What about a phone

[mdp]

How about a phone with the ET047TC1 (4.7'', 960x540, 234ppi - 58x104mm)?

Like the Onyx E43, only with a modern Android and working well in Europe, the Americas etc. (= with renewed care about mobile network specifications).

[Question Mark]

If they came out with a decent phone, I might just be tempted to make the leap. Until now, I have managed to survive quite well with just a landline. But a decent eink phone could be tempting... if the specs, quality and pricing were right.

[sogaiu]

Interested, though have come to appreciate the use of the screen as a flashlight

[sjfan]

Originally Posted by sogaiu

Interested, though have come to appreciate the use of the screen as a flashlight

You don't need to do that anymore with most modern smartphones. They pretty much all let you use the camera flash LED as a much better flashlight than the old “put on a white app and turn up the brightness” trick.

[Question Mark]

Originally Posted by sogaiu

Interested, though have come to appreciate the use of the screen as a flashlight

As most smaller sized ereaders these days include front lights, you would still be able to do that with an eink phone. I have certainly used the light on my Kobo Aura One to navigate in a very dark room.

[JawadLeLogeur]

The Yotaphone 3 is out in China but it is quite expensive. There are other models I believe but none of them are worth buying.

[mdp]

Originally Posted by JawadLeLogeur

The Yotaphone 3 is out in China but it is quite expensive.

My no-go towards the Yotaphone 3 is the absence of a jack.
Audio is required and every non-simple and non-consolidated standard is a no-go there.
You cannot be forced to pass through digital system to get audio. Standard earphones must suffice.

[sogaiu]

Originally Posted by sjfan

You don't need to do that anymore with most modern smartphones. They pretty much all let you use the camera flash LED as a much better flashlight than the old “put on a white app and turn up the brightness” trick.

Ah, good point.

On a related note, do you think there would be a camera for sure on a smartphone with an e-ink screen?

[sogaiu]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

As most smaller sized ereaders these days include front lights, you would still be able to do that with an eink phone. I have certainly used the light on my Kobo Aura One to navigate in a very dark room.

Nice!

May be I'll charge up a small ereader and try this out.

[sjfan]

Originally Posted by sogaiu

Ah, good point.

On a related note, do you think there would be a camera for sure on a smartphone with an e-ink screen?

I'd be shocked if their weren't. I'm not a big phone camera user myself, but they are a surprisingly big sales driver for smartphones and it doesn't cost much to include one these days.

[Question Mark]

A camera on a phone with an eink screen might be very useful. It would allow you to carefully compose a shot in bright sunlight as opposed to the standard practice of guess and snap... And if you ever transferred them to another device, they would be in colour.

[mdp]

Originally Posted by sjfan

I'd be shocked if their weren't. I'm not a big phone camera user myself, but they are a surprisingly big sales driver for smartphones and it doesn't cost much to include one these days.

Exactly. They are a standard and can surely be implemented cheaply.

[mdp]

Originally Posted by Question Mark

As most smaller sized ereaders these days include front lights, you would still be able to do that with an eink phone.

Yes, and not only that: to even be able to use the phone in darker conditions, you need some front light.

Without a front light, the device would lose its main feature of "use everywhere".

[mdp]

I certainly call requirements
-- a relatively recent Android version,
-- assured networking in telephony and data,
-- a front light,
-- an audio jack socket,
-- your good old USB connection (you never know nowadays),
-- a few hardware buttons (you never know nowadays).

I am afraid that a Micro-SD expansion is also a pretty strict requirement on a telephone - it is the main device you carry around more closely, it is supposed to also cover your storage requirements.

But I would like to add, although with bitter disappointment I do not see angry mobs raging through the city with pitchforks and torches about the matter,
that a removable battery is an asset, and much more than an asset.
A phone without a removable battery is not professional, impractical and a liability.

[eReader fan]

I am surprised reading you talking about features that from many years come with the eInk phones we have seen. Just take a look at Yotaphone 2 and see the 2 cameras, the flashlight and a good specs for a cheap phone nowadays.

@mdp If you don't like Yotaphone 3 for the lack of audio jack maybe you have to consider the hisense a2 pro