This might be the most disappointing E-Ink phone launch of the year

E-Ink device manufacturer Bigme teased the arrival of a dual-screen phone last week. The firm said it would be the world’s first phone with both a color E-Ink display and an LCD screen. The HiBreak Dual smartphone is now official, and I’m rather disappointed.

When Bigme first revealed that it would launch a dual-screen phone with a color E-Ink display and an LCD screen, I immediately thought that it would have two full-sized screens. After all, devices like the YotaPhone series and Hisense A2 Pro both took this route over a decade ago, featuring a full E-Ink screen on the front and a full-sized LCD panel on the back.

The Hibreak Dual indeed features a full-sized color E-Ink display, but eschews a full rear LCD panel in favor of a watch-sized rear screen. You can use this circular rear display to view the time, notifications, music playback info, call details, and the weather. An official promo video also shows that you can use this rear display to interact with a virtual pet and preview selfies. You can also use any app on the rear screen, although the promo clip reveals that apps like Gmail have significant black borders.

My biggest reason for wanting a full-sized LCD screen on the HiBreak Dual is because video playback and gaming isn’t a smooth experience on most E-Ink screens (color or monochrome). However, the aforementioned video clip shows that you can still view YouTube and TikTok videos via this rear panel. Why would you want to watch videos via this tiny rear screen? I have no idea. What makes things worse is that the screen seems to have a choppy refresh rate, resulting in juddery videos and camera previews.

Otherwise, the HiBreak Dual specs suggest some budget-tier internals on par with other Bigme phones. Expect a low-end Dimensity 1080 processor, 8GB or 12GB of RAM, 128GB or 256GB of storage, a 4,500mAh battery, a 20MP camera on one side, and a 5MP camera on the other. Bigme adds that the phone supports an optional stylus pen. Keen on the phone? It has a recommended retail price of $519 for the 8GB/128GB variant, while early bird pricing for this model ranges from $359 to $409.

In any event, I’m pretty disappointed that Bigme didn’t offer a dual-screen phone with both full-sized LCD and E-Ink displays. So fans of this form factor will need to keep waiting for a proper successor to these phones. If it’s any consolation, Bigme suggested that this type of phone isn’t out of the question.

“We’ve also heard your requests for a full-screen dual E-Ink + LCD phone (both displays large), and we will include that in our future product planning,” the company explained in a YouTube comment.