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Introduces the color E Ink concept on the Bigme HiBreak Pro and contrasts it with LCD/OLED, noting the 21 Hz refresh and limited vibrancy.
Color E-Ink on a smartphone is real, but the tech trades vibrancy for readability and extreme durability quirks in the Bigme HiBreak Pro.
Summary
JerryRigEverything dives into the world’s first color E-Ink smartphone with the Bigme HiBreak Pro. He explains how the display is visibly less vibrant than LCDs or OLEDs, yet benefits from the ability to hold an image without power. The video explores the 21 Hz refresh rate, ghosting, and the unique pixel-pouch architecture, then tears into durability with a plastic-dominant chassis, a glass back, and a foaming adhesive that complicates repairs. He shows the device running full Android and even demonstrates YouTube in color E-Ink, highlighting the limitations of app rendering at this resolution. The durability test reveals plastic scratches, a highly brittle build when bent, and an internal display that stubbornly remains displaying the last image even after the battery is removed. A teardown uncovers a multilayer structure: permanent laminate layers, a glass backing, and a rubber membrane housing the colored pixel pouches, which is fascinating to see up close. Throughout, JerryRigEverything notes how some apps (like NordVPN) render differently on E-Ink and cautions about usability and repairability. He even references practical tips, like keeping keys separate from the phone to avoid scratching the plastic screen, and drops a sponsor plug for NordVPN with a lighthearted tone. The video ends with a playful question about whether you’d rock an E-Ink smartphone and a push for subscriptions toward the 10 million subscriber milestone.
Key Takeaways
- Color E-Ink targets readability and static image retention over bright, high-contrast visuals, achieving about 150 PPI on color segments versus 460 PPI on iPhone displays.
- Refresh performance sits at 21 Hz for color content, with relatively low ghosting observed during quick swipes.
- The display can retain the last image indefinitely without power, since E-Ink pixels don’t require energy to stay fixed.
- The Bigme HiBreak Pro uses a multilayer build: permanent foam adhesive, a glass back under plastic, and a flexible rubber membrane housing colored pixel pouches, complicating repair.
- App rendering differs significantly from traditional screens; for example, NordVPN runs but its map and lines render poorly due to the low color and pixel density.
- Durability tests reveal a cataclysmic crack after a front-to-back bend, indicating internal failure even though the surface shows little damage.
- Even with the battery removed, removal of the back and motherboard confirms the display remains displaying its image, underscoring the persistence of E-Ink pixels.
Who Is This For?
Tech enthusiasts curious about niche displays and solder-free repairability, and Android phone users who want to understand the real-world usability of color E-Ink devices versus traditional LCD/OLED smartphones.
Notable Quotes
""This is the Bigme HiBreak Pro, and there might be a little bit of foreshadowing since the word 'break' is literally in the name.""
—Introduction to the device and foreshadowing the durability test.
""The screen’s pixels require no power to maintain their position, like an Etch A Sketch.""
—Explaining always-on, low-power E-Ink behavior.
""If the battery dies or the phone turns off, the last image you looked at will be on the screen forever since once the pixels flip, they don’t require power to stay locked in.""
—Highlighting persistence of the E-Ink image.
""With a bend from the front, we hear a cataclysmic crack. However, nothing visually appears to be damaged. So, something has definitely failed on the inside.""
—Durability test result showing internal failure.
""The display remains displaying its colored E-Ink pixels in the exact position they were left before the power went out.""
—Teardown observation after removing power.
Questions This Video Answers
- How does color E-Ink differ from traditional smartphone displays in real-world use?
- What are the repairability challenges of the Bigme HiBreak Pro?
- Can you watch video or use apps on a color E-Ink smartphone effectively?
- Does a color E-Ink screen offer practical benefits over LCD/OLED for readability and power?
- Is NordVPN usable on a color E-Ink device, and how does it render map visuals?
Bigme HiBreak Procolor E-InkE-Ink smartphoneAndroid on E-Inkdisplay technologyghostingdevice teardownrepairabilityDimensity 1080NordVPN sponsor
Full Transcript
So, this is what it looks like to watch a video on the world’s first color E-Ink smartphone. Feel free to come a little closer. It’s quite a bit different than your iPhone or Android. For reference, the shirt I’m wearing is orange. This smartphone case is green. And these JerryRigEverything knives are blue and pink, respectively. For reference, an iPhone has about 460 colored pixels per inch, while this color E-Ink screen only has 150. All right, you can back up a little bit now. This is the Bigme HiBreak Pro, and there might be a little bit of foreshadowing since the word "break" is literally in the name, but there’s only one way to find out for sure.
E-Ink displays are fascinating, and I’ve been looking forward to the technology traversing over from tablets into the smartphone world for quite a long time now, and it’s finally here. As you can tell, it definitely does not have the same vibrance or sharpness of an LCD or an OLED, but that’s kind of the whole point. Right out of the box, the Bigme HiBreak Pro is shipped in a clear plastic case. You might have noticed that the screen is already turned on, and it says "BigMe" just for you, like some kind of Stone Age pickup line. It’s allowed to be turned on all the time because the screen’s pixels require no power to maintain their position, like an Etch A Sketch.
And when it comes time for the pixels to switch colors, they can individually wipe themselves. Also, just like an Etch A Sketch, this brings a different color to the surface rather quickly. E-readers have been around for about 30 years now, but the ability to have colored pixels or pixel pouches is relatively new. The Bigme HiBreak Pro is running full Android and can load all the normal apps. As we open up YouTube, you can see that while other smartphones might have 60 Hz or 120 Hz refresh rates, this colored E-Ink refreshes at 21 Hz. But I think that with the ghosting, even that might be a little too generous.
Pulling in our microscope, we can take a closer look at the pigment pouches. Remember, the color white appears in the presence of all the other colors in the visible light spectrum, which is why you can see a red, green, and blue portion of each pixel on the white background. If we swipe on the screen, you can see how fast the pixels change with pretty minimal ghosting, all things considered. The craziest part, though, is that if the battery dies or the phone turns off, the last image you looked at will be on the screen forever since once the pixels flip, they don’t require power to stay locked in.
You’ll see what I mean in a second. What’s even more fun, though, is that if we zoom into the E-Ink pixels as a video is playing, we can see that it works, but not in an overly flashy kind of way, which might be exactly what our feeble human brains need to overcome our smartphone addictions. Truth hurts. Speaking of feeble, let’s get into the durability test. I’ll remove the pre-installed plastic screen protector to see what the screen is actually made from. As you know, plastic screens would scratch at a level two with deeper grooves at a level three. And that’s exactly what we see here on the Bigme HiBreak Pro.
There is a plastic laminate layer underneath the temporary plastic screen protector that is getting damaged. Plastic is totally okay, by the way. That’s just what these tests are for. Now that we know, we can just keep keys and smartphones in separate pockets, and it all should be just fine. It looks like everything is plastic, including the large bezels that surround the screen, as well as the earpiece up at the top of the phone. But luckily, the 5-megapixel front-facing camera does have a little circle of glass in front of the lens, so it won’t get scratched up like everything else.
And honestly, even at 5 megapixels, the front-facing camera is surprisingly good. But when we swap to the back, it’s like the 20-megapixel rear camera got slathered in Vaseline. To be fair, though, I haven’t done any software updates, so this is just what we’re getting straight out of the box. Making our way to the HiBreak's body, we can see that the whole frame is made from polished plastic. The buttons are metal, including a red fingerprint-scanning power button. And up at the top, we have more plastic and a red IR blaster. On the left, we have our volume rocker and a whole lot more plastic.
At the bottom, we get our lower loudspeaker, an 18-watt fast-charging USB-C port, as well as a metal SIM card tray, which does not have a rubber ring, nor any water ingress protection to speak of. Interestingly enough, though, there is real glass on the back. The glass does add some weight to the phone, so it does feel normal. But with plastic everywhere else, it does seem weird to randomly add some glass, especially since, as we know, glass is glass, and glass breaks. One thing to keep in mind, though, if you plan on switching over, not all apps will behave equally on an E-Ink screen, especially with the lower pixel density when it comes to colors.
For example, take a look at NordVPN, which is also today’s sponsor. As I’m sure you already know, NordVPN allows you to be anywhere you want to in the world without ever leaving your house. And while the app does indeed work on the Bigme HiBreak Pro, how it visually looks is entirely different. For example, right now the government thinks I’m in Vienna, Austria, which you can see mapped out on my Samsung, but the thin lines of the map don’t quite render as well on the E-Ink screen. NordVPN scrambles my internet traffic, so from the outside, no one can see what I’m doing or where I’m located.
And with more than 9,300 servers in more than 211 locations, I can literally be browsing from anywhere in the world, all while securing up to 10 devices with a single account. I can even go to Mexico. I hear they’re getting universal healthcare, which sounds nice. I can ask NordVPN if my text messages or screenshots look like scams, which is definitely helpful. And you can get 4 months extra with my link, nordvpn.com/jerryrig. Just like you would protect the outside of your phone with a case, you can protect the data inside of your phone with NordVPN. You don’t got to take my word for it, though.
There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee with the link in my description. nordvpn.com/jerryrig. Peace of mind is totally worth a few bucks a month. I’ve mentioned that the color resolution of this E-Ink display is 150 pixels per inch, and that’s true. However, when it comes to the black-and-white images or text, it doubles to 300 pixels per inch, almost on par with the resolution of a regular smartphone. These colored pouches just take up more space than the black-and-white pouches do. And we can see that the plastic screen lasts for about 30 seconds before going white and melting that top plastic layer a bit.
Now, the bend test. Will the HiBreak Pro break? Wait, sorry. I just discovered more images here—stock images, of course, pre-loaded onto the phone, probably to show off the colored E-Ink. I should have checked for these earlier. However, it’s looking a little too much like Elon’s Twitter feed in here for my taste. So, let’s go back to the bending. With a bend from the front, we hear a cataclysmic crack. However, nothing visually appears to be damaged. No cracks or kinks, except for that the phone is now not operational anymore. So, something has definitely failed on the inside.
And the HiBreak Pro is officially highly broken. It has failed my durability test. But on the bright side, now we get a tour of its insides, as well as we get to see how the pouches of pigmented pixels come together underneath that plastic screen. Removing the back glass is rather difficult. Instead of the normal watertight adhesive we see on Samsungs or iPhones, Bigme is using a foaming permanent adhesive, which makes repairability quite a bit more messy. But with enough of the shards removed, we can unscrew about 15 Phillips head screws. And this allows the back plastic to pull away from the screen and motherboard portion of the phone.
I’ll unplug the large battery, the extension ribbon, and display ribbon. And surprisingly, just like I told you earlier, the screen is still on. Dead, to be sure, but the last thing we looked at is still permanently displayed. Watch. I’ll completely remove the battery, all 4,500 mAh of it, so we can be sure there is zero power to the display. I’ll even remove the motherboard with its thermal foam and Dimensity 1080 octa-core processor. The rear 20-megapixel camera does not have optical image stabilization. And the lower rear mono speaker does not have any balls inside either. The 18-watt charging board does have a red rubber ring around the opening, but even with all of the hardware removed, the display remains displaying its colored E-Ink pixels in the exact position they were left before the power went out.
Let’s dig them out. Apparently, the plastic layer we melted earlier is a permanent laminate layer over a slab of glass, similar to how some of the ultra-rugged phones are manufactured. And surprisingly, even if we remove this glass, the pixels are still intact. Thumbs up for that. At this point, we’ve removed two plastic layers and cracked off a glass layer, and the pixels are still doing work. Kind of cool. It’s only after we remove one more plastic layer that we’re able to get a look at the colored pouches. These are inside a flexible rubber membrane which sits on top of the normal black-and-white E-Ink pouches.
These can now be disturbed since they are unprotected. Pretty crazy, and it’s amazing to see how it all works from the inside. Would you ever rock an E-Ink smartphone? Let me know down in the comments and hit that subscribe button. We are so close to 10 million. Thanks a ton for watching. I’ll see you around.
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