Modos Color Monitor Pushes E-Paper Displays Further
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
Modos crowdfunds Modos Flow, a 13.3-inch color e-paper monitor with a 60 Hz refresh rate.
Modos cofounders Alexander Soto and Wenting Zhang, after a successful dev kit campaign, launched a Crowd Supply campaign for the Modos Flow, a 13.3-inch color e-paper monitor. It features a 3,200 x 2,400 resolution, touch input, 60 Hz refresh rate, and a USB-C port. A new open-source display controller, Enchanter, using a larger FPGA and DisplayPort 1.1, enables the higher resolution. Zhang notes the pixel response time is about 50 milliseconds, comparable to early iPads. The monitor is priced at $719 for the color model.
Production challenges included a chip crisis and defects: 300 of 500 screens in a batch were defective, requiring manual testing of 300 panels. The cofounders chose crowdfunding over investment, citing a small market and desire to build an open-source community.
What commenters are saying
Commenters are broadly enthusiastic about the specs but note two main concerns. The stylus uses USI, which some criticize as inferior to Wacom EMR, though a commenter (likely a Modos representative) explains E Ink switched to USI. A highly-recommended YouTube video by cofounder Zhang details the engineering behind the faster controller, with several commenters praising his work. The price ($619 B&W, $719 color) is seen as acceptable for a niche, low-volume product, though some find it high. One commenter notes e-ink's pixel response is slower than LCDs, but another argues the controller, not the panel, was the bottleneck. The market for e-paper monitors is debated, with a mention of transflective LCDs as an alternative.