New low cost 3G smartphone uses e-ink to keep the price down

A Chinese company called Fndroid is working with Eink to develop a 3G smartphone that would priced as cheaply as a featurephone. Some of the advantages of such a device would be longer battery life, Sunlight viewability and the display would be easy on the eyes. Fndroid has produced two prototypes that have been displayed at MWC 2013. One model (in white) is equipped with a 1GHz processor and a 3G chip, while the other model (in black) offers EDGE connectivity. And while the phone does run on Android, it has a rather limited UI that concentrates on features that work well with Eink's display such as email, a reader app and a dialer. Obviously, video is not supported, but text from web sites can be read.

One of the prototypes has a backlight to help view the screen in the dark, but the screen's refresh rate is a lot slower than what you are accustomed to. If ghosting is a problem, a quick shake of the phone removes it from the screen. According to Eink's Giovanni Mancini, director of the screen producer's product management, Fndroid is currently in the process of talking with carriers about releasing the phone sometime later this year.

source: Fndroid, Eink via TechCrunch