No one imagined a digital photo frame could be made using an E Ink display, yet Ben Borgers did it. This works using the display of an old B&N Nook Simple Touch Reader. Turning this old e-reader into a photo frame comes with lots of perks. This project gives the feeling of putting printed photos in regular frames.
Pictures look good on ePaper screens if you know what you want. First, it runs on Android, so you can easily tweak it to do what you want. Using the old e-reader’s display, you’re helping the environment by keeping one less device from becoming junk. Moreover, you can grab one cheaply since it’s an older Nook Simple Touch Reader from 2011.
Ebook readers played a big role in making ePaper/E Ink displays popular. Devices like Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite and Barnes & Noble’s NOOK series are perfect. The low energy use and clear contrast were great. Although the screen updates slowly, people are okay with it because it works well.
The awesome contrast of ePaper makes it perfect, especially for black-and-white photos. The e-reader is tweaked to use an app called Electric Sign. This app is pretty simple – it shows a website on the screen. Some updates are needed in it occasionally. Ben says that’s all you need, to show an image on the full screen.
Borgers made two of these gadgets as gifts. One is for his girlfriend, and one is for his parents. Since they all use iPhones, he figured the best way would be to display pictures from a shared iCloud album. Borgers wanted to show photos from a shared iCloud album on his website, but Apple doesn’t have a direct way.
He cleverly figured out a way by mimicking the backend requests, but it only works for public albums shared with a link. Ben did a great job here. The stuff around it is just enough to make the display stand out without making it too much. He is giving a fresh start to an old e-reader that’s been around for more than ten years.
Navkiran Dhaliwal is a seasoned content writer with 10+ years of experience. When she's not writing, she can be found cooking up a storm or spending time with her dog, Rain.