HANNspree is introducing a different kind of Android tablet with the Lumo, a 7.8-inch slate that uses a reflective LCD to emulate the look of paper while keeping full access to Android apps. It’s positioned squarely between a classic e-reader and a conventional tablet, aiming to deliver comfortable reading with the flexibility of Google Play. The device is available in Europe at around €369, with no U.S. release confirmed.
Instead of chasing brightness and pixel density, the Lumo prioritizes a matte, low-glare experience that’s easy on the eyes. That design choice nudges it into a growing “digital paper” category, but without the usual compromises that come with E Ink hardware.
Reflective display without E Ink technology
The Lumo’s reflective LCD relies primarily on ambient light, so text and graphics appear on a surface that looks closer to paper than glass. In sunny or fluorescent-lit environments, that means fewer reflections and less eye fatigue than you’d get from a glossy, backlit panel. There is a built-in light for low-light conditions, but the screen is designed to be read rather than to glow.
Crucially, this isn’t E Ink. The display is full color at 60 Hz, with company-quoted response times as low as 5 ms—fast enough for scrolling, sketching, and most everyday app interactions. The 1024 x 768 resolution translates to roughly 164 ppi on a 7.8-inch, 4:3 panel, which is adequate for text and diagrams but clearly tuned for reading and note-taking over high-resolution video. By comparison, many e-readers push 300 ppi for razor-sharp text but are limited to grayscale and slower refresh rates, as noted by display makers like E Ink.
That trade-off is the Lumo’s hook: it keeps the paper-like, low-glare aesthetic while maintaining the responsiveness and color range that most E Ink tablets can’t match today, particularly under rapid UI changes or animation.
Android 14 opens real app flexibility and choice
Running Android 14 with Google Play, the Lumo behaves like a regular Android tablet in all the ways that matter. Kindle, Kobo, Libby, Pocket, and other reading apps are there, as are OneNote, Evernote, Notion, and a long list of PDF editors. Web browsing and email are fully in play—useful for research-driven reading or marking up documents.
Under the hood, a MediaTek MTK8781 processor paired with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage supports everyday tasks. Connectivity is standard with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Video and gaming will run, but the screen’s resolution and reflective nature mean media consumption isn’t the Lumo’s primary mission. It’s built for long reading sessions, document review, and light productivity.
Pen input and paper-like workflow for notes
The tablet supports USI-compatible styluses for handwriting and sketching, including pressure sensitivity and palm rejection, plus an eraser button for quick edits. That matters in classrooms and meetings, where users want to annotate PDFs, jot marginalia, or mark up slides without fighting latency. The Universal Stylus Initiative has driven broad cross-device compatibility—USI pens from major PC brands often work across Chromebooks and tablets—so buyers aren’t locked into a single, proprietary pen.
Front and rear cameras with a built-in microphone cover video calls and quick document scans, rounding out a workflow that swings from reading to collaborating without leaving the device.
Performance, battery life, and key trade-offs
The 60 Hz panel and quoted 5 ms response time give the Lumo a responsiveness edge over many E Ink competitors, especially when navigating dense PDFs or scrolling web pages. Still, with a 1024 x 768 cap, this isn’t the tablet for crisp graphic design work or high-res movies.
A 3,000 mAh battery is modest by tablet standards, but the company claims around 6.5 hours of video playback, with longer endurance during primarily reading-centric use. Reflective displays can be power-efficient in bright environments since they rely less on backlighting, though they don’t approach the near-static power draw of E Ink when displaying a still page.
Price positioning and market context in Europe
At roughly €369 in Europe, the Lumo lands in the same neighborhood as digital paper devices like reMarkable 2 and Amazon’s Kindle Scribe, while differentiating on color, refresh rate, and broad app compatibility. Onyx Boox tablets also bring Android to E Ink, but they face the usual refresh and ghosting constraints inherent to electrophoretic displays.
Analyst firms such as IDC and Canalys have noted steady demand for reading and note-taking devices in education and fieldwork, even as mainstream tablet shipments fluctuate. The Lumo targets that niche with a familiar Android experience, answering a common complaint about e-readers—the limited app ecosystem—without sacrificing the low-glare comfort people seek from “paper-like” screens.
For users who live in documents, annotate constantly, or simply prefer a screen that looks like paper, the Lumo’s blend of reflective LCD and full Android support is a compelling proposition. It won’t replace a high-end media tablet, but it doesn’t try to—and that clarity is exactly what makes it interesting.
