Are E-Ink phones worth it? Bigme Hibreak in-depth review

Bigme E ink Smartphone Hibreak

Discover the Bigme Hibreak, a groundbreaking E ink smartphone that pushes the limits of innovation.

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Technical Specifications

• Brand Bigme

• Model Name Hibreak

• Internal Storage 128 GB

• RAM (Memory) 6 GB

• Screen Size 5.84 Inches

• Operating System Android 11

• Hardware Interface USB 3.0 Type C

• Processor Description ARM Cortex-A9

• Battery Capacity 3300 Milliamp Hours (12.54 Watt Hours)

• Wireless Communication Technology 802.11g

• Package Dimensions 15.4 x 7.68 x 0.86 cm (6.06 x 3.02 x 0.34 inches)

• Battery Type Lithium Polymer

• Removable Battery No

• Form Factor Slate

• Item Weight 170 g (6 ounces)

• Processor Brand Qualcomm

• Processor Type Snapdragon (Octa-Core)

• Connectivity Type Cellular

• Wireless Type 802.11g

• Front Camera 5 MP

• Back Camera 12 MP

• Battery Description Lithium Polymer

• Software Updates Yes

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The Goods

• e-reader

• low-cost

• good battery life

The Bads

• no USB-C cable

Editor's Score

Design

8.0

Build

8.2

Audio Quality

8.0

Battery

9.0

Convenience

8.0

Usability

8.2

Camera

8.0

Cost per Value

8.8

Overall Score

8.3/10

Editor's Note:

The Bigme Hibreak is ideal if you are looking for a minimalistic phone which also works as your personal e-reader. What sets it apart from other E-Ink phones is that you can use your favorite apps without any limitations.

Note:

This review is the outcome of melticulous research and trial of the product. Nonetheless, it is purely the editor's personal point of view and reflects their own experience.

George K.

Admin of TechLunar

If you think of phones, you will probably think of an iPhone or a typical Android phone like a Huawei, Samsung, etc. If you think of e-reader tables, you will come up with the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. E-readers are usually easier for the eyes and provide a more convenient experience for reading. This brings the advantage of providing a longer battery life with a simpler OS specialized for reading books.

What if I told you that there exists a phone that combines elements from a standard phone and a paperwhite e-reader and works exactly like a typical Android phone? This is exactly what a company called Bigme is doing. The Bigme Hibreak is a fully functioning Android phone which does exactly what you expect. You can call, send text messages, play games, watch videos, browse the web, take photos and videos, etc. OF course, the same old-school question is, what does the Bigme Hibreak provide that other phones don't? Why it is a better choice for you than other models? We will analyze everything in-depth in this article.

What is an E-Ink phone?

An E-Ink phone combines elements of an e-reader tablet and a smartphone. An E-Ink phone replaces the traditional LCD screen found on Android and iOS phones with a more relaxing screen to replicate the look of traditional ink on paper. Unlike conventional flat-panel displays that emit light, E-Ink reflects light, providing a more natural and paper-like reading experience. Currently, there are very few E-Ink brands with the leading brand being Bigme. 

Bigme Hibreak Design and Built

The Hibreak is mainly made of plastic. One thing to keep in mind is that it may slip off your hand if you don't hold it properly. If that's the case, Bigme provides specific cases for this model that can be a good fit to prevent the phone from slipping. The back of the phone is also made of plastic, but the surface is a bit rough for style purposes.

Just like an Android phone, it has an on/off (power) button and a volume up and down button on the right side. On the left lies the SIM and SD Card slot. It has two microphones on the bottom, enhancing the audio quality. There's nothing on the top, but there's an LED flash on the back which can be used as a flashlight or for photos. As a popular belief, it doesn't have a speaker. This may be a disappointment to some, but the phone does have sound output, but not speaker holes.

The Display

The display is the main characteristic that makes the Bigme Hibreak a different phone than the other phones. With a 300 PPI display, the content is very sharp, which can be very useful for reading e-books. The good news is that one can watch videos and play video games, thanks to the integration of Google Play Store buckled with Android 11.

I produced an in-depth, hands-on experience with the Bigme Hibreak, where I played a few games, including PUPG and Subway Surfers. It's expected that the quality won't be the same with an LCD screen, meaning that the colors feel as if they were hand-drawn or painted. However, if you touch the top right side of the screen and move your finger down, open the E-Ink Screen setting, and change the Refresh mode to Extreme, the experience will be much smoother and the closest possible to an LCD screen.

To save battery life, the HD 256 or Regal option may be the best suited for reading E-books, but for videos, the Fast or Extreme options will be ideal for higher quality. The HD 256 and Regal options will turn the screen into black and white, which can act as a battery-saver.

The Camera

The E-Ink phone is packed with a front and rear camera with 12MP and 5MP, respectively. This is enough to take some photos and videos whenever needed, including video calls with your friends or family members. 

I compared the quality of the camera with my iPhone XR. There are significant differences in terms of quality between the two cameras. The camera from the Bigme reassembles a 6-7-year-old phone camera. This is not too much of a worry, given that phones back then still possessed impressive cameras.

The video quality stands at 30 fps with 1080px (Full HD). This may not be comparable to today's phones, but it is good enough to use for simple purposes. 

E-Book Reading

The Bigme Hibreak has two built-in apps that can be used for reading. Bookshelf and Kindle. If you already have a collection of books as PDFs, the Bookshelf app would be the perfect choice. Additionally, apps such as Adobe Reader can also be downloaded from the Play Store.

Bigme makes it very easy to transfer PDF e-books to the Hibreak. All can be done via the cloud by transferring the PDF files from your computer to the Hibreak via WiFi connection. If you have any Amazon kindle books, you can login with your Amazon account and sync your books.

If you prefer to read comic books, such as Monga, thanks to AI, each text cloud can be focused by making it larger by pressing the volume up and down keys. This is automatic, and you don't need to tweak any settings.

Google Play Store and Connectivity

The E-Ink phone includes WiFi connectivity, as well as the Google Play Store app, allowing you to download your favorite apps. There's no limitation on what apps you can download as long as they are supported by the Android 11 OS and the hardware (Octa-Core CPU).

This means that you can download your favorite games and social media without any notable limitations. That being said, you can also browse the web, watch YouTube, have video calls with your friends, basically everything that you would normally do with your current phone.

Storage and SIM Card

The Bigme allows micro SD card storage of up to 1TB. This is great for storing an unlimited amount of books and songs. It's likely that you won't have too many installed apps and most of your storage will be occupied with books, songs, photos, and videos. Currently, there are many options for micro SD cards with a large amount of storage often at a very low price, including the one I suggest below.

Depending on the model you order, Bigme offers unlocked plans, meaning that you can use whichever SIM card you want from any country around the globe. While their official website has specific recommendations of which plans you can get, it might be a better choice to choose the model that is best suited for your country of residence.

Final Thoughts

After using the phone for about 1 week, I didn't have much trouble with the transition. The only worry you may have is that the User Interface (UI) appears to respond slower to the user commands (typing, tapping, etc). Given that the display is E-Ink and not LCD, you will notice a significant difference in the screen colors. While this is something that may seem uncomfortable at first you will get used to it after a few days of usage. 

The whole purpose of the Bigme Hibreak is to provide you with a minimalistic phone where all the basic functionalities are there. It's not a high-end phone you will see on the market, but rather a phablet (table which is also a phone) that can be used mainly for reading e-books and be more relaxing for your eyes. I personally find the phone to be a great excuse for using my phone less often and relying more on reading books. I would normally use my phone at night before sleep and after waking up for a few hours. The Hibreak motivates me of not doing that and to stick with reading books instead of watching hours of YouTube videos.

While I still need my normal phone from time to time I find myself being able to do everything from the Hibreak without much trouble. It's something I would definitely recommend if you are looking to take a break from using your phone and force yourself to be less dependent on it.