Why do I like E Ink so much? I think it’s because in 2026 it still seems futuristic to me. I’m so constantly surrounded by digital screens that E Ink almost feels like a callback to the futurism of the early 2000s when technology was chunky and tactile.

I remember getting my first Kindle. It was one with a physical keyboard. The idea of having a library with me wherever I went was great. Its convenience lent itself to me reading more. A positive outcome. Eventually, touch screen psychosis¹ came for us all, and the tactile world vanished. My second Kindle, while having a higher resolution, more contrast, and faster responsiveness, did not have buttons on the side to change the page. Instead, I had to touch the screen with no tactile feedback. Over time, Amazon began enshittifying all its services², keeping the Kindle in a closed ecosystem, and heavily DRMing books.

The Kindle was my only interface with E Ink until a couple of years ago. I was finally fed up with Amazon, and researched other E Ink readers. I finally settled on a Boox device. It runs on Android, and I can still access my Kindle library through the Kindle app. It has buttons! It is highly customizable without any upsell. Amazon actually charges more money to remove ads and use customizable sleep images. I also have access to Libby, Readwise, Obsidian, and a bevy of dedicated reading apps to read various things from PDFs to saved articles from the web. It made me angry at how locked down and sparse the Kindle actually was, at a higher price (you could pay more for page buttons). I will never recommend a Kindle to anyone ever again.

I then looked to my old Kindle, who had betrayed me. I hacked and jailbroke it. This opened up a customized reading app called KOReader. You can jailbreak a Kindle and still use it as a Kindle. But I was no longer going to use my Kindle as a reading device. No… It deserved to be made an example.

I looked into the TRMNL ecosystem, and found a way to make it a smart display that can display the weather forecast, our grocery list, our garbage collection schedule, and more. I then placed the display on our fridge. I now have a fun, unobtrusive smart fridge³⁴.

As time went on, I found a small E Ink device that can save an image indefinitely via NFC. It’s cute. I enjoy playing with it, I can place a photo or a meme on it, and have it sit on my desk without the need to power it. There are larger ones too, and I’ve been considering getting one to display photos on.

And now, today, I’ve built a small writerdeck using a small E Ink device as a screen. I would rather not use my phone because I want to go back to dedicated devices for specific things.

I could carry a notebook and pen, and I do, but my handwriting isn’t great; I also can’t write as fast as I type. Typing can keep up with my brain, so I can quickly get out thoughts. Writing on paper is a more deliberate, ideation, freeform process.

Having a dedicated device feels a little less plugged in and more natural. This could be because I grew up in the late nineteen hundreds. But having a few books to read, or a couple of albums⁵ can make you appreciate the experience a bit more instead of treating everything as disposable. It can also help with the recency bias that everyone has regarding media.

I can use my phone as a camera, but when I use an actual camera, I am more mindful and focus on composition. When I use a dedicated reading device, I can’t browse social media. This may only be an outcome of my ADHD, but being focused on things takes several methods and workarounds to ensure I do things.

I wrote this on my new writerdeck. It’s something I’ve wanted to make for a long time. Now I have to do the hard part and write. The good thing is I’m not distracted with formatting and spelling. I can do that later, and I literally can’t do that on this device.

So thank you E Ink, for keeping technology focused and fun. Except for those dynamic surge pricing signs at stores. Those aren’t evil because they’re E Ink, it’s because they can change them at a whim.

1. A term I’ve picked up from this article about the creation of the Playdate.
   https://panic.com/blog/the-story-of-playdate/ ↩
2. I’m still mad about their acquisition of Comixology. It was a great way of exploring comics, creators, storylines, etc. Now it’s all just merged into Amazon. ↩
3. I joke that we bought a smart fridge all the time. And not to be annoying about it, but mine is much more customizable than those Samsung monstrosities. ↩
4. I’ve optimized it so it lasts about two weeks before needing charged. ↩
5. This is one of the reasons I like collecting vinyl albums. You dedicate yourself to listening to an entire album in a sitting. ↩