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Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

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VincentAnoid

Android Enthusiast
I've just seen this video about the new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, its display more specifically. CNET News - Amazon introduces new Kindle Paperwhite - YouTube

It uses fibre optic technology as backlighting, giving better contrasts and a high ppi resolution, whilst having 8 weeks battery life!

I was just wondering if there were any phones out there which take advantage of any technologies similar to this with the same battery life. I currently have the Galaxy Nexus with a brilliant screen but my battery doesn't last very long mainly being I use it for everything. I'm looking for a phone which is more versatile with my everyday uses and lasts long, since these readers will have their screens on like 24/7 when someone is reading text, this screen will be really good (Even if black and white) for my heavy texting and maybe phone calls/internet browsing.

Just think, a Galaxy Pro with this display + capacitive touchscreen and 8 weeks battery life. (Well 4 weeks since its much smaller :P)
 
Uh, all e-readers have battery lives that last a couple of weeks or four, and this just is another one of those. The screen basically uses e-ink and the new backlight, but in essence its just another lcd screen. Using it on an a smartphone actually won't produce any noticeable change in battery life AFAIK.
 
The paperwhite's screen technology wouldn't be useful for a phone. It's a front-lit e-ink screen - the front-lighting can be relatively low-powered because it's just adding a bit of contrast to a reflective screen (perfectly readable in normal lighting without the frontlight) that only uses power when you refresh the image. The problem is that e-ink screens are slow to refresh. They are good for static images (e.g. reading a book), but you'd find scrolling through menus or web pages awkward, and even texting, if you type quickly, would be a pain (and they do occasionally have to refresh completely or the contrast degrades, at which point you get the old "flash" that they early ones did on every page turn). Don't even think about gaming on one! ;)

So while it might be possible to build such a device that may suit some specific users, it will not have the general appeal of the current smartphone, and hence I can't see any manufacturer risking their money on it.

Remember also that the paperwhite's 8 weeks is for 30 minutes/day screen on, and it has a much lower powered processor than a smartphone, doesn't have the multiple cellular radios a phone has, and may have a much larger battery (don't know the battery capacity but there is space for one). So an e-ink smartphone could certainly have much longer battery life than LCD or AMOLED, but nothing like an e-reader.

For battery life you need the old Nokia 6210 - though browsing on that was pretty rubbish :D

Edit: @chanchan: e-ink isn't actually an LCD technology - it really has pixels with separate black and white pigments which can be flipped round, rather than just passing/blocking light as in an LCD element.
 
Thanks for the informative post, so refreshing the screen is what consumes battery, then that's changed my mind on e-inks. A phone regularly has a moving image so battery life will no where near be as good. Thought it was a good idea at the start and that Nokia phone doesn't have a qwerty keyboard unfortunately.. :( Nokia 3310 is where its at :P
 
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