Imagine a smartphone you only had to charge once a week.
Devices like the Kindle are admittedly limited in what they can do, but for their purpose, they are great little devices. On top of the fact that users can read for hours without getting eye strain, and can comfortably read everything on the screen in even the brightest conditions are among the greatest features of e-ink devices.
Perhaps the best feature, though, is the battery life. The Kindle can last as long as 10 days before it needs to recharge. In an industry where battery life is always expressed in terms of hours, e-ink devices are the uniquely identifiable winners in this category. So just imagine if there was a smartphone that could boast the same kind of lasting power.
Well, guess what. Chinese manufacturer Onyx International is working on exactly that. The company is reportedly developing an Android-powered phone that would use the same kind of easy-on-the-eyes, long-lasting, see-it-to-believe-it technology that is used in e-readers today.
Obviously the limitations of e-ink will be magnified on something as versatile as a smartphone, but would you give up some of the very powerful features that have become commonplace in smartphones, in exchange for a battery that can last for an entire week?
Onyx hopes there are enough of you who would answer “yes” to that question to make its venture profitable. The company is apparently aiming for a launch some time next year, though it isn’t clear if it is targeting only the Asian market or it is has designs on a wider target.
