Pocketbook InkPoster: Digital picture frame with color e-ink display

Pocketbook, known as a manufacturer of e-readers, introduced the InkPoster at CES in Las Vegas. This is a digital picture frame with a colored e-paper display. The image representation of the battery-operated model should hardly differ from real prints. This is ensured by the new E-Ink Spectra 6 technology, which was first introduced in 2023.

E-paper display with 60,000 colors

Conventional colored e-paper displays, such as those found in current e-book readers, only have a low color depth, which makes the colors appear weak. The Kaleido 3 display, which is also used in Pocketbook’s e-reader Color Note, can only display 4,096 colors. The new Spectra 6 display, on the other hand, should be able to display up to 60,000 colors, which should ensure significantly more vibrant colors.

Compared to other digital picture frames with LCD or OLED displays, the e-paper display has the advantage of providing a paper-like viewing experience without flickering or reflections. It also has low energy consumption: electricity is only required when changing images. This means that a battery charge should last up to a year.

InkPoster in three sizes

Pocketbook’s InkPoster displays are available in three sizes: 13.3 inches, 28.5 inches and 31.5 inches. The smallest model has a resolution of 1,600 x 1,200 pixels, the largest model has a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. However, the 28.5-inch model particularly stands out. On the one hand, due to its higher resolution of 3,060 × 2,160 pixels, and on the other hand, through the use of an IGZO back panel from Sharp, which is intended to enable faster image creation.

This is a disadvantage of the Spectra 6 technology: the color representation is made possible by colored beads in the cells of the panel, which have to be arranged in the correct order when the image changes in order to display the correct color. Due to the longer image change time, the technology plays no role for e-readers – but this is irrelevant in digital picture frames. The image change takes around half a minute; it should be a little faster with the 28.5-inch model.

The InkPoster picture frames come with an app from Pocketbook in which curated works of art are available. You can also upload your own photos. The pictures are transferred to the picture frame via WLAN or Bluetooth.

Prices and availability

Pricing for the InkPoster models starts at $599 for the 13.3-inch variant, while the 31.5-inch model retails for $1,699. The middle model is the most expensive: the 28.5-inch model costs $2,399. The devices will be sold starting this summer. Euro prices are not yet known.