NFC-Powered E-Ink Display

I thought that e-ink displays needed power. But they don’t, once they have an image on them, they can hold it indefinitely. So I ordered a Waveshare 2.9” passive NFC-powered e-Paper (G) and had a little play. It technically comes with an app, but it’s not listed on Google Play and has significant issues beyond a handful of supported devices. Unfortunately, my Google Pixel is not one of them.

But the protocol has been reverse engineered by others, and Claude was able to use their work, plus some iteration to get communication working with the Waveshare display from my Pixel phone.

It’s neat! Takes around ~20 seconds to update, and I have to remove my phone case because I have a magsafe phone case to attach to my car’s phone holder.

The experimental display I picked was too small for framed picture, but like any good hammer, I found a nail. I made an app for creating custom Magic: The Gathering tokens. It’s cute, albeit quite small.

I’ve ordered the next size up, watch this space.