This E-ink Smartphone has a Crazy Camera...

This is what it looks like when you watch a video on an e-ink phone. This is the first e-ink phone whose durability we have tested. Pretty

crazy

experience. It's definitely not for everyone, but the possibilities are interesting. Today we have two boxes here, one containing the Hisense A9 Pro, and the other, which looks like an iPhone, is what we would get if the Tooth Fairy fell in love with a Cybertruck. A waterproof stainless steel brush from today's video sponsor, Laifen. In another video I will cover the elegant brush with real gold and give it away, but for now we can admire the possibility of 60° rotation and 66,000 vibrations per minute.

It comes in white plastic, aluminum, or stainless steel and has a magnetic charging base. I know Elon will buy 100 of them and the sequels are surprisingly affordable. You can get them through the link in the description, and next week expect the giveaway for a gold-plated brush. Brushing your teeth with a gold-plated toothbrush seems

crazy

. Almost as crazy as a grayscale phone with a week's battery. Interestingly, the Hisense A9 Pro comes in simple packaging, a simple cardboard box with waxed paper around the phone. Even though the phone is off, the screen appears to be on, which is crazy.

Pixels only use power when they turn black, so they don't drain your battery while idle. We also received a rubber mask and a long charging cable, and something we haven't seen in a long time: a free screen protector. The more I research

this

phone, the more I like it. When I turn on the A9 phone, the screen goes black, refreshes, and the familiar Android system boots. Everything goes further in grayscale, graphic minimalism, but we also have a front and rear

camera

. It's crazy that even though the phone's

camera

displays a black and white image on the screen, the photos and videos the phone takes are actually in color.

If you take a photo with

this

phone and send it to someone, the photo will be sent in color. That's what filming is like, just to say hello to the camera. This is a crazy phone. Very interesting considering how the shots look on the phone. One more thing, since the refresh rate of this screen is zero and it only changes the pixels that need to be changed, sometimes the pixels do not change completely to white or black, leaving some marks on the screen. It's not something I would give up, it comes with a screen like this and to fix it there is a dedicated refresh button on the side of the phone that quickly changes the screen from black to white to refresh the pixels.

It's quite different from a normal phone, but I like it. E-ink displays have advanced. It may not be as flashy or addictive as 120Hz AMOLED, but it could be good for people who want to stop relying on technology and don't want to lose the functionality of Android. There is a protective film on the screen, which I will remove before the scratch test. Hisense uses an 'E Ink Carta 1200' display, the same type of technology found in the Kindle Paperwhite. Luckily for us, it's covered in glass instead of plastic like regular

smartphone

s. They are removed at level six, with deeper cuts at level seven.

I would turn off the screen to see the scratches better, but even when I turn off the screen it is still on, we have to put up with the white background. At the top, near the earpiece, there is a 5MP color front camera. The frame of the A9 Pro phone is made of plastic, as is the power button, which is also a fingerprint scanner. The volume buttons with a red glow are metallic, and at the top we have the headphone jack... And it is surrounded by plastic bezels, which continue to the left side. The screen refresh button is metallic and we have a dual SIM slot.

Although the SIM slot has a gray rubber seal around the opening, it has no official water or dust resistance rating, so if you own this phone, avoid liquids. The bottom of the phone is also plastic, but it contains a USB-C port and a speaker. Moving on to the back, which can also be scratched and is made of matte black plastic. The Hisense A9 brand is drawn on it. My entire business is social media, so I think I'm qualified to say that more than 20 or 30 minutes a day of social media can destroy your brain. So I'm all for a combination of e-readers and phones.

I hope this minimalism reduces the effect that scrolling has on dopamine. Speaking of books, my favorite is 'Llama In Red Pajamas', I read it at least twice a day. This drawing was supposed to be a baby llama, but it turned into a nightmare llama, which I won't show to my two year old. The rear camera has 13 megapixels and also shoots in color, although the screen gives a different impression. The camera is protected by glass. If you held this lighter up to a book, it would surely catch fire, but if that book is displayed on the Hisense A9 Pro's e-ink screen, it can actually survive the heat test almost indefinitely.

Even after 25 seconds under the heat of the lighter, although the pixels seem a little less refreshed than usual, after a few presses of the refresh button everything is back to normal. Although the fingerprint scanner is scratched, I can still place a fingerprint. And adding even more scratches does not diminish the ability to scan prints. Thumbs up for that. Since the phone is plastic, I am a little worried about its strength, but when I bend it from the front, we can see that it bends a lot and there is a clicking sound, but there is no visible damage to the phone. ..

Until now. When I bend it from the back, it also bends a lot, but again, without catastrophic damage. Only after the third bend with more force than usual on a phone does the screen begin to crack, losing all functionality with the pixels eternally and permanently parked at their previous points of photonic perception. As a curious person, I would love to see how this technology works from the inside, but access has proven quite difficult. I thought the back would separate at the plastic and glass junction, but it turns out the entry point is under the glued back, where the llama in the red pajamas is waiting for his mama llama.

Sorry about the flash, I can't turn it off anymore. 16 Phillips screws hold the phone frame to the rest of the phone, and once I remove them, I can detach the fingerprint scanner. I'll cover the LED so it doesn't blind us and then we can disconnect the battery from the motherboard, like a little Lego. The bottom speaker practically has a window to show the balls inside. Thanks for that Hisense. And the charging port can come out below. The screen, of course, still maintains its previous pixel positions even after completely disconnecting the battery. This shows that these types of screens do not need electricity to retain the image.

Two more black Phillips screws secure the main motherboard, and the motherboard uses pink paste to transfer heat from the processor to the phone's metal frame. The headphone jack is soldered to the board and the small 5MP front selfie camera lacks optical stabilization. The 13MP modular rear camera is still mounted on the phone's frame, but it also doesn't appear to have optical image stabilization. Unfortunately, Hisense appears to use a permanent adhesive to secure the battery. That's pretty bad since a permanent battery makes recycling much more difficult. Since I don't want to burn down the house, I'll leave the battery where it is for now.

The most interesting thing about the e-ink phone will obviously be the e-ink screen. A normal screen would already be off, but the A9 is still on and readable. Even when the glass pieces are brutally removed from the top, the E-Ink capsules are still visible. It's only when I scratch these capsules that the screen finally gives up and is finally destroyed. Personally, I love these minimalist phones and hope to see many more. Would you buy an e-ink phone if Apple made one? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for watching. See you!