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At first thought, an e-ink smartphone sounds like a terrible idea. Ugh, all that lag. But think about the light weight, low cost, and insane battery life, and you can see why eInk, the company behind the screen in Kobos and Kindles, is pushing its new prototype phone hard.
Laptop took a look at this prototype — which as yet doesn’t have a name — at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It explains:
[We] were blown away by just how light it was, about how sharp text looked on its screen and how long it could last… Perhaps because it can use a smaller battery or because it has an older ARM processor — Charbonnier said it has a Qualcomm A5 chip — the reference design weighed a mere 80 grams and felt as light as paper in our hand… The device is designed to last at least a week on a charge and cost cost as little as 150 euros (£130) unsubsidised.
Sounds good, huh? Running an aged version of Android — 2.3! — it had a handful of apps, but that at least shows that an e-ink phone is possible. Of course, it would be a world of compromise; while battery life is a major draw, that’s not much use if the thing is riddled with so much lag that you want to stamp its little screen to smithereens:
Navigating between menus was painfully slow, and though the device supports multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom, it wasn’t always responsive. There was also significant lag when redrawing the screen, which is always a problem on E Ink screens but was particularly sluggish on this device.
But, hey, this is a proof-of-concept, not a finished product. eInk’s alternative offering is along the lines of that Yota dual-screen phone: it’s contemplating offering replacement e-ink back covers for phones that could cost somewhere around £30. That’s a neat idea, and swapping a second screen off and on to your phone as needs dictated, actually sounds quite sensible. Would you be interested? [Laptop]
To unlock more Android news, tips, and features, check out Samsung’s Your Mobile Life over here.
This Dual LCD and E-Ink Phone Will Be Available in 2013
Colour E-Ink Kindle Due in March?
This Flexible E-Ink Display Will Be In Real Devices This Summer
If someone builds a decent E-ink phone then I’ll be all over it.
As long as it has sat nav, a few basic apps, a basic browser and a micro SD slot for music, then I’d happily switch.
I couldn’t agree more!
Apps like text editor, calendar, calculator and email are always useful and sometimes are all people need.
As a cheap alternative when you want to have actual decent phone life with light features, this is a great alternative.
Does look good, I just use my phone to tether my tablet and make calls/texts. Seems ideal. Now all they need to do it add a physical numberpad and it’d be perfect, single hand texting where you dont have to look ftw.
Although my rooted N4 is now giving me between 2-3 days of use (lowish use admittedly) I’d still be very interested in something like this as I’m not that bothered by the whole colour issue.
I am about the same on mine even with using nothing but mobile internet, but having an eink screen on the back would be pretty useful.
this is the better display company. would be best of both worlds. black and white for low power usage or flick a switch and have colour. very fast and almost as high resolution as the top end screens.
http://pixelqi.com/home
The adam tablet had this screen it wasn’t the best poor viewing angles however good battery life and readability in the sun
I would be great as an emergency phone that you could keep in your car. If you spot an accident then you could fire it up to find out where you are exactly with gps and then calling an ambulance.
As I read somewhere else today, cnn I think, what some phone manufaturers are doing is just treating the symptoms, not the actual problems. What we need is batteries that last longer. Not phones that are dumbed down in order to last until the next day. I see the point that an eInk phone can be useful, especially if all you’re doing is talking, emailing and using whatsapp, twitter, facebook, etc. But really what you want is a full fledged phone that also has a battery that lasts. We’ll get there some day, hopefully.
It’s all well and good to say “we need better batteries”, but it’s not that simple really. The latest major advancement in battery tech is graphene supercapacitors that can charge and discharge at the same incredibly fast speed of a capacitor, but also hold the charge of a battery. In this YouTube video, a small graphene supercapacitor is charged for about 3 seconds and runs a LED for over 5 minutes.
The best thing about it is that it’s made by putting graphene oxide onto a CD and hitting it with a laser, which can be the one in a DVD drive.
If all you want is calls and texts and a week between charges then just buy a dumb phone, they are cheap and already exist.
like when i paid £5 (+ a £10 top-up) for a Nokia 100, lasts forever!
Samsung have been working on a colour e-ink smart phone for a while. I dont think there is long to wait for the first devices.
Get this in either a 7 inch or 10 inch format, add in stylus support along the lines of the Galaxy Note (minus any input lag), and you’d have a sale. Seriously, an android based e-ink device that I could write notes on and use some (basic) android apps like calendars and ebook readers with would be an instant sale for me. The Galaxy note’s just don’t have enough battery in them, and e-ink is way more comfortable on the eyes on a longer term basis, especially under bright light/sunlight.