E Ink monitors aren’t for the mass market. Rather, they serve a niche segment, and Bigme has done a great job in addressing the needs of the select group who are likely to buy the monitor. It does not come cheap either, which makes it all the more important to find out how much bang it can give for your buck. Read on to get the whole story.
Style and Build
The 25.3-inch Kaleido 3 display makes a big and bold statement. The Kaleido 3 display this big looks really nice. Built quality isn’t the best in class but is still par for the course. Since this is a device that remains stationed on a surface and does not require handling on a personal level, as you would do with an E Ink tablet or an e-reader, you aren’t likely to run into any issues with the monitor’s build quality.
The monitor remains stable and planted with the whole package being quite confidence-inspiring. A nice thing with the monitor is that its orientation can be changed from portrait to landscape and it can be done with just the nudge of the fingers. No great deal of effort is needed to do that. Everything you will need to host the monitor is provided within the box. You also get a ton of cables to take care of almost any scenario you might run into while using the monitor.
Specifically, the cables that the monitor comes bundled with include:
- HDMI to USB-C
- HDMI to HDMI (2 sets)
- HDMI to Mini HDMI
- USB-C
- USB-B
- AC Adapter
- Wall Plug
- Remote
Similarly, ports that the monitor comes with include:
- USB-C
- HDMI
- Mini HDMI
- Display Port
- Three USB-A ports
- USB-B
- Power connection
Among the usage scenarios, Bigme envisages the B251 monitor can be put into include daily office work, programming, and web browsing. Apart from these, the monitor can be of use in the education segment where teachers and students alike can benefit from the monitor. Those who suffer from dry eye issues can also benefit immensely from the e-paper display.
The display
This happens to be one of the most important things for a device that classifies as a monitor. Anyone out to buy a monitor is likely to spend more time checking the display specs (and the ports) more than anything else. And the Bigme B251 does not disappoint in this respect. The 25.3-inch of Kaleido 3 goodness together with the super-fast refresh technology takes user experience to a whole new level.
Coming to hard-core specs, the display has a 3,200 x 1,800 resolution, a 300 PPI pixel density in black and white mode, and a 150 PPi pixel density when viewing colored stuff. However, while the above holds true with any Kaleido 3 panel, what makes the real difference is the use of Bigme’s xRapid refresh technology. This ensures fluid transition which ensures zero lag times and ghosting being almost non-existent. Anything that you type gets reflected on the display instantly.
Another incredible feature of the monitor is that almost its entire functioning is via plug-and-play support. That makes the monitor extremely easy to set up and use. It supports Wireless Screen Mirroring tech, which means anything that you have on the connected device such as a tablet or a smartphone gets reflected on the monitor right away.
Further, the presence of adjustable warm and cold lighting ensures you can tailor the display according to your preferences as well as the ambient light present around the monitor. You can also adjust the image quality as you deem fit. Just connect to a PC or any supporting computing device and you are ready to go. The display isn’t flush with the surrounding bezels that are done up in a matte white finish.
Conclusion
The monitor is built with mid-range plastics and it seems there isn’t a whole lot of care that has gone into its making. The Basin stand is of course built quite well but that’s kind of where it begins and ends. The monitor has several buttons on the side that are almost unreadable due to it being light gray on white
That said, the performance of the monitor is pretty good, but we are a little desensitized nowadays because both the Onyx Mira Pro and Dasung PaperLike 253 seem to be pound-for-pound equal when it comes to refresh speeds. The colors are decently vibrant and work under numerous lighting conditions
There’s also a handy little remote you can utilize to interact with the device remotely, of course. Outside of that it’s not necessarily breaking any ground and the price is not exactly appealing
Bigme B251
$1,549.99Pros
- Kaleido 3
- 25.3 inch screen
- Dedicated Monitor
- Lots of ports
- Fast and responsive
Cons
- Mouse input is slow
- Extremely expensive
- Mid-range build quality
- Confusing due to the release of the all-in-one PC alongside it
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
