My eInk display has never been straight up black and white. It's always been a sort of slight brownish -- a very light sepia tint. It looks identical to the display on my iRex Iliad which is several years older.
I do not have any permanent ghosting problem. A refresh always clears up the previous image.

Here's a neat trick: Bring up a page of something on the eInk while indoors and then take the display outside into direct, bright sunlight. It almost completely erases the screen. A refresh in sunlight will still restore the image.