E Ink’s new digital paper lets you draw with almost no lag

The hypothetical pinnacle of digital paper is when it becomes indistinguishable from the real article, both in terms of reading and writing. Today, at the Connected Ink conference in Tokyo, E Ink Holdings took us a little bit closer with its new JustWrite technology.

JustWrite is designed to feel as close as possible to writing on a sheet of standard A4, without the inclusion of a bulky TFT backplane. It requires very little electricity to run, and boasts very low latency, in order to offer a natural-feeling writing experience.

So, how does this work in practice? You can see an artist demonstrate the technology in this video. As you’ll see, pencil strokes appear virtually instantaneously.

According to E Ink Holdings, JustWrite only requires a writing stylus and simple electronics to work, and works with a variety of compatible writing implements, including pens, brushes, markets, and stamps. Thanks to the simple construction of the JustWrite film, the e-ink displays are lightweight, bendable and highly flexible.

Most people are familiar with digital paper technology thanks to e-readers like the Amazon Kindle, but with the reality is that it’s increasingly encroaching on more spaces, from public information displays to luggage tags. JustWrite’s technology means that these displays will no longer merely be content consumption devices, but also a viable option for creative working. And that’s pretty exciting.