E-Ink Smartphones

Smartphones are part of our daily life. The number of users grows exponentially every year and we're becoming more and more dependant on such technology.

I'm not debating about it being good or bad, it's a fact.

Neither I'm going to discuss about it, I deemed it pointless long time ago. It's the same old about technology and ethics conflict. 

Smartphones are huge energy clogs. We waste in proportion more energy on a smartphone than heating our house. 

Huge, high definition, color screens and superfast processors to show Weather, Stocks, News. To tweet, post on Facebook, message.

Don't you think it's a little overkill?

When do we really need all that power? Gaming comes to mind, maybe video. I don't believe that an average user spends more than an hour a day for that kind of activities. 

The russian vendor Yota Devices thought about it and came out with a smartphone with an E-Ink screen in the back. E-Ink technology has been around for a while and made famous by the Amazon Kindle. It has the main advantage of consuming little to no power, which is perfect for the most used applications.

While this first example has double screen, a smartphone with a single e-ink only makes a lot of sense, especially for businessmen, who are always short on battery power and don't need resource-intensive applications, and seniors, who need more accessible and readable screens.

It's an idea worth exploring to me.

Update: apparently a company called Onyx Boox already did it.