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I recorded a video of another e ink phone running many common Android apps really well (in direct sunlight)! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvO9ScTdwz8 https:

I recorded a video of another e ink phone running many common Android apps really well (in direct sunlight)! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvO9ScTdwz8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvO9ScTdwz8 It's the Hisense A9 with a beautiful and fast Carta 1200 e ink display. It's very capable, I would have preferred a phone more like that instead. It's biggest drawback is terrible USA cell reception. This company was initially going to make a phone like this but apparently keyboards were much more popular in polls.

MBCook 3y ago
Unfortunately this confirms my fear. I think I’d want to throw an e-ink phone against a wall after a while from frustration with the lag. E-ink screen refreshes are just far too slow for something interactive. That’s one of the reasons they work great on e-readers. I wondered if they were doing something special or had a different kind of e-ink screen that was faster in trade for some other property but at least the one in your video doesn’t.
- seam_carver 3y ago
  Out of curiosity which part of the video makes you think the lag is unacceptable? It’s more like a low refresh rate. Sure scrolling is a bit slow so it’s much better to fixed length “page turn” with the volume buttons instead but I’ve really gotten used to it. If you are talking about me missing the tap zones on the touchscreen to scroll that’s user error :P
  - MBCook 3y ago
    That’s what I mean. The lag between my action and the updated screen. Caused by the low refresh rate. When you’re trying to tap the screen a bunch to get something accomplished if each step takes 250+ms extra just waiting on the screen it would add up to frustration fast.
- garaetjjte 3y ago
  Apparently with better controller they can refresh faster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XduK7wn9SE4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XduK7wn9SE4
- seam_carver 3y ago
  As background information I used the slowest clear mode in the beginning of the video for Kindle/Koreader. I used a faster mode for the rest of the video. There’s also a speed mode intended for video but ghosting is really apparent on speed mode. The mode is set per-app.
dotancohen 3y ago
How is the camera? I don't really care how the photos look on the device, but I would be sending them to family via Telegram and of course later on the desktop. I do have other E-Ink devices (Boox, Nook) and I love them, so I'd love to get an E-Ink phone. But I don't want to carry a separate camera.
- seam_carver 3y ago
  It’s not a great camera. Worse than my iPhone 8. Maybe somewhere around my iPhone 4 or 5S quality. So it's usable. I can upload a video later.
  - dotancohen 3y ago
    Yes, I would love to see, thank you. GSMArena does not have the phone.
    - seam_carver 3y ago
      I uploaded a quick camera test, let me know what you think.
pcchristie 3y ago
Thanks for this. I've been thinking about pulling my phone use right back. I was really wanting to use the Light Phone, as I like how small and minimal it is. The only problem is it doesn't run Telegram/Whatsapp which is kind of essential these days. This phone looks like it would be exactly what I'm after. How do you rate it overall? Ideally I'd like something half way in between this and the Light Phone - small, stripped back phone that's less appealing to use (i.e e-ink with its grayscale and slow refresh rate introduce enough friction so it's not worth being on infinite scrolling apps), but still backed by an ecosystem like Android so that you can still access "essential" apps like Telegram/Whatsapp and Notion/PocketCasts and don't have to fully give up all the helpful progress we've made since 2005. I saw your other comment about the camera - it would also be nice to have high-end camera built in for taking photos and videos, even if I essentially can't look at them on the phone I'd still be happy to capture and sync them for use elsewhere. It's a fine balance. I'm hoping enough people start looking for this over the next few years to make the market worth targeting for manufacturers, but I'm not confident.
- seam_carver 3y ago
  I absolutely love it compared to my current iPhone. Super comfortable eink display that looks like paper. Messenger works great with a monochrome theme. And great battery too since screen doesn't emit light. Love using it for reading, especially right before bed. If you want to learn more check out the r/eink subreddit. Good call, when I upload my camera test video I'll include a small section of viewing the photos taken as well on the eink screen. But for still photos it will look pretty similar to how b&w mode looks like on normal phones.
- seam_carver 3y ago
  I uploaded a quick camera test, let me know what you think.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
fortytw2 3y ago
I have a Hisense HiReader Pro and it's awesome + super usable for actual day to day phone things on wifi, but the cell reception overlaps with a single LTE band in the US that's not really usable around where I live.
npteljes 3y ago
That looks fantastic, thank you for sharing.
anotheruser13 3y ago
It may not have all the required bands. International phones never worked well on T-Mobile US. Source: Used to work in tech support there

MBCook 3y ago

Unfortunately this confirms my fear. I think I’d want to throw an e-ink phone against a wall after a while from frustration with the lag. E-ink screen refreshes are just far too slow for something interactive. That’s one of the reasons they work great on e-readers. I wondered if they were doing something special or had a different kind of e-ink screen that was faster in trade for some other property but at least the one in your video doesn’t.

seam_carver 3y ago
Out of curiosity which part of the video makes you think the lag is unacceptable? It’s more like a low refresh rate. Sure scrolling is a bit slow so it’s much better to fixed length “page turn” with the volume buttons instead but I’ve really gotten used to it. If you are talking about me missing the tap zones on the touchscreen to scroll that’s user error :P
- MBCook 3y ago
  That’s what I mean. The lag between my action and the updated screen. Caused by the low refresh rate. When you’re trying to tap the screen a bunch to get something accomplished if each step takes 250+ms extra just waiting on the screen it would add up to frustration fast.
garaetjjte 3y ago
Apparently with better controller they can refresh faster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XduK7wn9SE4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XduK7wn9SE4
seam_carver 3y ago
As background information I used the slowest clear mode in the beginning of the video for Kindle/Koreader. I used a faster mode for the rest of the video. There’s also a speed mode intended for video but ghosting is really apparent on speed mode. The mode is set per-app.

dotancohen 3y ago

How is the camera? I don't really care how the photos look on the device, but I would be sending them to family via Telegram and of course later on the desktop. I do have other E-Ink devices (Boox, Nook) and I love them, so I'd love to get an E-Ink phone. But I don't want to carry a separate camera.

seam_carver 3y ago
It’s not a great camera. Worse than my iPhone 8. Maybe somewhere around my iPhone 4 or 5S quality. So it's usable. I can upload a video later.
- dotancohen 3y ago
  Yes, I would love to see, thank you. GSMArena does not have the phone.
  - seam_carver 3y ago
    I uploaded a quick camera test, let me know what you think.

pcchristie 3y ago

Thanks for this. I've been thinking about pulling my phone use right back. I was really wanting to use the Light Phone, as I like how small and minimal it is. The only problem is it doesn't run Telegram/Whatsapp which is kind of essential these days. This phone looks like it would be exactly what I'm after. How do you rate it overall? Ideally I'd like something half way in between this and the Light Phone - small, stripped back phone that's less appealing to use (i.e e-ink with its grayscale and slow refresh rate introduce enough friction so it's not worth being on infinite scrolling apps), but still backed by an ecosystem like Android so that you can still access "essential" apps like Telegram/Whatsapp and Notion/PocketCasts and don't have to fully give up all the helpful progress we've made since 2005. I saw your other comment about the camera - it would also be nice to have high-end camera built in for taking photos and videos, even if I essentially can't look at them on the phone I'd still be happy to capture and sync them for use elsewhere. It's a fine balance. I'm hoping enough people start looking for this over the next few years to make the market worth targeting for manufacturers, but I'm not confident.

seam_carver 3y ago
I absolutely love it compared to my current iPhone. Super comfortable eink display that looks like paper. Messenger works great with a monochrome theme. And great battery too since screen doesn't emit light. Love using it for reading, especially right before bed. If you want to learn more check out the r/eink subreddit. Good call, when I upload my camera test video I'll include a small section of viewing the photos taken as well on the eink screen. But for still photos it will look pretty similar to how b&w mode looks like on normal phones.
seam_carver 3y ago
I uploaded a quick camera test, let me know what you think.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

fortytw2 3y ago

I have a Hisense HiReader Pro and it's awesome + super usable for actual day to day phone things on wifi, but the cell reception overlaps with a single LTE band in the US that's not really usable around where I live.

npteljes 3y ago

That looks fantastic, thank you for sharing.

anotheruser13 3y ago

It may not have all the required bands. International phones never worked well on T-Mobile US. Source: Used to work in tech support there