LCD billboards absolutely destroy my night vision. An illuminated color eink display probably would not.
Wouldn't it be technically possible to reduce the backlight for LCD displays at night? Seeing that it itsn't happening I have little hope that e-ink displays wouldn't be illuminated to the maximum as well ("out ads should be as bright and vibrant as possible!")
You can turn off the backlight for an LCD and rely on it being reflective, but the contrast is very poor since at least half the light is blocked.
In this application I see the use of e-ink as being:
- Maybe more readable if you're really fussy.
- Lowers overall power use.
The prior is super weak, LCDs do fine as long as they're not in direct sun.
The second is a good reason, but not a very compelling one in terms of economics yet.
The place these make sense is battery powered devices. If it's plugged in it is a gimmick or someone really dedicated to energy efficiency.
The whole point I'm making is that no advertiser or restaurant is going to use color eInk because the contrast and saturation are so terrible.
This isn't like working around the limitations of a medium to develop pixel art, or black-and-white drawings, etc.
Color e-ink is just a worse medium in every way. It's worse contrast at black-and-white (B&W e-ink is far better), and it's terrible contrast and saturation at color.
I don't see it working for signs, ads, or menus at all.
Color e-ink feels like a cool prototype, a proof-of-concept, but that basically demonstrates its limitations don't make it commercially viable for any general purpose.