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It’s already stepping on the toes of Amazon’s dual-display patent, but at IFA E Ink is showing off a prototype handset featuring a traditional full colour LCD panel on the front, and a dull monochrome e-ink display on the back. Kind of like a reverse technological mullet with the party in the front and business in the back.
E-ink displays still have some distinct advantages over LCD and OLED technologies—namely their insanely great battery life and perfect readability in sunny conditions. So having a backup display that can still operate when a handset’s battery is nearly dead could be neat. But without touchscreen functionality of its own, which is tricky to implement on a dual-sided phone that’s always being touched, it’s almost useless. Still, E Ink claims there’s already manufacturers interested in making something like this, so for better or worse expect to see such devices popping up in the coming year.
This Dual LCD and E-Ink Phone Will Be Available in 2013
E-Ink or LCD: Which Do You Prefer for Books?
Amazon Could Put LCD and E-Ink in the Same Read-Anywhere Tablet
Anyone else think it would be kinda awesome to have a pure e-ink smartphone? As long as websites still render fairly well, the only things I can see sucking is photos and games. To be honest average games for awesome battery life is a trade-off I would be willing to make!
Having the e-ink flash every time it refreshed the display would get annoying very fast. It’s bearable on an e-reader because it only refreshes when you turn a page, but for every day use on a smart phone – No thanks.