Yet another E Ink smartphone has entered the arena, and it looks promising

Bigme, a notable brand within the E Ink industry, recently launched an interesting new product: an E Ink smartphone known as the Hibreak Pro. The Shenzhen, China-based company has outfitted the device with a 6.13-inch HD E Ink display, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB of internal storage, and the Mediatek Dimensity 1080 processing package.

Other noteworthy specifications include 5G cellular connectivity, a capacitive fingerprint sensor, 18W charging speeds, a 4,500mAh battery, and a single 20-megapixel rear-facing camera.

Compared to the likes of the Boox Palma 2, which is perhaps the most well-established E Ink handset on the market, the Hibreak Pro looks rather promising. Its processor is more powerful than the one found in the Palma 2, and Bigme’s SSS Super Refresh technology supposedly offers auto ghosting removal and a 21fps ‘xRapid refresh algorithm.’

It’s unclear whether these latter terms are simply marketing jargon, or if they’ll translate to a superior real-world experience compared with Book’s latest offering. The inclusion of 5G connectivity and dual-Sim support, at the very least, gives the Hibreak Pro a leg up over the Palma 2 from a connectivity standpoint.

The Hibreak Pro is priced at $440 in the US, and is available now for pre-order on Bigme’s official website.

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Bigme

Conceptually, E Ink smartphones are certainly an intriguing prospect. Slapping a Kindle-like ePaper display onto a handheld-sized mobile device is head-scratching at first, but over time, the concept has started to grow on me.

We all love the big and bright OLED displays on our modern-day smartphones. Unfortunately, as screen-on times continue to trend upward, there’s also been an uptick in negative side effects, including eye strain, headaches, and sleep disturbances.

With the Hibreak, Bigme joins a growing number of E Ink handsets on the market which claim to put an end to overstimulation. For the time being, of course, these devices remain niche product offerings from relatively small-scale manufacturers.

I’m curious as to if and when a major handset player — perhaps Samsung, Honor, or Oppo — might take the plunge and offer up an E Ink device of their own. The benefits of E Ink, mixed with the gargantuan marketing and R&D budgets needed for large-scale market penetration, might just launch E Ink phones into the mainstream one of these days.

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