Submitted 1 day ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to technology@lemmy.zip
https://newatlas.com/mobile-technology/bigme-hibreak-s-e-ink-smartphone/
Catching up with the latest viral TikToks on your smartphone or getting lost in mobile gaming can be a strain on the eyes. E Ink alternatives are few and far between, and they can be pricey for what you get. Bigme has now launched more budget-friendly options.
I mean that’s really sick and I hope it does well because I’d love to see that tech go further. Fairly tempted as I don’t watch/play games much on my phone anyways.
They’ve made several e-ink phones by now.
It’s just not suited for it. Even though it CAN do fairly smooth animation, it always looks like absolute ass due to the ghosting.
The tech is doing fine tho. There are two decent ways to do color now (one fast, one slow), and the picture quality is mind-boggling when you let it refresh properly. It’s absolutely fantastic for reading books, but it’s only gotten better for my favorite use-case, which is comics and manga. The ability to do color adds so much.
It’s also in use in a ton of industries. There are re-usable eink price-tags for store shelves that you can put price and product info on. While just sitting there showing info, they use no power, while still being able to be updated digitally when needed.
I also realized the live timetable at my local bus-stop is actually a giant eink panel. Which makes so much sense. Compared to a giant LCD panel it uses orders of magnitude less power, and is even more readable in daylight without any kind of backlight, and it only needs to update once a minute. It doesn’t show any info with more than 60 second precision anyway.
But eink simply cannot compete with LCD/OLED in terms of emissive color quality and refresh rate. While it straight up wins in terms of daylight readability, longevity and power efficiency. Supposedly the panels lose contrast over time, but I’ve never noticed it happening myself, even on decades old devices.
For normal use tho, eink sucks. I avoid ever using my ereader for anything except actually reading. Writing, doing any kind of browsing, (even to find something to read), is horrible. It’s like using a phone with gloves on, but all the time.
The experience is at its best when you just continue reading something you already had open, and only ever interact with the display or a button to turn the page. The moment you need to pan, zoom, select something, use and on-screen keyboard, etc. you start wishing you could use something else.
I literally use my phone to find what to read, then switch to the ereader to actually read.
It’s absolutely fantastic for reading books, but it’s only gotten better for my favorite use-case, which is comics and manga. The ability to do color adds so much.
Do you have a preferred device? I’m really curious but it’s hard to know where to start with colored screens.
once it’s linux and par with a pixel 7 for performance I’m in. android’s future is looking a bit too unpromising right now
I would love something like this so long as it was unlocked and wasn’t weighed down by Android.
I love e-ink screens and Always wanted one of those phones, but even the “budget” ones are too expensive for me :(
For anyone interested but still cares about their privacy, you can “debloat” your standard Android ROM and remove most of Google’s crap via ADB: github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater
Thanks, will try this out later
I always wanted to try eInk on a phone. If there is ever an alternative OS for that one it might be a tempting deal.
Man I really am far too into e-ink lol. These aren’t even close to new they have mostly been for the domestic (chinese) market in the past though. Most people who have got one have been happy though because they are exactly as advertised. An e-ink phone.
The HiBreak S black-and-white model is priced at US$249, while the color E Ink version bumps that up to $279.
I’d love to jump in, but android’s still a no. I’m sure Graphene or other would run, eventually, maybe, but honestly just make it linux, let’s gooooooo
Folks choosing the black-and-white HiBreak S will get visuals at 720 x 1,440 pixels (276 ppi), plus the company’s own fast-refresh technology that supports refresh rates of up to 24 frames per second.
Wow, for e-ink that’s pretty good.
Nothing in the article about battery life though. I have to wonder if having a e-ink screen would extend the battery life of a phone noticeably.
There is this paragraph:
Bigme promises that the 3,300-mAh battery will “maintain a charge for a remarkably long time” – though doesn’t actually specify how long that might be. You’ll need to plug in more often if you make use of the 36-level front light when strong ambient light isn’t available.
Vague, but that’s not the author’s fault. Aside from GPS, games are the other thing that uses loads of battery and you won’t be playing many graphically demanding games on that display - but we want numbers!
Brother, did you read the article?
3,300-mAh battery will “maintain a charge for a remarkably long time” – though doesn’t actually specify how long that might be.
I skimmed it, but not well apparently.
But can it run a FOSS Linux distro such as Mobian or Droidian or /e/OS or postmarketOS? (Year of the linux phone 2040)
Does the unconventional screen work on Linux?
Is the bootloader unlockable?
Screen size: 5.8"
Device size: 6.8"
CPU/SoC: unknown
Parent company:
Xinruizhi (Shenzhen) Industrial Co., Ltd.
www.xinruizhi-china.com/pages/about-us
I would need android auto, besides that, this looks great
But it has android auto?
From what I was reading it doesn’t work, the DPI is all screwed up
A friend used to have a phone case that had an e-ink display and it was great for handling notifications and of course reading webpages and ebooks. Something more integrated (it just mirrored the normal screen in e-ink) could be brilliant.
I’m assuming that the reason the colour screen is lower resolution is the processing power required; the Kobo Clara’s colour version has twice the processing power for the same resolution, but still isn’t as crisp because of the grid necessary for how it works. The article says Bigme has their display tech, so we’ll have to wait to see what the reviews say.
So, at that price point, what’s the catch? I’m fine with Android, don’t watch video on my phone, would love the battery savings.
If it’s the same as past e-ink phones it’ll be slow. But nothing you’re going to do on an e-ink phone is super likely to require that much power anyways unless you are using your phone far differently than I am.
Not using mine for video or even social media. Main uses cases are calling, text, GPS, map, compass, web surfing when I have to. E-ink sound good for me?
01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 11 hours ago
How long is software support? Is the bootloader unlockable?