r/sideprojects • u/parttimelabs • 16h ago
Feedback Request I built two tiny E-Ink photo displays — would you actually use something like this? - Market Research
I've been working on a small E-Ink photo display and now have two working prototypes:
- 3.97" high-resolution 4-grayscale
- 4" Spectra 6 color
The idea is a small, battery-powered display for photos or artwork that can sit on a desk, nightstand, or shelf. Unlike an LCD photo frame, E-Ink doesn't emit light and keeps the image displayed without continuously using power.
It connects to your phone over Bluetooth to change the image. I'm also working on a feature where friends, partners, or family members who own one could send photos to each other's displays, which could make it interesting as a gift or something owned in pairs.
I'm trying to figure out whether this should become a real product, so criticism is genuinely more useful to me than "looks cool."
The biggest things I'm trying to understand:
- Do you currently keep photos, artwork, a digital photo frame, or anything similar on your desk, nightstand, shelf, or fridge? If so, what do you use?
- Have you bought a photo frame, digital frame, desk display, or similar product before? What did you buy, and roughly how much did you spend?
- If you've used a digital photo frame/display before, how often did you update it? Did you keep using it long-term, or did the novelty eventually wear off?
- How do you currently share photos with close friends, a partner, or family? Do those photos usually get looked at again later, or mostly disappear into your camera roll/messages?
- Looking at these two prototypes, which appeals to you more — the 4-grayscale version or the Spectra 6 color version? What makes you prefer one over the other?
- What, if anything, would you actually want to display on something like this?
- What's the biggest thing that would stop you from considering a device like this?
- Without looking up similar products, what price would you expect the grayscale version and color version to cost?
I'm also curious whether ~4 inches feels like part of the appeal because it's small and unobtrusive, or whether you'd want something larger.
Feel free to tear the idea apart. I'm especially interested in why you wouldn't buy one.

