Bigme’s new HiBreak S takes a no-nonsense swing at the minimalist phone market, pairing a readable E Ink display with full voice-calling support and a price that undercuts rivals.
Where the Palma 2 Pro leans into aesthetics while skipping traditional telephony, the HiBreak S behaves like a real phone, and it does so for hundreds less than many specialty devices.
The headline feature is basic but crucial: dual-SIM with 4G LTE. You can use it to place and receive standard voice calls without hacks or VoIP workarounds.
That alone will sway buyers who liked the Palma 2 Pro’s form factor but balked at its limited connectivity. Bigme is positioning the HiBreak S as a daily driver for people who want fewer distractions, not fewer phone features. The phone runs Android 14 with Google Play baked in, meaning mainstream apps, secure updates, and frictionless setup. While the Palma 2 Pro was known for touting Android 15, the lack of full voice calling is the bigger practical gap for most users who require reliable carrier service.
E Ink display, battery life, and core hardware details
A 5.84-inch E Ink Kaleido 3 panel is the star of the show, available in monochrome and colorful flavors. The matte coating reduces glare, and the 36-level frontlight with adjustable color temperature lets you pick a warm yellow for late-night reading and cool blue for pure sunlight. The text is sharper, the colors are more subdued, and liquid-y animations are out—hell, that is E Ink’s job. E Ink Holdings has sold reflective displays based on eye comfort and power saving efficiencies. These virtues also measure in their entirety here: fewer headaches out of the battery than an LCD, for one, and a diversified palette that doesn’t blank out in direct sunlight. If you read more than doom-scroll, that tradeoff is worth it.
Bigme combines 6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage and maintains the microSD slot alive for an extra 1TB. A 3,300 mAh cell battery sounds small but goes much longer when E Ink is part of the equation—it’s Android’s software optimization and showmanship. On average use, like reading, messaging, calling, you are certainly taking an all-out day at work.
The camera setup is real-world: a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP selfie shooter tailored for scanning. Consider tickets, notes, and contracts. Combine this with OCR apps available on the Google Play Store, and HiBreak S is tailor-made for students and professionals digitizing work while on the go, if not video.
Pricing and value versus specialty minimalist phones
Beyond connectivity, the HiBreak S hits a sweet spot on price. The monochrome model starts at $249, while the color version lands at $279. This is one of the most affordably priced color E Ink phones.
Putting that into perspective: The Palma 2 Pro’s expensive image is harder to justify when consumers get that and calling together costs less. The value equation is straightforward for many buyers: calling plus E Ink at less cost wins.
This is also in the midst of a broader desire to be more thoughtful about the devices. As Gitte Bendzulla writes about a light phone moment for young people, firms like Counterpoint Research have highlighted the rise of simple and light phones.
GSMA Intelligence continues to prove to the world that its 4G basics are lined up: strong and simple devices serve regular needs.
Who the HiBreak S is for
- Commuters who read
- Knowledge workers dealing with documents
- Students organizing PDFs
- Anyone else who wants fewer notifications but needs phones — not gamers and video-first users
Bottom line on the HiBreak S
The bottom line: the most egregious gap in the E Ink phone market gets solved at a lower price with the HiBreak S. It’s not about speed, nor is it about display specs, it is merely about a phone, a device for the rest of the day that Palma 2 Pro buyers wanted.
