e-Ink phone

[ArizonaGuy]

I have been replacing my portable devices with their e-Ink equivalents because my old eyes have serious issues with the bright and glossy screens on most phones, even with matte screen protectors attached. I bought the ViWoods AiPaper Mini (8.2 inch screen) to replace my iPad eReader and have been pretty happy with it. Now I am looking for an e-Ink mobile phone to replace my Google Pixel.

The main issue I have is that I want to be able to use the phone with Android Auto if I need driving directions and that means the phone has to have GPS and be capable to linking to the info system in my Jeep. All of my normal phones can do that, but does anyone know if there is an e-Ink phone that can also do that? The ViWoods 6 inch eReader, which has a sim slot and comes with a phone app, does not have GPS so I can not use it for Google Maps.

[jackm8]

Just look for eink phones with android. You should have no problems using android auto with anyone of them. Bigme, Hisense, Xiaomi...
Ideal would be to try and find one in a store to see how they look for you, but it's getting hard these days.

https://store.bigme.vip/collections/smartphone
https://hisenseeink.com/

[ArizonaGuy]

Originally Posted by jackm8

Just look for eink phones with android. You should have no problems using android auto with anyone of them. Bigme, Hisense, Xiaomi...
Ideal would be to try and find one in a store to see how they look for you, but it's getting hard these days.

https://store.bigme.vip/collections/smartphone
https://hisenseeink.com/

The problem is that just because a device is Android does not mean that it can run Android Auto, even if it is running a relatively new version of the Android OS. For example I have a Samsung A7 tablet running Android 14 and it can not run Android Auto. In fact I was told that although AA is available in the Play Store it will not run on a system that does not have it installed by the manufacturer. That does not make any sense to me but when I tried to install and run it on the tablet I could not. That is why I posted the question.

I suppose I could always carry one of my old Android phones and use it for AA when driving, but that would be as a last resort.

And thanks for the link. I will take a look at what is there.

[jackm8]

Phones tend to have android auto built in, with tablets it's very rare, but it really isn't given for phones also, and there may be limitations when using it on eink phones. You should really look into it more. You could also just use an old phone for android auto. Offline google maps, and local music will work with a phone without a sim card inserted.

[Gormagon]

Maybe you should try one of TCL's Nxtpaper phones. They are not e-ink but the matte screen is in my opinion better than a matte screen protector on a glossy display.

I have the Viwoods Reader in b/w. There's a system app YGPS. Since I'm not interested in google services I don't know if this works with android auto.

For using the phone function you need BT headphones/IEMs (or maybe a headphong with USB cable). I only tried it with BT. That works, but if you use the device as regular phone you should have to wear the BT headphones all the time. Otherwise you wouldn't hear that someone calls you. It's more a phone for calling than for being called.

With the latest firmware 1.3.4 I can no longer recommend the Viwoods Reader anymore. It broke adb commands and the app key mapper no longer works. My favourite reading apps Librera and Koreader are still working as before with page turning via volume buttons though.
The volume buttons for scrolling in the browser Vivaldi doesn't work anymore, because Key Mapper isn't working anymore. Hopefully Viwoods'll fix this in the future.

[Renate]

The Onyx Palma 2 Pro has GPS.
I've been looking for a while for a good eink with GPS for hiking but they all seem too expensive.
Also, color is really useful for maps.
This is my (primitive) hiking app. The yellow dot is the sun.

[ArizonaGuy]

Originally Posted by jackm8

Phones tend to have android auto built in, with tablets it's very rare, but it really isn't given for phones also, and there may be limitations when using it on eink phones. You should really look into it more. You could also just use an old phone for android auto. Offline google maps, and local music will work with a phone without a sim card inserted.

I sent HiBreak a message asking if they support Android Auto and got back a response telling me that they do not. I have now asked if the phone supports GPS so at least it could run Google Maps but have not heard back about that.

I currently have an old and inexpensive Motorola phone that I use for Android Auto. I don't have a SIM card for it so it is constantly reminding me that there is no SIM, but it works fine with Android Auto and it frees up my current phone for use with one of my audio book readers so I can listen to books on long trips.
The problem with using it constantly as an AA device is that I would always have to have it with me and carrying 2 phones around seems like a pain. If I just leave it in the car then the battery completely dies and it is useless for as long as it takes to power up.

[ArizonaGuy]

Originally Posted by Gormagon

Maybe you should try one of TCL's Nxtpaper phones. They are not e-ink but the matte screen is in my opinion better than a matte screen protector on a glossy display.

Thanks. I'll take a look at it.

Originally Posted by Gormagon

I have the Viwoods Reader in b/w. There's a system app YGPS. Since I'm not interested in google services I don't know if this works with android auto.

For using the phone function you need BT headphones/IEMs (or maybe a headphong with USB cable). I only tried it with BT. That works, but if you use the device as regular phone you should have to wear the BT headphones all the time. Otherwise you wouldn't hear that someone calls you. It's more a phone for calling than for being called.

With the latest firmware 1.3.4 I can no longer recommend the Viwoods Reader anymore. It broke adb commands and the app key mapper no longer works. My favourite reading apps Librera and Koreader are still working as before with page turning via volume buttons though.
The volume buttons for scrolling in the browser Vivaldi doesn't work anymore, because Key Mapper isn't working anymore. Hopefully Viwoods'll fix this in the future.

My understanding is that the ViWoods Reader does not have GPS support and so it can not be used with navigation apps let alone with AA. I have the ViWoods AiPaper Mini and like it quite a bit so ViWoods was the first company I thought of for use of the cell phone. As it turns out I have some hearing damage from being too close to loud things too often so I already use BT hearing aids so the idea of having to have something constantly connected to the device and sitting in my ears is not a problem, but the absence of GPS support is.

[ArizonaGuy]

Originally Posted by Renate

The Onyx Palma 2 Pro has GPS.
I've been looking for a while for a good eink with GPS for hiking but they all seem too expensive.
Also, color is really useful for maps.
This is my (primitive) hiking app. The yellow dot is the sun.

I'll take a look at the Palma 2 Pro. I have seen it used as a comparison device against the ViWoods 6 inch reader but I have not looked at it as a possible phone. Thanks for the information.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by ArizonaGuy

If I just leave it in the car then the battery completely dies and it is useless for as long as it takes to power up.

Why not just leave it plugged in in the car?

I don't have a head unit, I use a Walmart (Onn) 8" tablet.
I took out the battery and it runs on an LM2596 buck converter at 4V.
I feed it GPS that runs off my housekeeping computer with a nice U-blox and a hockey puck antenna.

[ArizonaGuy]

Originally Posted by Renate

Why not just leave it plugged in in the car?

I had not thought about doing that because I believed that the vehicle display port for the info system was unpowered when the car was turned off, but that turns out to be wrong so I will give that a try and hope that the car battery does not die ...