e reader as a smartphone

[Jean]

During my last trip, I was relying on my phone for a lot of things, like maps, some messaging, reading the forum, etc.
A smartphone is quite ineficient at this, since the screen consumes a lot, it constantly reloads stuff, losing time, it offers a lot of distraction, etc..
I searched for a tool, or a set of tool that would allow to use an e reader as a smartphone.
That would be great, because most usage i enjoy only require to display something for me to read, or a map. I imagine some illustration could be good for some usage too.
Do you know if something like that already exists?
Would any of you be interested in something like that?
Do you think it would require a lot of knowledge to develop?
I think it could be done in a practical way with just an epaper screen, and a microphone for input. I never used an e reader, but i imagine they don't have touch screen?
Goal is to minimize data transfer to the user (so mostly reading) while minimizing power consumption and weigth.

I could also imagine that it would require to develop apps that scrap whaterver you want to know from the internet, and turn it into text.

[bostonimproper]

There are e-ink smartphones and tablets. Look up the BigMe HiBreak Pro, HiSense A9, or Boox Palma.

[loutfard]

I use a Kobo e-reader like this. Tickets for example I print to pdf and load them onto the reader. Same thing for my personal song book. If a paper map is enough for you, this could also work for maps.

It's a different device, and I don't think you'll be able to pack lighter, but I love it.

[jacob]

That would be great, because most usage i enjoy only require do display something for me to read, or a map. I imagine some illustration could be good for some usage too.
Do you know if something like that already exists?

Yes, there's an ancient and almost forgotten technology called "paper" that that retains both graphical and informational content w/o the need for batteries. This "paper"-technology preserves information for decades and even centuries. Historically, "paper" was strung together sequentially in something called "books" using something called "strings". Shorter forms were called "letters" or "brochures".

Such so-called books came with none of the distractions or push notifications that we know today. There was no advertising nor any no pop-up ads. However, it did require users to "look up" their desired information in the correct book.

In ancient times (last century, already a long time ago), people also had a way of writing notes using a stylus made out of pure carbon to draw elaborate signs in a form called "cursive" that was universally understood. Today, most type with their thumbs focusing on Simpson-like faces called "emojis". Few know how to read or write cursive anymore.

I remain hopeful that someone in Silicon Valley will try to (re)invent the pencil in the same way they keep reinventing taxis or busses.

(My apologies, but I just had to...)

[Scott 2]

@Jean - when I was looking for a minimalist phone, the best option I could find is light phone:

https://www.thelightphone.com/

Ultimately I found modern life demands a full featured smart phone often enough, that the light phone would have to be an additional device. So I gave up.


@Jacob - Apple's way ahead of you:

https://www.apple.com/apple-pencil/

[jacob]

@Jacob - Apple's way ahead of you:

I can't even begin to imagine what such wonderous innovation will do for my pro-duc-tivi-ty Only $129 ...

[Jean]

While books are great, they take quite a lot of space. Also, a wet book isn't too annoying if you don't want to keep and reread it, but a wet map is very annoying, it makes it trash bound (which is annoying seeing how expensive those are), same for a wet note book, so you need to store everything in a waterproof pocket. My book, note and map bag is about 20 time heavier and bigger than a phone. And book and map still get quite damaged in it.
Paper map are expensive, and printing maps in advance locks you into your plan, which is fine for a day trip, but quite unpractical for longer trip, where plan can change due to weather hazard or other stuffs.

I've been around since before smartphone, so I used to travel while carrying some books and maps. But carrying a smartphone with a solar panel is still much more practical and cheaper than having to buy and carry maps.
Like on my first travel to Norway 20 years ago, I couldn't find anywhere to buy the map I needed, I looked in several Libraries, and finaly found an atlas that had the info I needed. So yeah, I know how it was, and I greatly appreciate the practicality offered by on the road access to map database.

I do carry a map when I go hunting, because the area I will do my hunting trip usually fits on one map, but I still have to carry a phone because I will very likely have to call some authority to announce my catch, or some friend to help me pack it back. The map allows me to pull out my phone much less often, which is exactly why i carry a map.
I write in cursive in my notebook, and I agree that I feel quite safe about other's people inability to read whatever i write in it.

But well, since an e reader with a sim card would allow me access to all the map I could want, and an infinite supply of book, for a fraction of the cost and the encumberment of the paper alternative, I'de be interested in one.

But @jacob, Don't tell me that an internet without all the bloat, so mostly text, isn't appealing to you And that devices that are optimized for text and ignoring the rest wouldn't be great.

I looked up the proposed device. Boox plasma doesn't work as a phone (so no internet access without wifi either), the two other are not available.

[theanimal]

Another e-ink option is the minimal phone.

https://minimalcompany.com/

Another appealing factor to me about e-ink is the improved battery life. I've seen claims of well over a week with the devices mainly on standby

I'd considered the light phone before, but thought the functionality was too limited for my purposes. If I knew of minimal phone at the time, I likely would have gone with that.

[Scott 2]

Hadn't seen the minimal phone. That's cool. If they follow through on the promised android upgrades (currently two versions behind), it's exactly what I'd want out of a phone. Could be a strong contender when my existing device dies.

[jacob]

For 1/8th of the price, consider

https://www.ebay.com/b/Amazon-Kindle-Ke ... /bn_320537 ... I have one that I bought back in 2011 or so. It still works although I had to replace the battery. Software updates are no longer forthcoming from amazon. I don't know if anyone has hacked it to restore some functionality. It used to be pretty good with free data (yup!) and a built in browser that allowed you to get on gmail. This doesn't work anyone, as in the website has to be compatible with 2015 browsers or earlier.

You can read any pdf file on it (including maps).

Add: BTW @scott2, if you want to try to jailbreak the 3GKB and see if you can turn it into something useful, you can have mine. If so, I'll bring it for the next walk.

[Jean]

It's cool, but, it's 5 time more expensive than entry level smartphones

edit: i was talking about the minimal phone.

It looks that the most practical and cheapest option is to carry a cheap smartphone (or cheap dumbphone if available at lower price) to be able to contact authorities or family and friends, and then chose beetween
-a solar panel to reload the phone if you use it for maps and stuff, which is probably the most practical for longer trips, because you can load maps and reading materials on the go. It only works if you have sun regularly.
- paper map and books, which is just a bit heavier option than e reader up to a week
- an ereader, which is also good for longer trips during which you are able to reload regularly (once a week it seems)
- nothing, which is perfectly fine for up to a long week end if you don't overwatch your phone.

an e ink phone would allow to beat all those options. If there is an eink phone available for less than twice the price of a cheap smartphone when my phone die, I'll consider one.

[Scott 2]

@jacob - what's cool about the minimal phone is combining e-ink with current play store support, NFC, etc. Maybe it solves the world in my pocket temptation. Interesting to see Amazon had similar hardware almost fifteen years ago.


@Jean - unfortunately low demand makes all the minimal devices expensive. The exception being a dumb phone, which fails to solve the modern life smart phone problem. From what I read, battery life isn't superior on the alternate hardware either. A smart phone under similar usage, will last nearly as long.

[Jean]

I imagined the battery life would be much better because of the e ink screen.
But if it isn't, I maybe could just install an alternate os on my phone to have less bloat and enhance battery life.

[theanimal]

@Jean- In the backpacking/outdoor world in the US, the common option is to carry a battery bank. Presuming you will be in and out of towns once a week to week and a half, you should be able to use your phone with careful setup and usage. Whenever you stop in town, charge your phone and battery bank. The benefit of the battery bank is that you can use regardless of time or day or what the sun is doing.


Regarding battery, an iPhone 16 has a ~3600 mAh battery while the Minimal phone has a 3000 mAh battery. It's smaller, but because of the e-ink screen and chipset the battery life is much longer on the Minimal phone. Light use on an iPhone will give you ~2 days of battery life. The same on a Minimal Phone is reportedly 1-2 weeks.

[Scott 2]

Regarding battery, an iPhone 16 has a ~3600 mAh battery while the Minimal phone has a 3000 mAh battery. It's smaller, but because of the e-ink screen and chipset the battery life is much longer on the Minimal phone. Light use on an iPhone will give you ~2 days of battery life. The same on a Minimal Phone is reportedly 1-2 weeks.

Whenever I look into promises like these, the assumption is you aren't touching the device in any way. When you start to use it, the battery gets crushed, worse than a normal phone.

https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/androi ... nd-display

I wouldn't have minded a little more battery capacity though. In my usual battery test of three hours of YouTube streaming over Wi-Fi, the Minimal Phone drained by a jaw-dropping 78%, rather than a more typical 20% result that most phones I test like this tend to hover around.

It's unlikely the networking tech is dramatically different on the minimal phone. So the battery difference is probably the screen behavior. Very specific usage patterns will be rewarded.


I was all upset my new Samsung watch had so much worse battery life than my Garmin. Then I realized it's cause I was asking for ten times as much stuff. It's hard to get the apples to apples comparison.

[theanimal]

With the iPhone, I'm speaking from personal experience based on my use case, which it sounds like may be similar to @Jean's. I have used my iPhone on extended backcountry trips like the PCT and others, where I am mainly just using it for maps, camera, notes, and light texting/browser usage when available. Streaming video on any phone kills the battery quickly and is impractical for someone looking to maximize battery life. Other tactics to extend battery life are keeping phone on airplane mode, keeping location/GPS off until you need it, turning off bluetooth and WiFi, turning off all automatic updates, and turning off all background app usage. It also ends up being better battery wise to leave your phone on if you are using it intermittently, rather than turning it off and on regularly. Doing this, I could stretch my phone out to 3-4 days of life without a charge.

[Scott 2]

3-4 days is what I'd expect from strategic use of a smart phone. I'm surprised users in the wild, can stretch minimal phone beyond that. I'd expect each refresh of the e-ink screen to be more expensive. But there's a much lower refresh rate, and no backlight required. I suppose that's a huge advantage in direct sunlight. The youtube test from Tom's Guide hits at the weakest e-ink use case.

Man, I don't need to replace my perfectly working $500 phone, with a lesser featured $400 phone. It's so cool though.

[Jean]

Yes, i carry a battery bank. I gives me about 1 week of not very carefull use.
I will look more into opensource os, and try to see if it runs better without all the preinstalled shit that you cant remove otherwise.

[loutfard]

Have you considered splitting out functionality?
- internet uplink device ("mifi")
- e-reader with or without telephony
- phone or not

Also, you may want to have a look into the Hisense A9 eink smartphone. It is at least somewhat lineageos compatible.

[bos]

In Taiwan I saw the Hibreak Pro. Smartphone with e-ink display. It's still too expensive because E-Ink's patent is not expired yet and being squeezed till the last drop. I suspect the prices will drop considerably afterwards