[norweger]

Originally Posted by Quoth

It's only the screen updates that would be slow if everything else is equal. I'd make a guess and suggest that running and audiobook apps only need the screen to look at stats or select a book.
I'd imagine, and I'd be pleased to be wrong, that it's terrible for web browsing or video, but I don't even use a 7" tablet for that, never mind my phone, only the 10" tablet.

Appreciated, Quoth!

For running I'd put the phone in my pocket, so it's just gotta be powerful enough to handle the apps.

In the preview of the Onyx it looked fast enough (well, almost fast enough) for web browsing. The only e-ink device I've had my hands on is a Kindle, and that was excruciatingly slow.

Originally Posted by rowe

The sophistication and options for refresh seem much better on Onyx than Hisense (assuming Onyx carry over the same controls from their readers to their phones). On Onyx you have a lot of control over display quality vs speed and can set defaults for each app.

As far as I know, that isn't available on Hisense and the default is a compromise (some ghosting, but fairly quick). On my Boox, for reading I prefer to use regal mode - slow, no ghosting. On the browser A2 mode - fast, ghosting. Everything else normal - a compromise.

Amazing. I think that would make it a heck of lot more usable.

Originally Posted by stumped

when I reread #1 i think he's listed 2 current LCD devices and 2 not-released-yet e - ink ones

but I am not quite bored enough to want to do all the searches and spec comparisons for him. I think I did spot that for one of the future devices, specs are not available yet anyway.

Yeah. Well. Stats are indeed useful when comparing, but it isn't the whole picture, as we've also got bloatware or stuffy Os, or nifty tricks like rowe mentioned, to speed up the user experience. So I thought hands on experience and guesstimates were what'd get me closest to answering it.

I've had my phone (HTC M8) repaired three times (!) this year, and it tanked yesterday, so it became pressing to find out these things. If the color e-ink from Hisense would by some miraculous happenstance be fast and with Google Services, then I've found a replacement for my old phone.

Originally Posted by stumped

and I never understand why some folks want to use devices for things the makers never designed them for - be that i-ink for running, or bluetooth music on a crappy mono Kindle speaker, or you tube on a Kobo...
horses for courses & all that.

you want a pedometer - buy one.
you want an mp3 player - ditto.
you want an all-purpose device - get a decent smart phone...
any e-ink device is optimised for READING - the clue is in the name. don't expect it to also make tea...

If the Hisense A6L had an LCD screen without popping colors, and Google Play Services, then that would be an all-purpose device. Elsewise I am stuck with a device for reading, a device with large enough SD card for audiobooks, etc etc etc. The fewer devices the better.

Originally Posted by Quoth

Nefarious people have used the Fitbit App to spot US troop locations overseas as the data on the Web isn't secure. Fitbit bought out Pebble, which sensibly had an eink type display. The colour smart watches are like the 1970s Sinclair LED "Black Watch" for battery life. Laughable. Google, not content with 82% market Android and no doubt piqued at Apple eventually managing to sell their watch, is buying Fitbit. Privacy? That's for their plans and data, not yours.

Noticed that too. Nothing is truly free. It's as they say: if you're not the customer, you're the product.

I don't really have anything to hide when it comes to my online activities, but can't say I appreciate privacy breaches, so for running apps and such, I've just begun using an old anonymous email address that I use for all things delinquent.

The troop location thing, I think that was from the app Strava. Anyways, in the wake of it I checked my email here and saw that my password lay open for the world to see.

Originally Posted by stumped

What I liked most about all those fitness apps was when insurance companies started offering discounts for keeping fit, ( hitting some steps per day target ) so users learned to game the system by giving the phone a spin in the tumble drier or strapping it to the pet hedgehog...
When a reader named Rachel and her husband needed to rack up a set number of steps to get a discount on his employee health insurance, they turned to their pet hedgehog Ellie for help.

“We taped the pedometer to our hedgehog’s exercise wheel and ‘my husband’ would walk miles every night,” Rachel said. When Rachel’s husband tracked a certain level of activity, his company would pay a larger portion of the monthly premium.
L
Another sticks the tracker in a dryer. “My favorite trick is to throw it in the dryer, since it seems to think each rotation is like 2-3 steps,” one editor told me. “I put the tracker in the toe of a sock, tie the sock so it doesn’t fall out, and toss it in with my clothes on medium or low heat. A permanent press cycle is about 10,000 steps.”

That sounds uniquely American

Originally Posted by Quoth

Never mind the ethics of loss of privacy to a Corporation via personal trackers or vehicle monitoring.

"Never underestimate the ingenuity of fools" or indeed companies to make money from information in a different way to that claimed. The ultimate result of unregulated access to personal tracking information and the poor regulation of companies is that some people would be unable to get any insurance. Which here is illegal for car drivers, but Insurance companies can get round that.
Computer based monitoring of a gadget may also give a bogus picture of high risk, apart from those gaming the system, which ultimately puts premiums up for everyone else. No company will give discounts so as to have less profit.

Word!