The short answer: if you want one large piece that stays put for years, buy a framed print. If you get bored of your walls, or want art that changes with the seasons in a spot you see every day, an e-ink frame makes more sense. Plenty of people end up with both.
Side by side
| Framed print | CanvasBT e-ink frame | |
|---|---|---|
| Changing the art | New print, often a new frame too | From your phone, or long-press the frame |
| Size | Any size you like | About 9.6 × 16 cm of art |
| Texture | Real paper, paint or ink | Smooth, paper-like surface |
| Colour | Full range of a good print | Six ink colours, softer tones |
| Light | Reflects room light | Reflects room light, no backlight |
| Power | None | Up to a year per charge |
| Setup | A nail | An app (Android now, iOS coming) |
| Cost over time | Grows with every new piece | One frame, unlimited art |
Where a framed print still wins
Size
This is the big one, so we'll be upfront. The frame measures 23 × 28 cm and holds a 7.3-inch screen, so the art inside is about 9.6 × 16 cm. A print can be as big as your wall allows. If you've got a blank space above a sofa or a fireplace, a large print will fill it. Our frame won't.
The real thing
An original painting, a screen print with raised ink, a signed limited edition. You can see the brushstrokes and feel the paper. E-ink shows an image of a piece of art. It can't give you the surface.
Nothing to think about
A print needs no charging, no app and no phone. You hang it and it's still there looking the same in twenty years, as long as you keep it out of strong direct sunlight.
Colour depth
Colour e-ink uses six ink colours. It looks convincingly like printed paper, but a good giclée print has a wider, richer range. Bold, graphic art looks great on e-ink. Subtle skin tones and soft gradients come out gentler than on paper. We wrote a guide on which art works best on e-ink if you want to see the difference.
Where an e-ink frame wins
The art changes when you do
Send a new piece from the app over Bluetooth, or long-press the frame to flip between the three images stored on it. A misty landscape in November, something bright in spring, a family photo on someone's birthday. The wall stops being background you've stopped noticing.
No reframing, no new nail holes
With prints, every change usually means a new print, often a new frame and mount, and another hole in the plaster. With the frame, you buy it once and the art library is on your phone.
It looks like paper, not a screen
There's no backlight. The panel reflects the light in the room, the same way a printed page does, so it doesn't glow at night or look like a tablet stuck to the wall. The image stays put even if the battery runs flat. If you're weighing it against using an old tablet, we've covered that in e-ink frame vs tablet.
It barely needs you
One charge over USB-C lasts up to a year, because the panel only uses power when the picture changes. It connects by Bluetooth only. No Wi-Fi, no account, nothing uploaded anywhere.
The trade-offs we'd want to know about
Changing the picture isn't instant. A full change takes around 15 to 22 seconds, and the screen flickers while it redraws. That's normal for colour e-ink, and once it's done the image sits perfectly still.
It needs light to be seen, just like paper. In a dark corner it looks dark.
It's made for normal indoor rooms. The screen works between 0 and 50 °C, so a freezing garage or a conservatory in full summer sun isn't the place for it.
The app is on Android today. The iPhone version is on its way, so if your household is all iPhone, it's worth waiting.
Which one should you pick?
1. Is the space bigger than about 50 cm across?
2. Do you tend to get bored of what's on your walls?
3. Is it somewhere you'll see every day, like a desk, hallway or bedside?
Or have both
You don't have to choose. Keep your favourite prints as the fixed pieces on a gallery wall, then drop one e-ink frame into the mix as the piece that changes. The prints give the wall its character, and the frame keeps it from going stale. Our first gallery wall guide shows how to lay one out.
See the frame up close
7.3″ colour e-ink, up to a year per charge, Bluetooth only. Designed and hand-assembled in the UK.
View the frame, from £78.60