A new e-ink display needs no batteries, can be powered by a phone’s NFC chip

Electronic ink (e-ink) displays rule the digital reading devices segment - they are easy on the eyes and don’t require much power, allowing a Kindle, for example, to last weeks on one charge. Apart from e-book readers though, the technology hasn’t spread to other gadgets much. A few smartphone manufacturers made attempts to integrate e-ink displays in their devices, bringing phones like the Motorola F3 and the Yota Phone to the market, but they failed to gain much popularity.

Now the Shenzhen-based company used the specific characteristics of the technology to develop a new way to interact ...