy_bitchtits

6/19/2026 at 5:05:40 PM

I just wish someone would look at the input side, too. I want true digital paper that I can draw on in real time already. Not the laggy nonsense that even stupidly overpowered tablets can't seem to get passed.

by TheRealPomax

6/18/2026 at 10:36:08 PM

i can't decide if i want the monochrome or color one

by joshu

6/18/2026 at 2:07:46 PM

Price?

by throwwwll

6/18/2026 at 2:20:13 PM

U$ 619 for the black and white model and U$ 719 for the color model

https://www.crowdsupply.com/modos-tech/modos-flow#products

by nzach

6/18/2026 at 2:33:31 PM

Not bad considering this is a niche specialty product and cutting edge. The price will come down if the demand and market grow. Assuming raw hardware costs stop rising

by good8675309

6/18/2026 at 4:04:26 PM

Will it? The whole e-ink market seems like it has never priced flexibly.

by imglorp

6/18/2026 at 9:06:54 PM

It never priced flexibly because the company that makes it kept a total stranglehold on the IP through patents and basically requires you to buy both the panel and the controller from them. I think it's actually quite a simple technology but I think it's tough for them to get the economies of scale they really need to be competitive as a display technology. I'm starting to see the older-style black and white eInk displays used as Electronic Shelf Labels more often now and I think it has to do with the patents finally expiring so you can buy the components from more than one supplier. The technology they're replacing, paper labels, costs thousands of dollars per week per store to update and more so when there are sale prices. The eInk displays cut most of those costs in favor of capital and then once in a blue moon battery replacements.

by throwway120385

6/18/2026 at 2:27:30 PM

thumbs down

by throwwwll

6/18/2026 at 2:38:10 PM

that is almost guaranteed an at-cost production figure for the limited run of kickstarter funded displays there isn't a production line producing these things - watch the youtube video this guy quit his job for over a year to build a passion project into a prototype

by acc_297

6/18/2026 at 3:02:54 PM

saw the video - that was so much better than this ieee link.

learnt a lot in the process too - kudos to him

by borg16

6/19/2026 at 11:54:20 AM

so if I get one... anyone know if it may stop working in the future when macos changes something? Or does it not require installed software drivers?

by formvoltron

6/18/2026 at 5:48:17 PM

So this is basically an advertisement for their product?

by smlacy

6/18/2026 at 11:46:16 AM

Unfortunately the pen is probably USI, making it borderline useless as a pen. This will not be like S-pen or Apple Pencil.

by functionmouse

6/18/2026 at 5:03:11 PM

The stylus solution is provided by E Ink to us. E Ink made the switch from EMR to USI a few years ago, so most E Ink devices, including the Modos Flow are using USI now.

by alex-a-soto

6/18/2026 at 1:58:48 PM

Although I can't find an authoritative source on it the indications do support that assumption that it is USI. Technically USI doesn't have to be bad, it just appears that quality control on the standard is bad (similarly to how USB cables often don't meet the spec and can cause troubles as a result).

Firmware can be checked here: https://gitlab.com/zephray/enchanter

by zipy124

6/18/2026 at 2:50:59 PM

Sure. But USI is bad unless the OEM goes out of their way to make it good, whereas EMR is good unless the OEM goes out of their way to make it bad. EMR is the better tech, and with patents expired, and numerous other benefits such as no batteries needed in the pen, it should be standard now.

by functionmouse

6/18/2026 at 1:55:18 PM

I think this device isn’t so much about a pen. It seems like it could be a really nice typing or coding or reading display. Maybe a future model could improve on the pen

by varun_ch

6/18/2026 at 2:40:11 PM

The thing is, to get a pen right, all that they have to do is license Wacom EMR/Samsung's S-Pen (Samsung owns a 40% stake in Wacom, hence using their stylus tech).

Styluses w/ batteries/capacitors were okay once upon a time, but Wacom EMR "just works" and makes my life simpler/nicer (I couldn't count how many styluses I have around my house/in my bags so as to allow me to use my Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360, Galaxy Note 10+, Kindle Scribe Coloursoft, and Wacom One display (attached to a MacBook).

by WillAdams

6/18/2026 at 2:48:41 PM

EMR patents and design specs expired. It's free. China's tooling simply hasn't caught up, because the output doesn't have to feel or work good, it simply has to look good in a kickstarter. Conjecture: I feel like this is like half the reason styluses as a technology are dying; the other half is the untimely death of the resistive display.

Bring back resistive touch!

by functionmouse

6/18/2026 at 4:54:56 PM

Radio frequency/compatibility seems to be a consideration --- also, don't understate the importance of tooling/tolerances even w/ Wacom overseeing things, I've had to return name-brand/licensed styluses which would not work consistently across all of my devices.

by WillAdams

6/18/2026 at 5:06:58 PM

As a fellow EMR stylus enjoyer, which one do you prefer the most? The thin one in the phones tends to be too small to use comfortably and the one that comes with the Galaxy Book/tablets is decent (but the Galaxy Book has very inconsistent support for the buttons). The Wacom One stylus used to be my favorite, but lately I've been enjoying using the Kindle Scribe stylus/the fat Staedler stylus (I think they're both very similar in usage experience).

by hgoel

6/18/2026 at 5:48:02 PM

My favourite stylus is the Staedtler Noris Digital Stylus which stands in for the classic #2 pencil quite nicely.

That said, these days, I mostly use the Premium Pen included w/ my first-gen Kindle Scribe, or a Wacom One stylus (where the Staedtler used to be, prompted by my chipping and cracking the screen on my GB3 and having to apply a screen protector --- the harder tip on the W1 being a better match).

The Staedtler Noris Jumbo is nice, but I wish it had a side switch. The pens bundled w/ my Samsung Galaxy Books (panic-bought a spare when the afore-mentioned screen incident happened) are fine, but I am annoyed that there's no silo (agree w/ Samsung being hobbled by their agreement w/ Wacom being annoying). Don't like the feel of the white Kindle Scribe Coloursoft stylus --- too rubbery.

My backup is a Lamy Safari Wacom EMR which I keep in my travel sling bag --- if I could justify a second, I'd probably EDC it and it would get promoted to favourite.

There are a few others which I've been meaning to try....

by WillAdams

6/18/2026 at 7:31:44 PM

In the above, "rubbery" should read round, and the attribute "rubbery" applies to the eraser.

by WillAdams

6/18/2026 at 4:23:54 PM

I think licensing anything from wacom or samsung is a big ask for a two person(?) project that's making a very small run of open source/open hardware devices

by Palomides