- The Hannspree Lumo has a paper-like LCD display with no backlight
- This makes it easy on your eyes, like an e-reader, but it still has a 60Hz refresh rate and 16.7 million colors
- However, its specs make it a very basic tablet
We don’t see many major innovations in the tablet market – or the ereader market for that matter – but the Hannspree Lumo innovates in both, by essentially being a full tablet and ereader all in one.
It does this by having a 7.8-inch paper-like proprietary LCD display that, unlike typical LCD screens, doesn’t depend on a backlight. Instead, it reflects ambient light, like an actual piece of paper. The result is that the screen isn’t harsh on your eyes, allowing for a pleasant reading experience as you’d get on an e-reader.
But where a typical ereader’s screen has slow refresh rates, and either monochrome visuals or muted colors, the Hannspree Lumo promises rich, colorful content, with its screen being capable of 16.7 million colors, and having a 60Hz refresh rate and a 5ms response time.
So this Android 14 tablet should be as good for streaming movies on as it is for reading books, and while its screen doesn’t rely on a backlight, it does include an LED front light, which you can switch on to use the tablet in darker environments.
Very basic specs
All of which sounds very promising, but as far as Android tablets go, the Lumo’s specs are very basic. Its screen has just a 728 x 1024 resolution, and there’s just 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It also has just a 3,000mAh battery, though it can supposedly still last for up to 6.5 hours with the front light at maximum brightness.
So it sounds like the Lumo will make for a better ereader than a tablet, but if you do want a true combination of the two, then this could be the best option – and it does also support a stylus.
If you do like the sound of it, the Lumo is priced at £299 (roughly $400 / AU$600), though there’s no word yet on whether it will get a US or Australian release.
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