The Dory Sign is E ink, smart screen simplicity at its finest

Dory Sign：电子墨水屏，智能显示设备的极简典范

Many gadgets marketed as being “smart” make me wonder if they would be better off dumb. Some examples are smart TVs that insist on sending your activities to businesses to track you, smart fridges that use the Internet to cycle through ads, smart gym equipment that won’t work offline, smart toothbrushes whose batteries drain too quickly, or virtually any gadget that forces you to use a minimally effective or otherwise unimpressive app. Too often, modern technologies, like inter-device connectivity and artificial intelligence, are shoehrned into gadgets that would be more intuitive to use, affordable, accessible, and/or durable without them.

许多标榜为“智能”的小玩意儿常让我怀疑，它们是不是“笨一点”反而更好。例如，那些执意将你的活动发送给商家以进行追踪的智能电视、利用互联网循环播放广告的智能冰箱、无法离线使用的智能健身器材、电池耗电过快的智能牙刷，或者几乎任何强迫你使用功能鸡肋或体验糟糕的应用程序的设备。现代技术（如设备互联和人工智能）往往被生硬地塞进各种设备中，而如果没有这些技术，它们本可以更直观、更实惠、更易用且更耐用。

Dory Sign, however, is a reminder of how technology can improve something as simple as a sign without overshadowing the product’s most basic purpose, which in this case is effective and delightful communication. Dory is a small sign that, like many E Ink displays, is easy on the eyes because it doesn’t use bright lighting. You control what the sign displays through a free iOS or Android app that doesn’t force you to share your email or name to use it. The app has clear sections for editing the header text, main text, and footer text, adding an image, and choosing a background. It also allows more than one person to make changes to the display and communicates to the sign through Bluetooth.

然而，Dory Sign 提醒了我们，技术如何能在不掩盖产品最基本目的的前提下，改善像“标牌”这样简单的东西——在这里，其核心目的就是高效且令人愉悦的沟通。Dory 是一款小型标牌，像许多电子墨水屏一样，它不使用强光，因此对眼睛非常友好。你可以通过免费的 iOS 或 Android 应用程序控制显示内容，且无需分享电子邮件或姓名即可使用。该应用设有清晰的板块，用于编辑页眉、正文和页脚文本，添加图片以及选择背景。它还允许多人对显示内容进行更改，并通过蓝牙与标牌进行通信。

You can upload your own image or background, but the app comes with a decent range of preloaded images, like animals, flowers, and illustrations, and preloaded backgrounds, including ones that look like brush strokes or marble and more detailed ones, like a landscape. You don’t have to spend a lot of time designing the sign, but if you want to get creative, the app has six different typefaces for text and sliders for text size, line height, letter spacing, and text color (which makes text darker or lighter). The sign can only display one image, though. And while transferring your preferred text, image, and background is simple enough with the app, your phone has to be pretty close to the sign for it to work. You also have to press the power button every time you want to change the display. This can be tedious, especially if you have the sign mounted to a wall. To be fair, though, manually changing a regular sign also requires you to get close to and touch the display.

你可以上传自己的图片或背景，但该应用也预装了相当丰富的素材，包括动物、花卉和插画等图片，以及看起来像笔触、大理石纹理或更精细的风景画等背景。你无需花费大量时间设计，但如果你想发挥创意，应用提供了六种不同的字体，以及用于调整字号、行高、字间距和文本颜色（深浅）的滑块。不过，该标牌一次只能显示一张图片。虽然通过应用传输文本、图片和背景非常简单，但手机必须靠近标牌才能操作。此外，每次更改显示内容时，你都必须按下电源键，如果标牌挂在墙上，这可能会有些繁琐。但平心而论，手动更换普通标牌也需要你靠近并触碰它。

The E Ink screen doesn’t lend itself to vibrant imagery. Instead, it’s a more passive display that doesn’t call for attention, yet clearly communicates with distinct detail in its text and images.

电子墨水屏并不适合呈现鲜艳的图像。相反，它是一种更被动的显示方式，不会刻意吸引眼球，却能通过清晰的文字和图像细节进行有效的沟通。

Dory Sign’s makers claim gadget can last for 15 years. At $149, the Dory Sign is expensive for a small display. However, you may be able to extract that much value from it over the years. Dory claims that the sign only uses power when it’s changing what’s on the display. The sign’s contents “remain visible without electricity,” and when the battery dies, “Dory will continue to display the last image shown on the screen,” the gadget’s website says. I haven’t been able to test this, but Dory claims the sign’s battery supports “up to 1,000 updates and 10 to 15 years of battery life.” If true, this is the type of expensive device that could, eventually, earn its keep with enough use.

Dory Sign 的制造商声称该设备可以使用 15 年。对于一个小显示屏来说，149 美元的价格确实昂贵。然而，随着时间的推移，你或许能从中挖掘出相应的价值。Dory 声称，该标牌仅在更改显示内容时才会耗电。其官网显示，标牌内容“在断电后仍可见”，且当电池耗尽时，“Dory 将继续显示屏幕上的最后一张图像”。虽然我无法验证这一点，但 Dory 称其电池支持“多达 1,000 次更新，续航时间长达 10 到 15 年”。如果属实，这确实属于那种虽然昂贵，但通过长期使用最终能物有所值的设备。

Dory advertises the sign with numerous use cases, including using it as a name placard for offices or apartments or to display QR codes. I found it useful as a “do not disturb” sign for my home office, for displaying instructions for delivery persons, for displaying encouraging messages and reminders in my home office, and for introducing the world to my dog, as shown above. Dory Sign is IP44-rated, meaning, per the International Electrotechnical Commission, that the sign’s enclosure should withstand solid, foreign objects that are 2.5 mm (0.1 inch) and larger, rain, and spraying and splashing water. So, the sign could survive some outdoor environments, but not extreme ones. You may also think twice about leaving a small $149 device outside where it can encounter other environmental threats or be stolen.

Dory 为该标牌宣传了多种用途，包括作为办公室或公寓的门牌，或用于显示二维码。我发现它在家庭办公室用作“请勿打扰”标牌、为快递员显示说明、展示鼓励信息和提醒，以及向世界介绍我的狗（如上图所示）时非常有用。Dory Sign 具备 IP44 防护等级，根据国际电工委员会的标准，这意味着其外壳可以抵御 2.5 毫米（0.1 英寸）及以上的固体异物，以及雨水和喷溅水。因此，它可以在某些户外环境中使用，但无法应对极端环境。此外，你可能需要三思是否将一个价值 149 美元的小设备留在户外，因为它可能会面临其他环境威胁或被盗风险。

The Dory Sign isn’t a gadget that I’d say anyone “needs.” But I am impressed by its thoughtful, intentional incorporation of technology that enables simple but effective customization, longevity, and variety. You don’t need to be technically advanced to maximize Dory Sign’s usefulness.

Dory Sign 并不是那种我称之为“必需品”的设备。但我对它深思熟虑且有针对性的技术整合印象深刻，它实现了简单而有效的定制化、长寿命和多样性。你无需具备高超的技术水平，就能充分发挥 Dory Sign 的实用价值。