E Ink JustWrite makes any surface 'digital writing enabled'
The folks at E Ink have a new sort of film that'll enable digital writing on a wide variety of new devices. This film is like a plastic sheet – sort of – and can be applied to any surface to create a simple electronic paper experience. Once installed, this material allows writing that'll stay in-place for an indefinite amount of time – and can be removed with a single tap of a button.
It's a technology very similar to what we've seen in the past in devices like the Boogie Board. With E Ink's JustWrite, a digital writing experience is enabled without the use of a TFT backplane. This tech can be used with or without a digitizer.
The material is what E Ink describes as both durable and lightweight. Not that you'd be carrying it around – but you could, if you wanted. It's suggested that this material can be "affixed and removed easily, enabling writing surfaces in a variety of locations.
E Ink JustWrite film digital writing platform features:
• Digitizer Compatible (Optional)
• Extremely Low Power
• Durable
• Reflective display without a backlight
• Bendable and conformable
• Any shape (including with holes)
• Any size up to 3' width
• Natural writing experience with good contrast
• Variety of writing styles
– Pen / Pencil
– Brush
– Marker
– Stamps
E Ink suggests that this film can be any shape and any size up to 3-feet in width. Imagine a digital blackboard, but without the power requirements of a massive touchscreen. With JustWrite we've got a marriage of a tried-and-true writing method with a digital element that makes for a pain-free, clean experience.
At this time, this product isn't for sale to consumers. Instead, it's in its infancy – ready to be presented to all people, but not necessarily ready to hit the shelves. The folks at E Ink will be showing this tech to visitors at Connected Ink 2018 (Tokyo, Japan) on November 30 during the Breakout Session 2 on Leading Edge Technology.
NOTE: It would SEEM that the latency in writing with this tech is basically nonexistent – but given the fact that the company's not made any sort of big deal of this, we must assume there's some reason why they've not touted the complete lack of latency we see in the demo video. Imagine using a digital stylus with no latency whatsoever – sound like any company you know? Samsung with Wacom, Apple, etcetera?