Light-powered ePaper screen adds art to your wall without a charger

A new gadget we've just come across might be the best piece of decor you'll add to your home this year. It's arguably the first-ever ePaper display that can display art and photos using nothing but the power of the Sun.

This is essentially a picture frame on steroids. While there are many similar products that can do the same thing, they usually need to be powered by a charger, and require an unsightly cable snaking across the wall when you mount them. The Inkanva does away with all that for a clean look in any room.

This frame comes in three sizes, and its screen doesn't use a backlight: it simply displays images in full color using 48 base colors and reflects ambient light. The team behind it says this results in a paper-like appearance for your chosen art, and you can expect to see "rich colors, crisp details, and exceptional clarity."

The company says it uses a custom display algorithm engineered for photography, so the ePaper screen delivers accurate colors and sharp details in the photos you upload.

The flexible perovskite panel can charge using indoor lights or the Sun, so you can easily place this in any room around your home. In case it's not bright enough for solar, or you don't want to power it that way, the frame's built-in 5,000-mAh rechargeable battery lasts up to 4 months on a single charge, while displaying one image per day.

It also supports multiple outer frame styles that you can attach on top of the aluminum frame without tools.

You've got loads of options for image sources. In local mode, you can load up as many as 4,000 images and have them display in a slideshow; the whole thing can be managed via your browser, and you don't need internet access to run this.

You can also select classic artworks in the public domain from Inkanva's gallery in the cloud, and of course, upload any images you've taken or have stored on your phone using a companion app.

Now, if you're up on all things AI, there's even more functionality to unlock here. You can command AI agents to create screens with any sort of content you like, such as the day's events, weather, and more. Your agent can connect to an Inkanva API and beam across photos from your cloud storage, and even present AI-generated images there, if you're into that.

Inkanva says that once you've got it all set up, you can issue commands like "Show something calm in the living room tonight," and have your AI agent send an appropriate image to your frame. It can even change up images according to the time of day or on a recurring schedule.

Personally, I'd prefer sticking with my own collection of images, and art and photography by the masters that are freely available. I appreciate that you can run the Inkanva solely on your home network, without having to opt in to a subscription or AI tools unless you want to.

The mobile app lets you share access to your Inkanva with multiple users, and you can even control multiple frames around your house from one device.

You can choose from three sizes. The 7.09-inch and 13.3-inch models support a 1,200 x 1,600-px resolution, while the large 28.5-inch one is at 2,160 x 3,060 px, with IGZO display tech for a sharp image at that size. The largest one doesn't do solar, so you'll need to connect it to a power outlet.

Inkanva is crowdfunding these displays on Kickstarter, where you can get them at the following discounted prices:

• 13.3 inches: US$349 (down from $499 expected MSRP)
• 7.09 inches: $159 (down from $239)
• 28.5 inches: $1,599 (down from $2,399)

All crowdfunding campaigns carry an element of risk, and this is Inkanva's first outing on Kickstarter – so you'll want to keep that in mind if you choose to back this campaign. For what it's worth, the campaign has raised nearly $250,000 from over 570 backers, and has detailed the Inkanva's development and testing on its campaign page.

If all goes to plan, orders are slated to ship to select countries (listed on the campaign page) in December, and delivery costs will be calculated once the campaign ends (fixed delivery rates per unit and as per size, $25 onwards for US orders).

Source: Kickstarter

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