FilterHN

> 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.

▲

user_7832

2 hours ago

[-]

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

▲

unshavedyak

27 minutes ago

[-]

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.

▲

throawayonthe

12 minutes ago

[-]

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

▲

daoboy

8 minutes ago

[-]

You can plug it into your phone?

That improves the utility for me quite a bit!

▲

acc_297

2 hours ago

[-]

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

▲

jackb4040

1 hour ago

[-]

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.

▲

afandian

1 hour ago

[-]

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

https://repebble.com/

▲

abrowne

40 minutes ago

[-]

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

▲

dleeftink

1 hour ago

[-]

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

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

▲

functionmouse

4 hours ago

[-]

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

▲

zipy124

2 hours ago

[-]

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

▲

functionmouse

1 hour ago

[-]

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.

▲

varun_ch

2 hours ago

[-]

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

▲

WillAdams

2 hours ago

[-]

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).

▲

functionmouse

1 hour ago

[-]

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!

▲

Palomides

17 minutes ago

[-]

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

▲

throwwwll

2 hours ago

[-]

Price?

▲

nzach

2 hours ago

[-]

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

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

▲

good8675309

2 hours ago

[-]

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

▲

imglorp

37 minutes ago

[-]

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

▲

throwwwll

2 hours ago

[-]

thumbs down

▲

acc_297

2 hours ago

[-]

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

▲

borg16

1 hour ago

[-]

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

learnt a lot in the process too - kudos to him