Hacker News Reader

Comment by nextparadigms | Hacker News Reader

Just to make it clear for everyone, it's not e-ink display. It's a transflective LCD display, which isn't the same thing and it's not nearly as efficient as e-ink either (although I have no idea if e-ink would even work properly on a watch). My guess is it's around 2x more energy efficient than a color LCD watch. This is what they're using for Pebble:

http://www.sharpmemorylcd.com/1-26-inch-memory-lcd.html

View on HN

Well, they keep calling it e-paper which I always understood to be a synonim for e-ink displays. If it's an LCD I think theyre trying to deliberately mislead.

With e-ink, how would one at a glance know wether the battery is dead or not?

E-ink Kindles write a "Your battery is empty" message to the screen shortly before the battery becomes completely discharged.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickbilton/3636447946/

The same as an analog watch - when time stops.

They are now available from Mouser; http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Sharp-Microelectronics/L...

I'm pretty sure that they were only added very recently. I searched a few weeks ago and they weren't listed.

They were listed when pebble went on kickstarter--someone posted it on HN. I am looking forward to experimenting with one myself.

That may be a good thing - some people were asking how soon the e-ink would wear out.

I’ve been trying to correct this for weeks too.

E-ink watches do exist though: http://www.phosphorwatches.com/v/site_pages/mens-watches.asp

I got one of these. The display is really good and the watch is surprisingly robust. Updates on the screen happen really slowly, so I guess it's a real E-Ink display.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com