What are the odds of a person who wants to buy a smartphone just for reading stuff? I’d say it is very low. Low or not, HiSense is already selling e-ink Android phone. In fact, it has not one but two e-ink Android phones which will soon be join by the world’s first color e-ink “reading mobile phone.”
The phone yet has got a name. Despite the device appearing at CES earlier this month, little is known about this little guy except that it is capable of display 4,096 colors and that the device is now “lighter and thinner.”
The main selling points of such device is most definitely not photography or even media consumption. The selling points are long-lasting battery and eye protection. It is essentially an e-reader, or color e-reader in this instance, with smartphone functionality. As such expect the usual lag that plague e-ink display on such a device.
In any case, HiSense is marketing it as a “reading mobile phone” and therefore, if you think your mobile device is e-reader first, smartphone second, then perhaps this unique handset will make sense. Else, it will be just a novel gadget without actual novelty. Just saying…
Anywho, HiSense said that it will roll out the world’s first color e-ink “reading mobile phone” later half of this year… in China, of course. Meanwhile, if you are interested, you can learn more about the two current non-color e-ink display “reading mobile phone” HERE and HERE.
There’s a dual screen model too that has both regular LCD display and an e-ink display (called HiSense Dual Screen Phone A6).
Images: Weibo (@海信).
