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I'm interested in using Android for a E-Ink based platform. I know it has been demonstrated once by MOTO, but I'm interested in using it for a commercial grade product and not 'just' a technology demo. I have got a question on the ability to change the platform to cope with specific display effect caused by E-Ink. I'm asking this question from the role of system architect and have no prior experience with Android.
E-ink has several characteristics which are very different than the common LCD displays:
The great thing: it costs no power to retain display information and they can be read in bright sunlight with no backlight. Also the display can be literally as thin as paper...
This means that the platform software needs to have a degree of control over the number of display updates and the type of display updates to get the best performance. Otherwise, an application which is unaware of the display characteristics could quickly drain the battery, or worse, shorten display life time to months instead of years. Conceptually I'd be interested in replacing a display driver, but I'm not sure if this part is open. I know it is hard to get info on the Qualcomm chipsets....
My question: can this be done? Can the Android platform be modified to support a drastically different display effect? Any pointers to an android roadmap?
The reason I find Android interesting for this application is because there is a significant overlap in functionality (from cell phone to browser).
Thanks!
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The ReMarkable 2 is the best E Ink tablet for students who love to take lots of handwritten notes. It is only 0.19 inches thick and 0.88 pounds, which makes it light and easy to carry in your backpack. This 10.3-inch tablet uses a monochrome digital display with a resolution of 226 DPI.
These are E INK based tablets that come with a stylus and allow users to freehand draw, take notes or make annointatins in documents. One of the big advantages of e-notes over another tablet such as the iPad or Samsung Galaxy is the battery life.
Home | The Official BOOX Site. The only Android E Ink tablets and ePaper monitors with ultimate flexibility to power your work and study.
E Ink Color Technologies. E Ink Gallery™E Ink Gallery™, based on the Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP™) is a high quality, full color reflective display. In the ACeP™ system, the ink can produce full color at every pixel, without the use of a color filter array (CFA).
I cannot agree more and started to lobby with app and OS developers on improving readability on e-ink:
Make scrolling and page turns e-ink friendly http://github.com/aarddict/android/issues/28#issuecomment-3512595
Looking around on the web I find a recurring theme "we had to rebuild WebView from scratch to adapt it to the e-ink display"
There are already coding solutions which reduce flicker and page refreshes. Most of them are kept by those who market the e-ink readers who prefer to keep them as frontends to their shops.
I contacted the author(s) of cool reader on their implementation of smooth scrolling on e-ink devices and got the following reply:
Hello, Look at N2EpdController.java Author is DairyKnight from xda-developers. At least you can use it under GPL. For use in closed project I would recommend to contact him.
Ideally, display components for e-ink devices should be part of the Webkit's WebView framework. I've submitted a feature request via http://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=76429
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fyi, E-Ink has an Android on E-Ink development kit, AM350 that's being sold now. http://www.eink.com/sell_sheets/AM350_Kit_Sell_Sheet.pdf
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