Hisense A7 CC Colour E-Ink Mobile Phone released

[pdurrant]

Hisense have released their latest E-Ink Mobile Phone.

The A7 CC has a 6.7" 300ppi 2nd Generation Kaleido colour screen from E-Ink.

See https://ereaderx.com/product/hisense...or-eink-phone/

[Elektron]

Woooo, looks nice!

[andyh2000]

Shame it's so huge (like all phones now).

[jago25_98]

Hmm. Looks handy at first and no doubt it is.

However, if it's like previous Hisense phones it'll be siphoning off your contacts to be sold at a cheap price to data brokers who then sell them on to robocallers.

Other problems with previous Hisense phones:
- the battery killer kills the VPN even when excluded
- the private DNS menu option in Android 10 has been deleted

Also, the screen isn't high contrast and it's so big you need a i-ring to each anything.

But no... I'm not jealous!!

Shall I upgrade?

[kandwo]

It looks much better than the previous generation, but still not quite good enough for my taste. There's a lot of ghosting, the colour layer is still considerably less than 300ppi judging from the videos I've seen. I would be quite keen on the BW version if not for the size. The higher PPI, bigger battery and even better audio chip are all tempting features, but not ones I would be able to carry in my pocket at that size...

[pdurrant]

If I needed a new phone, I'd be tempted, just to see what it's like. But I've just got a second-hand iPhone 6S with 128MB, and that's going to do me just fine for a couple of years.

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

If I needed a new phone, I'd be tempted, just to see what it's like. But I've just got a second-hand iPhone 6S with 128MB, and that's going to do me just fine for a couple of years.

The problem with using these as phones is that they seem to drop calls and SMS at random. I had to put my SIM cards back in a dumbphone to be sure I get all my messages. Annoyingly, I now have to carry two phones with me..

Calling and sending messages seemed to work perfectly, but the phone was unreliable in receiving them. And this is with full bars (4G).

I don't seem to be alone with this problem either, sadly; and I haven't seen anyone post a solution for it yet.

[Ripplinger]

It doesn't say if the battery is replaceable, which is a must for me. I use my phones for years, and I've never once had one where the battery didn't need replacing.

And the size is just too big for me for a phone. About 5.7" display is the about the highest that's the most comfortable for my hands (and my tiny purse I use). Others are just too big for me and makes them annoying to use.

I'd love to see a decent e-ink phone though to be able to actually read no matter where I'm at outdoors. This one does come pretty close for me.

[Alexwfm]

Originally Posted by kandwo

The problem with using these as phones is that they seem to drop calls and SMS at random. I had to put my SIM cards back in a dumbphone to be sure I get all my messages. Annoyingly, I now have to carry two phones with me..

Calling and sending messages seemed to work perfectly, but the phone was unreliable in receiving them. And this is with full bars (4G).

I don't seem to be alone with this problem either, sadly; and I haven't seen anyone post a solution for it yet.

I wish I've read this before buying, it's strange that no one found a solution to it yet..
Otherwise amazing phone, even if the resolution is not great it can still look amazing outdoor and the colours make apps like google maps look readable.

[kandwo]

Originally Posted by Alexwfm

I wish I've read this before buying, it's strange that no one found a solution to it yet..
Otherwise amazing phone, even if the resolution is not great it can still look amazing outdoor and the colours make apps like google maps look readable.

Actually, there is a solution that worked for me:

Here's what I did:

In Settings -> Battery -> Power saving management -> Memory intelligent cleaning: White list QKSMS

Settings -> Battery -> Power saving management -> Battery optimization: disable for QKSMS

In Settings -> App and permission management -> Self-running management: Allow QKSMS to autorun.

And finally I allowed all permissions for QKSMS (making it a "trusted app"), which I deemed safe since the app is open source and popular.

+ Exception from freeze locker

This is all caused by an over-aggressive battery saving policy. But it shouldn't affect the call functionality, if you are using the default app. Otherwise just follow the above procedure for your alternative dialing app.

[jackm8]

How's the battery life?

[Arconte]

I bought the phone some months ago, and it dissapointed so much to me with it's unfunctionallities that I toss it away and didn't cared, but now I am trying to revive it.

The problem is I made a hard reset and every built-in attempt to make google works dissapeared, so now I have a phone absolutelly without google, like the A5, which I also have. I tried to install the apps I need, but whatsapp don't run, and a phone without whatsapp it is useless.

Can anyone upload an image of the ROM of their phone? Or point me where to download, if it is possible? I quote the users here that said they have the phone, in case you can do that.

Originally Posted by kandwo

Actually, there is a solution that worked for me...

Originally Posted by Alexwfm

I wish I've read this before buying...

There is a guy who made a workaround about how to install GAPPS, not working 100% but it is something. Later I will post it here.

Thanks

[kandwo]

You need to root the device to install GAPPS. Check the rooting A5 Pro thread over at the XDA forums. It's quite complicated, but Google Play should work fine after the process. And installing WhatsApp isn't a problem.