I love reading on my eInk reader. I think if a had phone where the book I was reading was always on the outer screen, I would read even more. But, is this too niche of a form factor?
No.
Been a fold user for going on 3 years now, and the outside display is pretty indespensible. Being able to use the phone as a normal phone, then being able to open the device and use it as a tablet, is the whole schtick. One doesn’t really work without the other.
No because i think i’d use the unfolded state less than the normal folded. I at least want to have the option tò use only the folded state Like normal smartphone.
e-ink is a weird niche tech IMO. The room required and case/screen protection would be the same as a typical OLED display. So why would an e-ink be better than a full functional display?
The only time I think e-ink’s are really useful outside of book readers is for situations where data refresh rate is seldom or battery life is critical and long microcontroller sleep times can be leveraged with the display still showing information without power for a very long duration.
I have an e-ink tablet that runs Android. Copes with most apps and can deliver stuttery video.
E-Ink can’t be far off replacing glass screens (at least as an option) because the benefits for battery life are substantial. But I’d think it would replace them rather than be in addition to. A phone with screens on both sides would be so fragile.
I don’t think I am going to want a folding phone for a very long time. An e-ink display on the back of a phone would be cool though.
It looks like at least one company made a prototype of such a thing back in 2013: https://techcrunch.com/2013/01/10/the-yotaphone-has-an-e-ink-display-on-the-back-and-thats-simply-awesome/
I don’t know why e-ink never seems to take off outside of e-readers, maybe it’s just still too expensive?
