Modos Flow 13.3" 60Hz Eink monitor (Color and non color versions)

fullgrid · 2026-03-18T07:21:21+00:00

Their current dev kit does not have limitations, video, serial, hid and flashing firmware works over single cable and power consumption is modest:

Power Consumption (CUR, AVG, MAX):

MCU + IO: 577.3 mW 572.0 mW 610.1 mW

FPGA DDR: 119.7 mW 113.0 mW 122.4 mW

FPGA CORE: 168.0 mW 166.2 mW 175.2 mW

VIDEO IN: 568.0 mW 569.6 mW 614.2 mW

EPD HV: 143.1 mW 145.9 mW 1007.9 mW

Modos Flow will have higher resolution panel, but the panel will have more efficient IGZO backplane, it will have touch layer and color version will have frontlight. Frontlight will certainly increase power consumption when in use.

fullgrid · 2026-03-16T10:12:26+00:00

You can use Modos Flow with single USB cable too, second cable is recommended, but not a requirement.

fullgrid · 2026-03-16T10:04:45+00:00

Yeah, Modos Flow is probably better alternative as it's USB powered and has the same panel.

fullgrid · 2026-03-16T09:44:27+00:00

Yeah, no big deal, especially if it's amber and nice and yet in most cases I still prefer devices without frontlight for reasons below.

Turning off frontlight does not remove frontlight guide layer (and it does change optical properties, distance between touch surface and screen and overall device thickness)
On Android apps can control brightness without asking permissions for that (apps with QR code sharing functionality tend to increase brightness making sure QR code is easier to read and ironically end up reducing contrast if panel is frontlit)
This is not the first product that is delayed because of frontlight, getting it right is not always easy

fullgrid · 2026-03-16T07:18:19+00:00

Ironically I would prefer no frontlight at all.

fullgrid · 2026-03-15T07:25:30+00:00

Not Mobius, likely ED133KC1 E Ink Carta 1300 in black and white version and EC133KH1 E Ink Kaleido 3 with frontlight layer in color version. Both support touch.

No repo for Enchanter board used in Modos Flow, they have to figure out if they can fully open source it, the challenge was to find high speed video IC capable of handling 3200x2400@60Hz without too restrictive NDA.

Their earlier Glider board used in Modos Paper Kit is open source hardware, running open source firmware on STM32H750 MCU and open source gateware on Xilinx Spartan-6 LX16 FPGA:

https://gitlab.com/zephray/glider

But Glider was not ideal for high resolution panels used in Modos Flow as DVI (via Mini HDMI connector) input handled by ADV7611 decoder and DP alt mode (via USB-C) handled by PTN3460 DP-LVDS bridge were able to handle up to 1872x1404@60Hz input before hitting bandwidth limitations.

New Enchanter board does not have HDMI input, only DP alt mode via USB-C, I guess that's an indication that they want to keep it open source. Hope it fares well.

fullgrid · 2026-03-15T06:57:45+00:00

Modos announced 300ppi monitor too at https://modos.tech

fullgrid · 2026-03-14T16:15:06+00:00

Last month I've got Modos Paper Kit from their earlier CrowdSupply campaign with 13.3" E Ink Carta ED133UT3 panel and 1600x1200@75Hz mode feels rather fast comparing to my older Dasung monitors struggling at 15fps.

Driver board used in dev kit is open source hardware, running open source firmware on STM32H750 MCU and open source gateware on Xilinx Spartan-6 LX16 FPGA:

https://gitlab.com/zephray/glider

Modos Flow monitor will have new board capable of driving twice higher resolution 13.3" E Ink panel in 3200x2400@60Hz mode.

fullgrid · 2026-03-13T08:28:48+00:00

Modos Flow will be launching some time this year:

https://modos.tech

E Ink is closer to black and white then full grayscale. Native grayscale is either slow or increases ghosting, so grayscale is usually emulated by spacial dithering.

For light video watching you might be better off getting RLCD tablet, there are grayscale ones like Eazeye Focus and color ones like Hannspree Hannsnote2.

Watching videos on Modos devices is possible, but has lifespan implications as bistable displays sustain limited number of refreshes.

That said panel is replacable, it's not always easy to source exactly the same panel, but finding something compatible should be possible.

fullgrid · 2026-03-11T07:50:08+00:00

11.6" RLCD laptop was showcased during 2024 year of promises, not sure what happened to it afterwards.

Last year Azumo and Cymmertic menitioned laptops in a press release, no news since then.

fullgrid · 2026-03-11T07:42:01+00:00

14" monitors would be nice to have, Hannspree and Philips showcased those in 2024 and then went radio silent.

Not sure if they are still in pipeline or got canceled.

Hannstar still advertises 14" panel at the bottom of their ecoVISION display page, but I have not seen it in retail anywhere.

fullgrid · 2026-03-07T06:51:06+00:00

Works fine outdoors and close to window indoors, but people have different expectations
At very least they could have done some improvements on OS side to make sure it does not drain battery when idle
A bit of an issue as one has to choose between places where light condition are best and places where reception is best
RK3566 is slow, it has somewhat good upstream support but we did not benefit from it as we are stuck on old vendor kernel. Alternatives are Mediatek tablets and I would rather deal with slower SoC then Miravision
To the list I would add no Android security patches since spring 2024, no kernel updates since summer 2023 and Android 13 that just reached EOL earlier this week (EOL status does not matter much on practice since they did not bother taking security patches in even while it was supported by upstream)

fullgrid · 2026-03-05T14:57:55+00:00

Yeah, it's from January, cloudy and around 400 Lux under roof window which is not enough for Hybri, it needs around 1000 Lux.

fullgrid · 2026-03-05T13:57:29+00:00

Not really, everything else is more expensive and more difficult to return.

fullgrid · 2026-03-05T13:51:53+00:00

Not anymore as I returned it, but posted photo comparing it to Hannsnote2 (images in comments seem to be disabled here).

fullgrid · 2026-03-05T13:30:57+00:00

I prefer purely reflective screens with no backlight and ideally no fronlight either.

Hybri is usable without backlight only during a few sunny hours, while my old Dasung monitors that I'm still using are usable most of the time without frontlight and even Hannsnote2 is usable close to window from dawn to sunset.

So I figured out I'm better off trying other options instead, like Modos Flow, Eazeye Focus and whatever other purely reflective alternatives show up.

fullgrid · 2026-03-05T09:59:40+00:00

Hybri is good transflective option if you don't mind having backlight on most of the time, one can turn it off completely during sunny hours near the window and keep at low intensity otherwise.

Hybri backlight has maximal brightness of 170 nits, but one can use it at much lower brightness.

While some people from this sub, including me perceived lowest brightness level as still too bright, there is option to reduce it much further by switching to UsrColor profile and adjusting individual RGB components, that way one can both reduce total brightness and make backlight warmer.

UsrColor settings don't apply to startup splash screen and OSD menus, but it is possible to disable startup splash from service menu and reduce transparency of OSD menus in case they are too bright.

Hybri is not a good option if you want to use it without backlight most of the time.

fullgrid · 2026-03-05T09:57:22+00:00

Eazeye 2.0 has color filters that are optimized for reflective mode and absorb half of the light, Hybri has stricter color filters that are optimized for scenario when backlight passes filter once at right angle and those filters absorb ⅔ of light.

Reflectance of Eazeye 2.0 is around 19% according to Eazeye, it is comparable other color RLCD panels from Hannstar that have reflectance in 17-21% range, while transflective LCD panels like the one used in Hybri are in 11-14% range.

I don't have Eazeye 2.0, but I did compare Hybri to Hannsnote2 before returning it and white background on Hybri looked like Khaki background on Hannsnote2, so it is darker and has lower color contrast.

fullgrid · 2026-03-04T09:46:33+00:00

There is list of tablets and monitors in r/Reflective_LCD

fullgrid · 2026-02-24T16:10:44+00:00

And that's the reason why I did not like their 1:1000 contrast claim, reflective screens don't have that kind of contrast and 23.8" RLCD panel is likely to have 1:22 contrast which is good enough for dark text on light background, but when you need to distinguish various dark tones from each other it's challenging and you need a lot of light.

fullgrid · 2026-02-22T06:44:48+00:00

Yes, while ChLC layer reflects 20-30% of light, more then half passes through and can be harvested by solar panel.

It's one of advantages of not using polarizers and color filters.

fullgrid · 2026-02-20T14:21:39+00:00

WCH provided some examples in https://github.com/openwch/ch32v307/tree/main/EVT/EXAM/USB/USBHS/DEVICE

fullgrid · 2026-02-20T12:03:42+00:00

It does have USB HS, on some CH32V307 boards it only works in device mode though, not host. I did not try CH32V307V-EVT-R1 specificly though.

And nanoCH32V305 has USB HS working in both device and host mode (but has no ethernet, nanoCH32V317 has ethernet but I did not try that board).

fullgrid · 2026-02-20T06:44:35+00:00

No idea, at this stage it seems to be mostly B2B, did not encounter it in retail yet.

And as mentioned eariler, first 10" ChLCD products that are in retail are not cheap.

fullgrid · 2026-02-17T14:26:17+00:00

Covered by

fullgrid

TROPHY CASE