Check out this Android tablet's display that looks and feels like E-Ink, but is an LCD panel

Until today, I had heard about display technologies like E-Ink, colored E-Ink, LCD, AMOLED, and various LED-y versions. But an LCD display that emulates the paper-like feel and most of the benefits of E-Ink without the abysmal refresh rate of E-Ink? I had never seen that.

But now I have. I had to troll the halls of IFA and venture to IFA Next, the hall where cool technology from the future (or smaller startups) lives, to find myself at HANNspree’s booth. And to say I was impressed would be an understatement. Their Android tablets were, by far, the most awesome thing I saw at IFA, and I think they deserved bigger exposure than being tucked away in a hall where no Android journalist ever ventures.

So, let me paint you a full picture of this ecoVISION Paper Display, as it’s called, first before talking about the tablets it’s on. The panel has that familiar backlight-free, matte, and slightly dull feeling of E-Ink with a paper-like reflective coating on top. On the average-lit IFA show floor, it was easy to see and read, though I had to look at it straight on; any angle greatly diminished the display’s visibility.

This panel really came to life, though, when we took it outdoors. That’s where its ambient light reflective nature shines. It was much more legible and much brighter, even when looked at from an angle. I didn’t get to test it in a super dark environment, but HANNspree has two different tablet models: one with no backlight at all and one with some LED lights baked in that you can turn off completely at 0% brightness or turn up to full brightness (50 nits). The effect is very similar to turning on the lights on a Kindle: minimal in decent ambient light, but I bet it’ll be more impressive in the dark.

Because of the panel’s reflective and non-backlit nature, it’s flicker-free with reduced blue light and thus reduced eye fatigue. Plus, the panel really reduces energy consumption, too. The company claims 80% less energy compared to a normal LCD panel, so that should help the tablets last much longer than normal LCD or AMOLED panels. We’re not talking about E-Ink-levels of multi-week battery life, but multiple days should be attainable.

The best part, though? Oh, that regular 60Hz LCD refresh rate! No E-Ink ghosting, no visible redraws of the display, nothing. I played videos, I scrolled, I swiped, I opened apps, I closed apps. Everything worked like on a normal LCD panel, which this is. The response rate is 5ms; I didn’t feel any lag when using touch, gestures, or a stylus.

And the colors, although a bit faded, are still miles ahead of what colored E-Ink displays can do. Even Gallery 3, which is the most vibrant colored E-Ink technology I’ve seen, isn’t as good as this 24-bit color depth LCD panel. Not to mention that Gallery 3 is quite expensive and tops at an eye-watering 3Hz refresh rate.

The ecoVISION Paper Display is actually so exceptional that the company had it on computer monitors and signage too. It looks even better on a large 23.8-inch monitor and a 28-inch fixed sign.

Going back to the tablets, they’re real budget Android tablets. There’s a 7.8-inch and a 10-inch model and both of them run Android 14 with a full Google Play GMS certification (so you don’t need to sideload the Play Store or Google apps). Both tablets have MediaTek processors, 5MP front cam, 4GB of RAM (yikes), Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5, USB-C, and support USI 2.0 styluses.

The smaller tablet has a 768×1024 resolution display, 3,000mAh battery, 8MP rear cam, and 64GB of storage (double yikes), while the larger one goes up to a 1200×1600 resolution display, 4,000mAh battery and 128GB of storage but drops to a 5MP rear camera.

There’s no exact price or availability just yet, but I was told to expect these towards the end of the year or early next year, and they should come to Amazon when they do.

Look, I know that most of us won’t end up buying these tablets from HANNspree, but I think the technology should be lauded for what it is and for all the benefits it brings. To me, based on my 20 or so minutes with these tablets, their display seems like the perfect combination between a color LCD and a reflective low-power E-Ink, with the fewest compromises possible. I might change my mind after using one for a longer period of time, but for now, all I have to go on is this first impression.

Of course, you wouldn’t get this kind of display if you want to watch movies and YouTube non-stop — Samsung’s bright AMOLED displays are much better there. Instead, think of this as an E-Ink tablet competitor; so, if you mostly care about reading (books, articles, colored mangas or comics), studying colored PDF textbooks and annotating them, or using productivity apps, all with little eye fatigue, excellent outdoor visibility, and limited power consumption, then this ecoVISION Paper Display is a very strong contender for those use cases.

And if you happen to open a YouTube video after all that, you can still watch it without wanting to break the tablet into a million pieces because of the silly slow refresh rate.