With every new gadget that’s launched it’s all about how big and bright the screen is, how many pixels it packs in and how defined a dot on it can be. Never mind the fact that not many people actually put high-def screens to apt use. Most people just browse or read on a “regular” tablet and seldom notice the lack of eye-popping vividness. Sometime this whole brighter-than-you business can reach heights that make you believe it’s all marketing propaganda. Or it might be that all the buzz around it might even convince you to switch to the ‘brighter’ side, regardless of whether you really need it or not.

It’s refreshing then to see that a bunch of companies are aiming to keep things simple with old-school monochromatic displays, while still keeping up with all the functionalities of their coloured counterparts. But, before we delve into which ones these are, let’s have a look at what the advantages of a monochromatic display might be.

Advantages Black-and-white displays are the perfect middle ground for bibliophiles who might be turning a blind eye to digital devices. More and more of them are slowly switching to the digital platform, allured by the simplistic, monochromes of an e-reader. With the impression of originality intact, it becomes easier to treat that new gadget as a stepping stone rather than an adversary to your reading habits. The only downside to this might be that illustrations and graphics might seem livelier in colour than they do in black and white. So a lot of magazines, destination guides, cookbooks, comic strips or even textbooks might just seem dull and boring on a monochrome display. But, if you’d rather be buried in the deep, black and white prose of Poe to Palahniuk, then colourless is the way to go.

Considering how much time we tend to spend on your gadgets these days, it’s a good thing we have the option of something being devoid of colours. Glancing at a device for hours on end can really tire your eyes, as most of us by know now too well. Reading on a tablet for more than an hour or so, no matter how low the brightness has been set to, can result in undue stress on your eyesight and even slight headaches in some cases. Here, electronic ink totally scores over LCD displays. Your eyes will thank you for choosing a black-and-white display which isn’t as much of a strain on the eyes as an HD display might be.

Building a monochromatic display into a device automatically means it becomes a lot more affordable than your brand new high-def tablet or smartphone. Chances are you’ll be able to afford one without having to grudgingly let go of two months’ savings.

This display also lends itself to very low power consumption and can go for days, if not weeks, without the need to be plugged in to recharge. Now, how many colour devices can you choose to say that about?

Negatives One of the downsides is the fact that e-ink has a much slower refresh rate on dev ices, which means it take slightly longer to render text or an image on the page. While most of us are used to swiping, scrolling and pinching away to glory on a colour display such as a tablet or a smartphone, a monochrome device the likes of a Kindle Paperwhite falls short in these aspects. Even integral experiences such as web browsing and using apps or games take a beating with monochrome devices, and consequently affect the overall user interface, when it comes to anything apart from reading. Well, bibliophiles, for one, aren’t complaining.

Options If you’re considering getting yourself some colourless candy this year here are a few options. The already-launched Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is a great option to go for if you’re looking for a black-and-white device where nothing stands between you and your favourite titles. A gadget in-the-making is the YotaPhone which sports two displays – one of which is monochromatic. Depending on which app you’re using it can imprint the data from the main colour screen on to the e-ink screen. For example, if you need to refer to a map time and again, the e-ink display will save it for you to view so you don’t have to deplete battery life by looking at the colour screen time and again.

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