What They Say
Hisense said that it will release a colour version the A7 5G, a smartphone with an E Ink Kaleido display of 6.7″ diagonal. The device should have long battery life as there is a 4770 mAh battery. There is a 13 megapixel rear camera. Hisense believes that there is a market for those that need a smartphone, but are keen readers.
The device is being offered for sale at $529 with delivery in mid-February 2021.
What We Think
It’s slightly strange that on the order page that there is no photograph of the display side of the device, just the back. The Kaleido technology is based on colour filters over the EPD and the technology has 4096 colours, with 16 grey levels for each pixel. The reports are also unclear about the ppi of the colour display. The monochrome A7 has 300ppi, but I would expect it to be less for the colour version. On its own web page, E Ink doesn’t quote the ppi for Kaleido. Ken wrote about Kaleido when it was announced, but he didn’t mention the ppi. That suggests to me that E Ink was not keen to draw attention to it. (Where’s E Ink?) (BR)
