Android

The one and only time I bought into a project on Indiegogo was for a phone that said it was shipping that month, even though the company had been delaying it for a year already (unbeknownst to me) and they had no idea when they were going to finish. It was straight up fraud, Indiegogo let the company do it without consequence, and 2.5 years later the project is still up on Indiegogo. Now I’m out $800, and the asshole company is still claiming they’ll send all the backers their phones any day now. They’ve been literally saying it for years.

Don’t learn the hard way like I had to. Never back an Indiegogo project.

Aww shucks I was actually a bit interested

Is there something in particular about Indiegogo that I missed, or are you just pointing out it's crowd funded? (and that means you could lose your money without anything in return)

So it goes well with my Cicret bracelet

I looked into E-ink displays this summer and the tech is just so high priced

They can't claim carrier compatibility yet before they even source the parts. (They're in Japan right now sourcing Chinese parts, allegedly, and only have renders thus far.) Let alone until they have a working prototype to test against fyi.

Carriers may very well not certify the device due to compatibility issues. Or they won't be able to afford the certification process.

RIP in peace Pebble

The Garmin Instinct watches have an e-ink like display. I get about 25 days of battery on mine.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/775421

SQFMI Watchy exists... And has a chinese supplier now which doesn't suck

The community is also active, recently a few from ground up firmwares have appeared

I have a Fossil Hybrid, it's perfect

I have an old Sony eink one which still works and is perfect

Depending on what features you want/need, you can get a used Pebble on eBay and run Rebble on it. More hoops to jump through if you use an iPhone, but android support is pretty straightforward!

The 69 dollar phone is a subsidized pre paid device. They plan on taking a loss on the sale and making it up with cell plans.

Also this is a niche device for a VERY niche audience. It will never be cheap cheap, just cheap for what it is.

For that price i can get second hand phone with higher specs & colorful screen

Yeah... It is low priced if you look at Apple or Samsung higher end or recent models.... otherwise yes it is expensive.

Expand on that thought...

Making a product made to discourage usage is always going to fail. Palm phone had everyone excited because we wanted a good small phone. Instead they made an intentionally bad small phone and wondered why no one wanted it.

My partner has an Onyx Boox Palma, which is similar in some ways. It's fast and would be usable as a basic smartphone if it could take a SIM card. Despite the display being one of the best it is ultimately still e-ink and has many downsides if you are trying to use it like you would a normal smartphone. The ideal target market for this kind of device is really people that have already cut down their screen time and can comfortably live without most things, but still want the option to install any application if necessary.

If you want a more conventional smartphone experience, the TCL NXTPAPER devices may be a better alternative, though they obviously have their own downsides as they do not have true e-ink displays.

It's not a "worse" display. It's a different display. The only point is that if you want an e-ink phone (either for readability or battery life) this is one of the only options. Assuming it actually launches at least.