Not everyone needs a phone to be a video player, or a camera, or a photo viewer, or a game console, or even a word processor or notepad. Some people just want a phone to be a phone... as in, a communication device. Or at least, primarily a communication device.

The problem with the modern concept of the "smartphone" is that it tries to be all things to all people. But fails to do any of them really well. Jack of all trades, master of none.

I think the fenix, epix and venu might use normal lcd or oled. But all the forerunners I looked at when getting mine use memory in pixel.

Oh that stretches the limit of what I know, I just remember the Pebble Time being specifically a color E-ink display (that I re-confirmed on Wikipedia before posting) and, like nitish_anand99, remember a time where that technology seemed like it was growing in popularity to then disappear—while the regular E-ink screens have stuck around like most E-readers and a surprising number of phone manufactures

Conventional displays are burning my eye out. It’d be nice to not stare at a source of bright light when using a phone.

Picture quality is not fantastic, just 13mpx, nothing much in comparison with mainstream phones with ton-of-mpx fancy multiple AI camera. Also it could be tricky to take one because e-ink, low refresh rate and you can't see much if the scene has low contrast. It does it's job, decently I would say.

Although mine came with google play I had to reinstall it in order to make it work. It was about to be expected since it's from chinese market. Also had to remove some suspicious apps that were in chinese and wasn't sure of their purpose. Some english translations of the system are odd but understandable. Also, if anyone considers buying one, check the cell network bands, it works fine in Europe but I am not sure whether it would work at your place.

> the vast majority of Garmin watches use them too

Isn't that just the Instinct? I have a Fenix 7 and it certainly doesn't have an e-ink display.

> 10-15 fps refresh rate

It's closer to 2-3 fps for B&W E-Ink.

Oh shit, is memory LCD different than memory in pixel lcd? I assumed they were the same

I carry two phones, one is mine other the office's, and could totally change one for this.

They were talking about the Pebble Time, which had a color E-ink display not memory in pixel technology

They were talking about pebble watches, which use memory in pixel technology. It seems terms like e-ink and e-paper are often used when a display is actually using MIP (at least for watches).

will be a chinese only gadget again, as always(?) from Hisense... (no Google Apps, all settings & stuff only in chinese)

meet earl (lol!)

they had more than one, i had the A2 pro, till I drowned it ;_;
was awesome. Today I'm reading through Reddit or Twitter when idling, but back than, I'd pull out my book.

I mean you're talking about memory in pixel displays which is completely different technology from color E-ink

That’s like saying, “If Tesla offers a Model S for $20,000 I would be sold”

I love the idea of an eink iPhone. I get migraines/eye fatigue really easily and I have to keep my phone on greyscale sometimes to reduce the strain on my eyes, so that sounds perfect for me. Not to mention, getting rid of the temptation to scroll would be amazing.

Give me the phone, iMessage, mail, the ability to connect to AirPods, the health app, Apple Watch connectivity, and Apple Music and I would be set. I’d rather use my iPad/laptop for everything else.

Oops, then ignore the first sentence about kindles. The rest still applies.

Cool! Thanks for sharing. Curious about this. My Kindle that is a few years old really does an excellent job at emulating the printed paper and ink look. I imagine something like this manufactured now in 2023 is probably very crispy.

isn't this just a repackaged hisense A9?

They're asking about "color E-ink" displays, not E-ink

Most kindles still use them. And the vast majority of Garmin watches use them too. I recently got a Garmin forerunner 255s cause I missed my pebble. It’s got 10 days of battery life, e-ink (technical memory in pixel), and can track my exercise nicely.

Not quite as many smart watch features as I remember my pebble having. But I never used any of those anyways. Basically just want some notifications on my wrist + activity tracking.

Pebble Time used a memory LCD, not eink

Just get a case with a battery pack. There are some pretty hefty batteries attached cases

Sounds great, wish I'd heard about these earlier!

Are the photos it takes any good? Do Gmail & other Google apps work ok?