Most digital photo frames are small LCD screens. A colour e-ink frame works on a completely different principle – and it shows on the wall.
Light source vs. surface
An LCD frame is essentially a small TV: a backlight shines through a layer of liquid crystals, and you look directly into that light. That is why LCD frames glow, look bright in a dark room, and show reflections and glare in a bright one.
A colour e-ink display has no backlight. The picture is made of tiny coloured pigment particles, and you see it the same way you see a print on paper – by the light in the room. In daylight it looks natural; in the evening it fades into the room like any other picture on the wall.
What is Spectra 6?
E Ink Spectra™ 6 is a colour ePaper technology from E Ink, the company whose displays are used in most e-readers. It uses four colour pigments – white, red, yellow and blue. By moving and combining them with precise voltages, each pixel can show six colours: black, white, red, yellow, blue and green – the same kind of solid colour you find in printing ink. To show a full-colour photo or artwork, the display places these six colours in very fine dot patterns, much like a printer does. The result is the soft, matte look of a print rather than the glow of a screen – and, like all E Ink displays, the picture stays visible without using power.
Compared with earlier colour e-ink – either filter-based panels, where a colour layer sits on top of a black-and-white screen, or older pigment panels – Spectra 6 shows brighter, more saturated colours, cleaner whites and a faster, calmer image change.
Made to be seen from across the room
An e-ink picture is built like a print: the colours are mixed from very fine dots of a few pigments. From about a metre away – the distance you normally look at a picture on a wall or shelf – the dots blend into smooth images with a calm, matte look. Very close up, you can see the fine dot pattern, just as you would on a printed poster. And because there is no glowing backlight, the picture looks the same from the side as from the front.
Side by side
| LCD frame | Colour e-ink frame (7.3" MelonFrame) | |
|---|---|---|
| Look | Glowing screen, often glossy | Matte, paper-like print |
| Glare | Reflections in bright rooms | No glare |
| Best viewing distance | Close up, like a phone or tablet | From about 1 metre – like a framed print on the wall |
| Viewing angle | Colours can shift when viewed from the side | Wide, paper-like – looks the same from almost any angle |
| Power | Needs a cable, uses power constantly | Power only when the image changes – runs on a battery for months |
| Video & animation | Yes | No – still images only |
| Image change | Instant | About 20–30 seconds (the screen flashes while the pigments move into place) |
| Colours | Millions of bright colours | 6 printed-looking colours from 4 pigments, softer and calmer |
Which one is right for you?
Resolution is the main trade-off. A 7.3" colour e-ink panel has 800 × 480 pixels – about 128 pixels per inch. A common 10" LCD photo frame has 1280 × 800 pixels (about 150 per inch), and tablets have far more. With e-ink, a bigger format brings more detail: a 13.3" colour e-ink panel, for example, has 1600 × 1200 pixels. At 7.3", images with clear subjects, strong contrast and bold colours generally work best – art, illustrations, posters and photos seen from across the room – rather than fine text or very small details.
If you want slideshows with video and bright, saturated colours, an LCD frame does that well. If you want something that looks like a real print, hangs anywhere without a cable and doesn't light up the room, e-ink is the better fit – especially for art, posters and photos you want to live with for a while.
MelonFrame's first model uses a 7.3" Spectra 6 colour e-ink display. A larger format is currently in development.
Read next: Why e-ink saves so much energy
