The Modos Flow is a portable monitor with a 13.3 inch, 3200 x 2400 pixel touchscreen display and up to a 60 Hz refresh rate. What makes it different from most other monitors with those kinds of features is that the Modos Flow features an E Ink screen.That means it offers a paper-like viewing experience: while there’s a front light on some models, you can turn it off and view the screen with nothing but ambient light. After introducing the display earlier this year, Modos has now launched a Crowd Supply crowdfunding campaign for the Modos Flow.Backers can reserve a model with a black and white screen with a pledge of $619 or a color model for $719. The former supports up to 16 shades of gray, while the latter supNraiports up to 4096 colors (at reduced pixel density, because that’s how E Ink Kaleido color displays work) and features a front light with adjustable color temperature and stylus support.The Modos Flow features two USB Type-C ports, one for power and one for video input, although you can use a single USB cable for both if you connect the portable display to a compatible device.E Ink displays are often used in eBook readers like Amazon Kindle or Kobo devices because not only do they offer paper-like viewing, but they also don’t need much power at all. You can get weeks or even months of battery life from an eReader because E Ink screens can display a static image indefinitely without consuming any power at all. So the display only uses electricity when you turn the page in an eBook.But that doesn’t mean E Ink doesn’t support higher refresh rates. And the Modos Flow has a custom board with an FPGA running custom firmware that offers browsing, typing, watching and reading modes.Effectively, this lets you crank up the refresh rate for high-motion activities or reduce it for viewing static images. But keep in mind that you sacrifice visual quality at higher refresh rates: scrolling and other actions won’t look quite as smooth on E Ink as they do on OLED or LCD display. And you may seem some ghosting, where a remnant of previous images remain on the screen for a period of time.Some of the demo videos I’ve seen show that video, for example, looks pretty awful on this kind of display. You can either put up with screen tearing or highly pixelated imagery.For reading and writing though, I can see the appeal of something like the Modos Flow… if it’s withing your budget. It does cost 3-6 times more than similarly-sized portable displays with LCD screens.via LinuxGizmos