View Single Post
Old 12-13-2014, 10:21 AM   #11
latepaul
Wizard
latepaul ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.latepaul ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.latepaul ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.latepaul ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.latepaul ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.latepaul ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.latepaul ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.latepaul ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.latepaul ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.latepaul ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.latepaul ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
latepaul's Avatar
 
Posts: 1,270
Karma: 10468300
Join Date: Dec 2011
Device: a variety (mostly kindles and kobos)
There are a few "hands-on" videos on YouTube that are worth a look. This one I found helpful because it talks, briefly, about the YotaMirror technology. Essentially what this is - if I'm understanding correctly - is a way to run ordinary Android apps, but intercept the display on-the-fly and tweak it so it better suits eInk. He shows this with the Kindle app (about 2:40 on) and it does look like the page-turn animations are less of a problem.

This is key - the ability to play nice with existing 3rd party apps will make it much more attractive proposition.

I have to say, I am slightly tempted. My main caveats, questions are:
  • How robust is the back? How will it fare over time?
  • Are they planning an update to Lollipop? Kitkat is fine but looking ahead I want my phone to last at least 2 years so it'd be nice to be more current at some point.
  • The site mentions wireless charging - I use this for my Nexus 5 and it means placing the phone face up on a charging plate which then gets warm (wireless charging is basically induction). So I assume I'd be placing this eInk screen down? See about re: robustness.

On price? Well it's a pretty decently-spec'ed Android phone with the added feature of the eInk back. On that basis, if you want/need/would benefit from the eInk display then it's probably reasonable. If that's just a novelty for you - or if it's the reason for buying it but the AMOLED screen is surplus to requirements - then it is going to seem expensive.
latepaul is offline   Reply With Quote