Review: Bigme Galy: World's First E Ink Gallery 3 Tablet
Review unit provided by Bigme
Bigme is a company that sells e-ink e-reader tablets and they have just teamed up with Good E-Reader to launch the Bigme Galy, the world's first tablet to feature E Ink Gallery 3 technology.
This e-reader tablet will be released initially through Kickstarter which will end on 31 Dec 2022. As with any Kickstarter campaign, there's the risk of the creator not delivering. Bigme had released an earlier product called Bigme Inknote on Kickstarter as well and that was shipped.
The early bird price is US $539. Normal price through Kickstarter is $599. And the retail price after the Kickstarter will be $699.
By the way, Good E-Reader is a company that publishes, reviews and sells e-reader tablets. It seems like Good E-Reader handles some of the marketing for Bigme Galy and hence there's the conflict of interest.
In this review, I'll present my findings so that you can decide whether this tablet is worth the money.
Image displayed with HD (best colour) settings
The main selling point of Bigme Galy is the use of Gallery 3 display technology developed by E Ink.
Here are the features of Gallery 3 according to E ink:
In Gallery 3, the black and white update time has been improved to 350 milliseconds (ms), the fast color mode is 500 ms, standard color mode is 750-1000 ms and best color is achieved at 1500 ms. This is a substantial improvement over the first generation of E Ink Gallery, which had a black and white update time of two seconds and color updates of ten seconds. In addition, Gallery 3 will have an improved resolution of 300 pixels per inch (ppi) versus the earlier 150ppi and an operating temperature of 0-50 degrees Celsius, on par with black and white eReaders. E Ink Gallery 3 will also support pen input in black and white, with an addition of several other colors and an update time of 30 ms. E Ink Gallery 3 will be featuring E Ink’s new ComfortGaze™ front light, which offers a blue-light safe viewing experience.
Things included
The packaging looks nice. Everything's safely packed and well laid in the box.
Items included in the box are:
- Tablet
- Quick start guide
- Warranty card
- USB-A to USB-C charging cable
- Tray ejection tool
- Smart Pen A5
- 2 replacement pen nibs
- Nib remover
There's no charger included.
Additional add-ons such as the (included) Smart Pen A5 is $40 (usual $60) and the (not-included) case is $25 (usual price $50). Five replacement nibs and nib remover are $15 (usual $30).
Bigme Galy has a clean and simple design.
The specs are as follows:
- Dimensions: 181.45 x 159.29 x 6.95mm
- Weight: 320g
- OS: Android 11
- Display size: 8-inch
- Resolution: 1920 x 1440
- PPI: 300
- Stylus: Pen with Wacom tech
- Audio: 4 noise cancelling mics, dual stereo speakers
- Front light: 36-level dual front light
- CPU: 2.3 octa-core
- RAM: 6GB
- Wireless: Wifi (2.5 + 5G) + Bluetooth 5.0
- Storage: 128GB with microSD card slot support for 512GB
- Battery capacity: 3000 mAh
320g is lightweight enough for me to hold comfortably for long period of time for reading.
8-inch is decent size and I don't have issues with it. It's big enough for reading comics although I probably would have preferred 10-inch. But bigger tablets are heavier and will be more expensive.
Design on the back mirrors the front with black and off-white colours. Both front and back surfaces are smooth matte textured. I can't tell what material is used to make the back though.
At the top is the power button with built-in fingerprint sensor, and noise cancelling mics.
For the fingerprint sensor, you have press the power button, lift the finger, and press again for scanning. Fingerprint sensor works fine.
At the bottom are the USB-C port and microSD card slot.
There are two speakers on the side. Volume is loud and audio quality is alright.
To adjust volume, you have to do it through the settings or with customised shortcut buttons on the pen.
On the right side is a magnetic connector to charge the pen.
Image quality
The display has a resolution of 1920 x 1440 with pixel density of 300PPI so no pixelation is noticeable.
Text is sharp. Contrast looks good enough and quite similar to black and white e-readers such as Kindles.
There is adjustment to increase the contrast. And depending on the reading app used there may be other adjustments for text such as fonts, leading, kerning, margin, etc.
Backlighting looks quite even to my eyes with no obvious edge lighting or wavy pattern.
Warm light looks fine. This is at maximum intensity.
You can adjust backlighting and warm light by swiping the left and right edges of the display.
This is the wallpaper that appears when the tablet is completely off. The wallpaper when the tablet is asleep can be changed with the included XPhoto app (default image viewer).
These are the possible adjustments for image quality
- Dark Enhancement: Increases the black levels
- Vivid Enhancement: Increases the colour saturation
- Color Brightness: Increases the brightness but reduces contrast
- Refresh Mode: HD, Normal, Black & White
- System full refresh frequency: Never, 1 to 50 times
Black & White mode has a refresh time of 350 ms and this is quite similar to other BW e-readers in the market.
Normal colour mode is advertised with an update time of 750-1000 ms. Colour pages take more time to update than BW pages.
The page update time for reading coloured comics pages is satisfactory to me and is not much longer than updating BW pages.
Canvas colour of Normal mode is off-white with slight yellow tint. The yellow tint is not a hardware defect because it's not yellow with HD colour mode.
HD colour mode is advertised with an update time of 1500 ms. The update time will be affected by the app used.
- With XReader: The default reader app has update time under 2s and that's fast enough for me.
- With Kindle app: Coloured pages update under 3s and the screen will refresh 2 times before settling down. I was told by the company this is a software issue can be fixed. It is possible because XReader's HD colour mode can refresh much faster. Coloured pages with Normal mode refresh much faster.
- With Libby by Overdrive: Experience is not ideal because the app's page flip animation cannot be turned off and that animation does not look good with slow page update times. Reading coloured comics with Normal mode is more responsive. Reading BW text is even better since BW pages update faster.
Colours are noticeably more vibrant with HD than Normal mode. The lighter gray canvas also makes the colours look more vibrant by contrast. The canvas colour quality reminds me of coloured comics printed on newsprint paper. To get the most vibrant colours, just apply 100% Vivid Enhancement. Applying 100% Vivid Enhancement does not seem to affect the refresh time.
Since you're buying this e-reader for the colours, HD colour mode with 100% Vivid Enhancement is probably the setting to go for. But if you find the update or refresh time unsatisfactory, you can opt for Normal colour mode with 100% Vivid Enhancement but the colours will appear slightly washed out, relatively speaking.
HD mode without Vivid Enhancement will look better than Normal mode with 100% Vivid Enhancement.
Overall responsiveness when using the tablet with HD mode is actually alright provided you set the screen refresh frequency to a number higher than 1. If you have the page refresh each time (to remove image retention), HD mode will make the usage experience feel sluggish.
If Bigme and E Ink can reduce the page refresh time, that would be a huge improvement to user experience.
Image retention
Whenever a new page is drawn, there may be image retention of the previous page. This is normal behaviour with e-ink tablets.
Image retention with Normal mode
Image retention of previous page can appear with possible yellow smudges. Sometimes one screen refresh is not able to remove the yellow smudges completely. It may be better to just use HD mode since there are no yellow smudges with HD mode.
Image retention with HD mode
Image retention only appears as previous page imprint and there are no yellow smudges.
How does screen refresh frequency work
Screen refresh frequency can be set to never, 1 time to 50 times. Using the main settings to set the refresh frequency only affects the UI and not the books you read. Screen refresh frequency for each book has to be set separately with the default reader app XReader. Other reading apps will follow the system screen refresh frequency.
Image quality
Shown below are three images arranged with the following settings:
- Normal mode with no enhancement
- Normal mode with 100% VIvid Enhancement
- HD mode with no enhancement
- HD mode with 100% Vivid Enhancement
You can click the images for a larger view.
Normal mode with no enhancement
Normal mode with 100% Vivid Enhancement
HD mode with no enhancement
HD colours look more saturated or vibrant. Also note the HD light gray canvas vs the off-white yellow canvas of the Normal mode. Scroll up and down to compare.
HD mode with 100% Vivid Enhancement
The HD colours remind me of printed comics on newsprint paper, but the colours here are slightly washed out that's all. Image quality looks acceptable but there's obviously room for improvement.
This is the original image for comparison.
Below are close ups.
Normal mode with no enhancement
Normal mode with 100% VIvid Enhancement
HD mode with no enhancement
HD mode with 100% Vivid Enhancement
The image looks sharp.
Normal mode with no enhancement
Normal mode with 100% VIvid Enhancement
HD mode with no enhancement
HD mode with 100% Vivid Enhancement
Original image
Normal mode with no enhancement
Normal mode with 100% VIvid Enhancement
HD mode with no enhancement
HD mode with 100% Vivid Enhancement
Secondary colours such as orange and green are not easy to reproduce.
Original image
OS
Bigme has their own UI running on top of Android 11. Overall performance depends on the page refresh rate. There's 6GB of RAM which is sufficient for since this tablet is mostly used for reading.
Frequently used apps can be placed as shortcuts on the left sidebar.
Usual Android navigation gestures can be used for navigation. Swipe up from the bottom middle to go to the home screen. Swipe up from the bottom left to see all active apps. Swipe up from bottom right can be customised to a shortcut (I have it to screen refresh). Swipe down from top shows the quick settings menu.
File transfer can be done wirelessly or with a cable connection to your computer.
There is Google Play Store so there's access to a huge variety of apps. Below are some apps I've tested.
Note taking apps: Third party note taking apps will refresh the page with each stroke which is not ideal. To get those apps to work better, e.g. refresh the stroke instead of the page, you can turn on the "Global Handwriting" mode under the Pen settings icon. I could get Microsoft OneNote to write as fast as the default note taking app.
Playing videos: Since page refresh is slow, playing videos will feel extremely sluggish. Expected.
Web browsing: Since page refresh is slow, scrolling webpages will cause numerous page refresh and feel sluggish. Expected. For some reason, when pressing the Enter button, it will show you options when you have to click for the "real" Enter.
Playing games: Don't even try.
Camera: The preview is very sluggish since page refresh is slow.
This tablet is best used for reading because to use it for other tasks except for reading usually involve having to deal with page refresh constantly. For reading, you only refresh the page after you're done reading.
Due to the colour limitation of the tablet, the UI for many apps do not look good.
Pen
The pen included is said to use Wacom technology.
This pen is powered by battery and charging is by attaching it to the side of the tablet. Pairing is with Bluetooth.
IMPORTANT: Batteries in digital pens are small, and hence has smaller battery capacity, and hence can lose charge faster. Based on my experience of reviewing countless digital pens, such batteries can get damaged if the pen is not used for long periods of time. In short, charge the pen regularly, e.g. once a month or every two months. Keep the pen attached to the tablet often.
The pen has good build quality and looks good. The surface is glossy and it's comfortable to hold.
There is pressure sensitivity (4096 levels) and palm rejection.
The pen nib is firm and does not move.
There are three shortcut buttons which are customisable. The shortcuts will vary depending on the app you're using. E.g. When playing audio, the buttons can be used to adjust volume, and when reading, the buttons can flip pages.
I've set the power button to refresh the page, and a long press will go to the home page.
Taking notes
The default note taking app has limited features.
For writing tools (aka brushes), there are pen, pencil, brush and ballpen. Eraser allows for area erase and selection erase. Shapes you can add are line, rectangle, circle, triangle. There are some page templates for ruled pages and other designs.
And these are the five limited colours to choose from: black, red, blue, magenta, yellow.
There is latency when writing so you will see the line trying to catch up with the pen nib. The tablet was able to capture my handwriting accurately despite the latency. The writing experience feels tactile thanks to the textured pen nib and display. Overall note taking experience is satisfactory considering this is an e-ink display.
When writing, the display only updates the area where the lines appear. There's no full screen refresh while writing.
There's no difference with latency between HD and Normal mode. As such, it's better to use HD mode for better colours.
Battery life
According to Bigme, battery life is around 10 hours with normal use, and 20 days with sleep mode.
I used AccuBattery Pro to track battery life and screen-on time is around 6+ hours.
Note that battery life will be affected by screen refresh frequency, the app you use, and colour mode.
I also noticed there's a tendency for the battery to drain quickly overnight even with Wifi off.
Maybe a firmware update can increase the battery life.
Conclusion
This tablet is best used with HD colour mode with the default XReader app. HD colour mode produces more vivid colours, has better contrast and less image retention. XReader has faster page update time than other reading apps.
As the world's first tablet that uses E Ink Gallery 3 display, the performance is decent. There aren't many other products to compare to anyway. The only other colour e-ink tablet I reviewed, Onyx Boox Nova3, could not produce sharp text.
My overall experience with the Bigme Galy is positive but there's certainly a lot of room for improvement.
Pros and cons at a glance
+ Clean and simple design
+ Solid build quality
+ 320g lightweight
+ Visuals are sharp with 300 DPI
+ HD colour mode produces rather vivid colours by e-ink tablet standards
+ HD colour mode has cleaner, brighter canvas
+ HD colour mode has more effective screen refresh that removes image retention
+ 128GB internal storage
+ MicroSD card slot
+ Power button with fingerprint unlock
+ Pen included
+ Good writing experience
+ Pen buttons can be customisable for shortcuts
+ Google Play Store included
+ No bloatware included
- 6 hour battery life with normal use
- Battery can drain overnight
- Tablet ideal for reading and writing, but not for other tasks
- No physical shortcut buttons, no volume buttons
- 3rd party reading apps have slower page refresh than default XReader
- Screen refresh frequency has to be set separately for each book with XReader
- Normal colour mode can have yellow smudges as image retention
- Normal colour mode canvas has yellow tint
Availability
You can get the Bigme Galy by backing the Kickstarter campaign which will end on 31 Dec 2022.
Otherwise, you'll have to wait till the tablet is released officially to the public.
Comments
Hi Parka,
Hi Parka,
I'm trying to understand the audience this tablet is marketed to. It's too expensive for an e-reader, too small for much note taking, 6h battery life is laughable for a tablet. You can get a normal small tablet, like 10inch Galaxy Tab for about $200 or even less, with similar or better specs. There's obviously an audience for this kind of device and only color should not be enough to generate public interest, because it doesn't mean much if everything is sub par compared to normal tablets. So what drives the interest here?
@ Ilia Shigin
In reply to Hi Parka, by Ilia Shigin (not verified)
@ Ilia Shigin
There are people who prefer e-ink tablets because their eyes are more sensitive to LCD or OLED displays.
The e-ink tablet market is actually huge. Well, Amazon has been selling their Kindle for years. And there are many other companies that sell such tablets too. The addition of colours to e-ink display is rather recent and there's still more room to improve.
Have you tried using a PDF as
Have you tried using a PDF as a journal and dropping pictures into it with neo reader?
With that camera if the native apps are done right it should be possible to take a picture from within NeoReader and drop it straight into a document.
I know there are third party apps that will do that but they'll be extremely sluggish on this device and they see no reason why the native apps can't be upgraded to really functional for a change.
@Ruby Sheffer
In reply to Have you tried using a PDF as by Ruby Sheffer (not verified)
@Ruby Sheffer
I've downloaded Neo Reader but can't seem to use it as a journal. Anyway, I'm not familiar with that app.
Regarding the camara, anything that uses the camera will feel sluggish due to the refresh rate. The camera preview, the thing you're photographing, is a moving image and all moving images will be sluggish.
And how will this compare to
And how will this compare to the Supernote?
@AssassinSENPAI
In reply to And how will this compare to by AssassinSENPAI (not verified)
@AssassinSENPAI
I've not tried Supernote before so I can't say much
Apologies if this is a repeat
Apologies if this is a repeat post - not sure if it wen through:
Hello. Thank you for your very complete review which is very helpful! Several questions please:
1. When you noticed overnight battery drain, was the device in Standby or in Power Off mode? Roughly from-to what % loss overnight in Standby?
2. I wrote to Bigme in November and they told me in the "next" firmware update they will introduce an update so there is an option for Standby mode, instead of a fixed Screensaver picture, to keep on screen the last displayed page of whatever application was running, so you could keep a book page "open," a note or calendar app, or a web page "up" with Standby icon showing and have almost no power drain. Is that mode in the latest firmware update yet?
3. Would you please post a side-by-side picture without any photoshopping of a monochrome text page with backlight on maximum, same page with backlight off, and, a white piece of printer paper in moderate interior lighting - for a realistic view of how bright the screen is?
To all - FYI I tried the Bigme inkNote Color with a November firmware, and was very impressed with the software, dual app split screen, Google Play worked, and build quality was superb. I was quite disappointed with backlight off contrast ratio, white background was at best a medium gray like a first generation Kindle - except under really bright direct lighting. With backlight on high the white background was bright and quite white, much more like a recent generation Kindle, but of course lower battery life - similar to an OLED tablet.
@Mark
In reply to Apologies if this is a repeat by Mark (not verified)
@Mark
1 and 2:
The battery drain is during standby. The tablet is asleep with no apps opened. Battery can drain 40% off overnight so there's definitely some issue with power management, at least with the firmware that i tested from 20 Dec 2022.
3. There are photos of the backlight above.
This is maximum brightness and it looks bright enough for me. I'll definitely not be using maximum brightness at night.
This is text without backlight. Contrast looks quite similar to typical BW e-ink readers. Contrast for BW is good.
I was told Bigme Galy will be up again on Indiegogo. Hopefully they will have released a new firmware by then, and I can publish a video review.
Thank you, this is very
In reply to @Mark by Teoh Yi Chie
Thank you, this is very helpful! Did they add in the latest firmware a feature to standby and display the last shown screen / app page?
@ standby drain issue - the November firmware of the Bigme inkNote, which I sold and no longer have, I tested and it was a 1% or 2% drain after 12 hours on standby. The two devices seem to have identical firmware and similar hardware so hopefully they will fix this soon for you and other Galy owners!
Perhaps a workaround is an app killer app to suspend non-essential system or user background apps/processes.
@Mark
In reply to Thank you, this is very by Mark (not verified)
@Mark
The latest firmware is from 20 Dec 2022, the one released before the Kickstarter ended.
The company said they will release a new firmware for the Indiegogo campaign. And I'll update my text review, and make a video review for that.
Hi, does this tablet have
Hi, does this tablet have japanese dictionary automatic, like the kindle? It would be frustrating to have to open a third party app to get a dictionary definition while reading something in japanese. (Kindle has one that when you click the work it's an automatic pop up dictionary)
I would bebusing this to read books and learn japanese, as well as write blogposts and in my diary.
Another question: when you write, is there an option to turn your written text into typed text?
I write in an online diary and it wouldn't be able to take written text, it would have to be typed. So i would imagine that I could hand write my entry then it would be recognized and turned into text?
Also when filling forms out that require text, would that automatically do so as well?
2 questions:
2 questions:
1 Is there a multilingual dictionary on this tablet like the kindle?
I want to use this to learn japanese and when reading a book on the kindle, you can click on the word and a dictionary pops up with the word you clicked on.
I would disdain using this if I had to use a 3rd party dictionary to type the word in separately.
2 is there a hand written to text mode? I like to write in cursive in my diary, but I have to transcribe it onto text to be able to make my entries searchable. Can I hand write either in alphabet or cursive and have it changed to text so I can post my entry via text online?
@Rain O Martin
In reply to 2 questions: by Rain O Martin (not verified)
@Rain O Martin
1. The default XReader app does not have dictionary installed by default. So you'll have to install dictionary manually.
If you're using other apps, whether dictionary is available will depend on that app. E.g. Kindle has built-in dictionary by default.
2. The default note taking app does not have handwriting recognition. You'll have to use apps that have that feature, e.g. Nebo is one I know of.
Hello, I was wondering if you
Hello, I was wondering if you could answer some questions. I’m new to e-ink so I don’t really understand the tech specs. I am trying to decide whether to get the Onyx Boox Nova Air C or wait for something with Gallery 3. My main uses are for reading and sketching, so I like the idea of having a full range of colors, but the colors in the Gallery 3 are still faded/muted, and especially the green on the Bigme Galy seems to not show up, and it’s my favorite color, while the Nova Air C does have a nice green, even though the colors are limited. My question is, are the latency, ghosting, and refresh rate better in the Gallery 3 than the Nova Air C based on the specs? I’ve had an opportunity to try the Nova Air C and of course there is latency when drawing, but I also couldn’t get it to automatically refresh when I turned the page while reading, and I chose that in the settings, and thought I turned the refresh rate up as high as it would go (but I wasn’t sure which was high and which was low, so maybe I set it wrong, and maybe the refresh with page turn didn’t work cause I was using the kindle app instead of the app it comes with). Do you know if it is possible to download books I have on kindle to the Boox’s reading app? Thank you!
@JP
In reply to Hello, I was wondering if you by JP (not verified)
@JP
There will be noticeable latency when using Gallery 3 display in colour mode, and even more latency with HD colour mode.
For the page to refresh, or for the stroke to refresh, the e-ink tablet should have a setting to do that. It's a common setting so the lack of this setting is a deal breaker. So you have set the page to refresh every page to remove ghosting/image retention.
To read your Kindle books, you have to install the Kindle app from Google Play Store, and read from within Kindle app. Note that Kindle has page turn animation where pages will have lateral movement which will be very visible on e-ink readers due to latency. But for black and white pages it's usually not a big issue.
How much latency is there
How much latency is there when drawing with the pen? How does it feel, and does it make it harder to draw and take notes? Thanks.
Hello again, @TeohYiChie.
Hello again, @TeohYiChie.
Did the company release a new firmware yet since 20 December 2022?
And, is there now a "sleep" / standby option to keep the last displayed screen image "showing" - instead of the logo / or user chosen but "fixed" image?
The company mentioned to me an email back in early December this would likely be in the next firmware update for InkNote Color and Galy.
And, are you familiar with any other devices that have such a feature - that would allow an eink reader or tablet to replace a piece of paper which is "always on" for scratch notes or displaying a calendar agenda.
@Anonymous
In reply to How much latency is there by Anonymous (not verified)
@Anonymous
For taking notes it's alright. It's certainly not for drawing as features for drawing are limited, and colours are limited too.
@Mark
In reply to Hello again, @TeohYiChie. by Mark (not verified)
@Mark
It's still the same firmware from 20 Dec 2022. They have not released any new firmware since.
Hello,
Hello,
2 questions if you may.
1. how things going in terms of firmware updates now, did they push something since end of march?
2. i already ordered it, but can't get any info on the shiping dates, even tho it was an order, not pre order, of any kind. Do you have any info regarding the release date. you see, when you paid 700$+shipping, waiting without any kind of timeframe is just killiing poor man's soul)
@Denis Karasev
In reply to Hello, by Denis Karasev (not verified)
@Denis Karasev
1. They have not pushed out any firmwares since my review was up.
2. I'm not sure about the shipping dates. You'll have to ask them on Kickstarter or see how they respond to other buyers. Hopefully you'll get your tablet soon.
I've received my Galy last
I've received my Galy last week, and maybe my expectations were a bit unrealistic, but I find it to be close to unusable. My main issues are.
-The touchscreen appears to be really bad. When typing something a lot of keystrokes are missed. This is an even greater issue then usual due to the slow response, which means you have to really be able to trust that all is registered.
-Gestures do not cancel out the initial touch point. For instance if I swipe up from the bottom right to force the full refresh, it does this. However if there was also a button or link at the point where I started the gesture this is also pressed.
-The Kobo app is really slow and quite unsharp in displaying books.
-Google start page is blacked out so far it is pretty much unusable.
Do you recognise any of these issues, or have work arounds for it? I realise I cannot expect the device to be a fully normal functioning tablet, but I need to at least be able to navigate to the content I need it to display and right now that is proving to be quite a hassle.
@Renze Krullaars
In reply to I've received my Galy last by Renze Krullaars (not verified)
@Renze Krullaars
Unfortunately most ebook readers, including this one, aren't really responsive with anything other than actually reading, e.g. flipping pages.
While many ebook readers advertise Android OS and the Google Play Store, in real world those apps you install usually perform with lag.
Some of the issues you mention will take some time to get used to. E.g. Typing and the tablet missing key strokes. For me, sometimes it's the keystrokes are registered too slowly.
Hello, is this e-reader large
Hello, is this e-reader large enough to comfortably read color magazines in PDF format? if scrolling is neceassary for pdf magazine reading, can it be done at least comfortably, without much frustration due to lagging?
@andrean
In reply to Hello, is this e-reader large by andrean (not verified)
@andrean
For PDFs, I recommend display size that's 10 inch or larger. Because text in PDF is fixed and cannot be re-sized. On a small tablet, PDF text will be small and 8-inch is a small tablet.
There will also likely be lag with PDF reading.
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