Fairphone

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Light Phone 2 (e-ink smartphone lasting 5 days)

Discuss The Industry
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#1

So, yeah, I’m a bit disappointed when gadgets need juice every day. It gives me unnecessary stress in my life (not being sarcastic). I tend to use my FP2 less so it lasts longer. Are there alternatives? I’ve been wondering if e-ink is viable for phones, and figured: if you do not use it a lot, perhaps? Apparently there’s already an e-ink smartphone out there: the Light Phone, and now they’re making a successor: Light Phone 2.

It doesn’t do a whole damn lot though, but it supposedly holds for 5 days with only 500 mAh battery.

I’m not entirely sure if the difference between a normal dumbphone warrants the price tag (300 USD now with getting it in april 2019, or 400 USD in store). Also, if it cannot share its connection over Bluetooth/WiFi thats a big minus. OTOH, you’d need a less big [data] plan.

I thought it was interesting to share, if not merely because of the idea and innovation.

Any other thoughts on this?

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Ideas for fairphone
Rearranging Categories (again)
#2

For reference:

I like the idea, but mostly I see potential for it as a status screen (time, battery capacity, call & message counter).

There is already this OLED screen (Youtube) featured in this topic:

CC @Cherry97

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#3

Found a much cheaper e-ink phone by Kyocera

Here’s a Dutch news item on it. It includes a video and two links to Japanese websites.

https://tweakers.net/nieuws/144691/kyocera-presenteert-telefoon-op-creditcardformaat-met-e-inkscherm.html

Roughly paraphrasing some specs from the Dutch article:

KY-01L
Credit card format 2.8 inch. Exact size 91x53mm, slightly larger than a credit card that is 86mm long.
Screen to body ratio: 48%
Resolution: 640x400 pixels, approximately 270 pixels per inch.

Modified version of Android. Offers, among other things, a calendar, calculator and a browser. Due to the low refresh rate of e-ink, browsing according to various hands-ons does not go smoothly, but it does work (editor note: having used a browser on my e-reader I can attest to this).

Includes 4G (100Mbit / s down and 37.5Mbit / s up) and WLAN

The battery has a capacity of 350mAh, about the same as in many smartwatches.

Kyocera only delivers the device to the Japanese provider NTT Docomo, which sells it for 9999 yen from the end of November, currently about 78 euros.

According to a user comment: continuous standby time is about 100 hours (editor note: a little bit more than 4 days).

EDIT: Another black and white screen phone (transflective LCD) is from Punkt: https://www.punkt.ch/en/products/mp02-4g-mobile-phone/#overview

#4

If it’s just about the standby time and not the advantages of e-ink for displaying text etc., then the FP2 is not exactly lacking performance. At least mine will last 4 to 5 days without using WiFi and Bluetooth, like you have to do with the Light Phone 2.
My FP1 with a replacement battery in standby only even lasts about a week.

Ok, they both have larger batteries, but therefore larger Displays. :wink:

#5

Hmm, my FP2 in no way can make it 4 to 5 days with only 4G on and all other radios off.

Standby time is one factor. I also very much like black and white screen (with many shades of grey!).

To be clear, I’m not buying any of these. It is just an area of interest, really :slight_smile:

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#6

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