Have E-Paper Phones Become Practical Enough to Use? A Look at the Hisense A10 Ultra and the Current BOOX and Bigme Lineup

2026年9月6日

Since I started relying on generative AI, my eyes have been taking a beating. The time I spend re-reading text on a screen is nothing like it used to be.

That pulled my interest back to e-paper, the low-glare display technology that is easy on the eyes. I have owned several e-paper devices myself since 2019 — a BOOX Nova 2, a Max3, and a few after those. All of them, though, I used strictly as e-readers.

Looking around a bit, I found that several phone-shaped, SIM-capable e-paper devices are now on the market. This article lines up what you can actually buy as of September 2026, and sorts out what each one gets you and what it makes you give up (checked as of September 3, 2026).

Have e-paper phones become practical enough to use?

What I Checked, and Where This Comes From

I looked at models that are purchasable as of September 2026, drawing on manufacturer announcements, comparison articles from overseas outlets, and retailer listings.

I currently own an e-paper tablet and an e-reader, but I do not own an e-paper phone. Anything about hands-on feel below is quoting publicly available reviews, not my own use.

The Hisense A10 Ultra, Released in August 2026

On August 28, Hisense released its A10 series. The higher-end A10 Ultra addresses several points that have long been weak spots in this category.

A Detachable Color Screen

The A10 Ultra ships with a color screen that attaches to the back of the device. The idea is to read and write on the e-paper screen most of the time, and snap on the color screen only for the moments that call for color.

E-paper is bad at reproducing color, and models built to show color take a contrast hit for it. The trade-off has generally forced a choice between giving up color or giving up crisp black-and-white readability. This device answers that by splitting the two functions across two separate screens instead of picking one.

It Runs Android 16

Devices in this category commonly ship with an outdated version of Android, a point that overseas comparison articles bring up repeatedly.

The Android version matters for which apps run and for how long security updates keep arriving. If you plan to use one of these for years, it is worth checking.

Calling Is Not Standardized Across These Devices

One thing that became clear while researching this: devices marketed as “e-paper phones" are not all the same kind of product. They split cleanly along one line — whether they can actually make phone calls.

The BOOX Palma 2 Pro has 5G connectivity and a color screen, but it cannot make phone calls. That is not obvious from its name or its looks, and it is an awkward thing to find out after buying one.

The Main Models at a Glance

Prices and stock move by the day. Confirm the seller and warranty coverage before you buy, since gray-market imports do turn up mixed in with official listings.

The screen size is almost universally 6.13 inches across Hisense, Bigme, and BOOX alike, most likely because the pool of e-paper panel suppliers is small.

Prices given in Japanese yen are tax-included prices confirmed on Amazon listings on September 3, 2026. Prices given in US dollars come from overseas listing pages, and the yen figures next to them are rough conversions. Both prices and stock are subject to change.

An Odd One Out: a 3.7-Inch Panel You Stick to Your Phone

Not every device in this space is shaped like a phone. The XTEINK X3 is 3.7 inches, weighs 58g, and is 5.1mm thick — about the size of a business card holder.

The way you use it is unusual. A bundled magnetic ring lets you stick it to the back of your smartphone and carry it that way, peeling it off only to read. Shaking the device turns the page. It has 16GB built in plus a microSD slot, a 650mAh battery good for roughly a week of normal use, and it costs $74 (confirmed on Amazon on September 3, 2026).

It will not make phone calls. It is a device built purely for reading. That said, next to the $440–$540 devices covered earlier in this article, it is an order of magnitude cheaper. If you just want to try the experience of reading on e-paper, this is one way in at a much lower cost.

Mudita Kompakt Points the Opposite Direction

Where the other models run Android and move toward “closer to a regular smartphone," the Mudita Kompakt is heading the other way.

It runs a proprietary OS, and the feature list stops at calls, SMS, offline maps, and music. There is no app store. The browser is not built for endless scrolling, either. The screen is 4.3 inches, and the 3,300mAh battery is rated for six days.

It positions itself as “a device built so your phone doesn’t use you." Even under the same “e-paper phone" label, the goal here is a completely different one.

Overseas Reviews Score by What You Give Up

A theme running through several comparison articles was ranking these devices not by raw specs, but by what compromise each one asks you to accept. The framing that e-paper devices are, by nature, products of subtraction seems to be well established.

On top of that framing, several sources made the same point: “most people end up satisfied with the BOOX Palma 2 anyway." That is the roughly $270 model that cannot make phone calls.

The phone-capable models cost more and run older Android versions, and people are still satisfied with the cheaper, call-less option. Read one way, that suggests what people actually want here is not the phone function.

Has This Become Practical Enough to Use?

Here is my read, based on what I found.

As a single, do-everything device, it still looks rough. E-paper’s core trait — a slow-refreshing screen — has not changed. That gets in the way for everyday things like maps, video, and checking photos. These devices do carry a camera, but you end up viewing your photos on a screen that shows no color.

As a second device, the options have grown. There are now Android 16 models, 5G, and working Google Play. As a machine built for reading, this category is genuinely better than it was a few years ago.

The Hisense A10 Ultra’s detachable color screen reads as an attempt to fix exactly this “can’t be your only device" problem. Even so, whether a detachable panel is actually convenient, or ends up feeling no different from just carrying two devices, is something you can’t know without using one.

What I Could Not Verify

I do not have any of these devices in hand. Hands-on feel, screen refresh speed, and how well the detachable color screen actually works in practice — none of that has been confirmed here.

Prices reflect what each retailer’s listing shows. Whether a given model can be legally imported and used in a specific country, and whether it clears local radio-certification requirements, needs to be checked model by model. That check is not done in this article.

The information on the Hisense A10 Ultra is from the day after launch. Reviews from people who have actually used it are barely out yet.

In summary: three tiers, split by whether they can make calls

As of September 2026, e-paper phones split into three tiers depending on whether they can make phone calls. That split is not visible from the name or the look of the device, so it is something to check before buying.

The newly released Hisense A10 Ultra runs Android 16 and adds a detachable color screen, addressing both of this category’s long-standing weak points — an outdated Android version and no color.

At the same time, overseas comparison articles suggest that a lot of people are satisfied with the roughly $270 model that cannot make calls. What people actually want appears to be a good reading screen, not a phone function.

As a device meant to cover everything by itself, it still falls short. As a second device dedicated to reading, though, it has become a much easier choice than it was a few years ago.

As an easy-on-the-eyes screen, e-paper’s basic position has not changed in years. But since I started using generative AI, the time I spend reading text has clearly gone up — checking over long answers is now a daily task. My own e-paper device helps a lot for exactly this, and my eyes don’t tire out even after long stretches of looking at it.

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