- This new Bloomin8 E-ink canvas frame is available in several sizes and lasts for a year on a fee
- You can easily place one on your wall and have it rotate through shared images via an app upload or through an SD card
- These screens also fit into a popular IKEA frame
Digital photo frames are eye -catching technology for the home, but they come up with challenges such as power cables and the need for constant connection to the cloud.
What if you could place digital images throughout your home-on each wall and none of them needed wires or full-time internet connection? That would be the new Bloomin8 E-Ink canvas from Arpobot.
Refused in a Kickstarter program this week, the new E-In-ink screens are in full color designed to fit into some standard art and photography frames, including the Rödalm series from IKEA.
Based on E-Ink’s Spectra6 technology, Bloomin8-Recharge Screens support full color and 200 PPI resolution. More importantly, they can hold an image indefinitely, which means you only need power to change the display image. According to Arpobot, a Bloomin8 E-Ink canvas can work for up to a year on charging.
It is a rare use of consumption for the All-Color Spectra6 panel, which E-Kun has traditionally turned into commercial use (think advertising screens). But it’s definitely not the only one.
Bloomin8 will compete with POCKETBOOK INKPOSTER, we saw on CES 2025. It also uses E-Ink Spectra6 technology and its accompanying app offers a large library of images.
When we wrote about it in January, there was no mention of AI image generation. We also do not know about their ability to support IKEA frames.
Load and lock-in
Pictures can be sidelined through Bloomin8’s integrated SD slot, which I know is a rather retro feature. In the years before, units connected, many of the original photo frames were dependent on SD cards for their photo libraries. However, Bloomin8 also accepts image updates from its dedicated app on your smartphone (iOS or Android).
Still, as it is not connected to the cloud and does not need the Internet to its photos, Bloomin8 e-Ink canvas does not pull the power while showing a picture. That is the benefit of e-ink; Once the image is drawn, it remains visible on the display, even without further power.
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The matte images we have seen so far look quite good, although it takes a few moments for the e-breathing to solve and saturate the image fully. It is also worth remembering that e-Ink is a reflective technology and as a painting or photo is only illuminated if you shed light on it. We do not yet know how well the picture will hold up in all lighting situations.
If you have no art or photos you want to use or have something completely different in mind, the Bloomin8 app can generate AI images that you can upload to one of the canvases.
The Bloomin8 panels are available in three sizes: 7.3 inches ($ 167), 133 inches ($ 349) and 28.5 inches ($ 999), which means you have many options for mixing your living room photo mason. These are all Kickstarter prices and the retailer will be more expensive.
