For years, the promise of E Ink has been a screen you can read for hours without the eye strain of a backlit display. The trade-off? A notorious sluggishness, especially when scrolling or watching video, that made it feel like a technology from a bygone era. Now, Dasung, a company consistently pushing the boundaries of electronic paper, is launching a direct assault on that very limitation. The Chinese manufacturer has unveiled two groundbreaking new e-readers that boast a staggering 50 Hz refresh rate, a move that could finally bridge the gap between the gentle gaze of E Ink and the buttery smoothness of modern LCDs and AMOLEDs.
The newly announced Not-eReader 078 Revolutionary Edition and Not-eReader 103 Revolutionary Edition are poised to redefine what users can expect from an E Ink device. The headline feature is, without a doubt, the 50Hz mode. For the uninitiated, refresh rate, measured in Hertz (Hz), dictates how many times per second the image on a screen updates. Standard e-readers often operate at painfully low rates, leading to noticeable "ghosting" and a jarring, slow-motion effect during any dynamic content.
By pushing the refresh rate to 50 Hz, Dasung claims these devices will offer a visual experience that is "nearly on par" with traditional displays when it comes to smoothness. This is a monumental leap, potentially making these the first e-readers where watching a video or smoothly scrolling through a lengthy web page isn't a test of patience.
Seeing is Believing: A New Level of Fluidity
To truly understand what a 50Hz E Ink display looks like in action, you have to see it for yourself. Early hands-on impressions and demonstrations are already surfacing online, showcasing the fluid motion that was previously unthinkable for electronic paper.
One such demonstration, which you can watch on Bilibili, vividly illustrates the smooth video playback and rapid UI navigation, highlighting just how far this technology has come.
The Trade-Off: A World in Black and White
However, this new found speed comes with a significant, and for some, deal-breaking caveat. In their pursuit of fluid motion, Dasung has opted for monochrome panels. Both the 7.8-inch and the 10.3-inch models lack any color display capabilities.
This naturally imposes clear limitations on their utility. Watching videos, while now smoother, will be in grayscale. The experience of reading color-rich comics, graphic novels, or textbooks with essential color-coded illustrations will be compromised. For users whose primary needs are text-based—novels, academic papers, web articles—this may be a non-issue. But for those hoping for a full-color, high-speed E Ink tablet, the wait continues.
Power and Performance: Android Under the Hood
Beyond the revolutionary screen, the other major selling point is the operating system. Unlike many locked-down e-readers, both Dasung models will run on Android. This opens up a world of possibilities, allowing users to install their favorite apps directly from the Google Play Store or other apk sources. Imagine seamlessly switching from reading a book on Kindle App to browsing Reddit on Sync, then checking your work documents—all on the same eye-friendly screen.
According to detailed specifications reported by IT Home, who broke the initial story on these devices, the smaller Not-eReader 078 will be equipped with 4GB of RAM and a healthy 64GB of internal storage. This should provide more than enough power for a smooth Android experience and ample space for a vast library of books, documents, and even a few apps.
The Verdict: A Niche Revolution
The Dasung Not-eReader 078 and 103 Revolutionary Editions are not for everyone. They represent a highly specialized evolution of E Ink technology, laser-focused on one core problem: speed.
For the dedicated text consumer who also craves a modern, app-enabled device with seamless scrolling and the potential for video consumption, these Dasungs could be a dream come true. They effectively eliminate the greatest frustration of high-performance E Ink. However, the lack of color will rightly give pause to artists, comic fans, and students who rely on colorful diagrams.
As of now, details on pricing and global availability remain under wraps. But one thing is certain: with these 50 Hz readers, Dasung has thrown down the gauntlet. The era of the slow, plodding E Ink screen is officially coming to an end, making way for a faster, more fluid, and more functional future for our eyes.