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While E Ink displays are often found in eBook readers like Kindle, NOOK, and Kobo devices, they’re also increasingly common in ePaper tablets and even some desktop monitors.
Chinese company Dasung was one of the early players in this space, and the company cleverly lets you know that its E Ink products weren’t just for reading eBooks by branding them as “Not-eReader” devices. And while the company’s latest may not be an eReader, the Dasung Not-eReader 133 is two other things: an Android tablet and a PC monitor.
Launching in China for 5,399 CNY (about $740), the Not-eReader 133 has a 13.3 inch E Ink Carta 1250 greyscale display with a resolution of 2200 x 1650 pixels for 207 pixels per inch, support for capacitive touch input, and a front-light with adjustable color temperature.
You can use the Not-eReader 133 as an tablet, thanks to its Android 9-based software, Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It also uses Dasung’s “Turbo Ink” technology to increase the refresh rate of the E Ink display for a more responsive experience than you’d get from a typical eReader.
Just keep in mind that you’re still not going to get the smooth 30+ fps animations you’d really want for watching videos, playing games, or smooth scrolling from an E Ink display. And increasing page refresh speeds on electronic paper displays like this typically comes at a cost: it involves a partial screen refresh, which may result in “ghosting,” where remnants of the previous image remain on the screen until the next full screen refresh.
While we’ve seen a number of E Ink tablets in recent years, the Dasung Not-eReader 133 stands out due to its HDMI input, which allows you to use the device as an E Ink monitor for a laptop, desktop, or other devices.
The Not E-Reader 133 also has a 3.5mm audio jack, a microSD card reader, and a USB Type-C OTG port with support for 18W charging. You can also use the USB port to connect peripherals like a keyboard or external storage.
The tablet/monitor has a 6,400 mAh battery and support for dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0, and the Dasung Not E-Reader 133 measures 316 x 228 x 8mm (12.4″ x 9″ x 0.3″).
Dasung hasn’t announced pricing or availability details outside of China yet, but many of the company’s other products are available worldwide, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Not E-Reader 133 follow suit.
