Bigme Galy Review: Color E-Ink Revolution or 700$ wasted?

After I had a first look at the Bigme Galy a couple of weeks ago, it’s time for the full review.
This is the very first REAL color E-Ink tablet with E-Ink Gallery 3 screen technology. I say real, because this one is using colored E-Ink particles, which have some notable advantages over the Kaleido 3 screen technology, which is “only” using an RGB layer on top of a regular black and white E-Ink screen.
More on that in a second.
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🔗 LINKS
► Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C (affiliate): geni.us/9mV3
🎬 CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
01:06 Build quality & specs
03:26 E-Ink Gallery 3, frontlight & the color green
07:18 Android 11 & UI issues
08:17 Laserpointer pen & screen latency
10:13 Notetaking
11:04 E-Book-functions
11:34 PDF- & CBR/CBZ-functions
12:33 Battery life & drain
14:00 Conclusion & Recommendation
🖖WHO AM I
I'm Chalid, and I've been a fan of e-ink technology for a very long time. I've been reviewing e-ink devices since 2010. After more than 100 different e-reader tests for my German website, this channel is dedicated to sharing my experiences with the latest e-readers, other e-paper devices, and sometimes other tech in English as well.
🔗 DISCLAIMER/DISCLOSURE
The tips, tricks and experiences shared are for guidance only; any actions taken based on these are solely at your own risk. Some links in the description contain affiliate links, which means that if you buy something through these links, I will receive a small commission on a purchase at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you so much for supporting the channel.
🔖 TAGS
E-Ink Kaleido 3, E-Ink Kaleido, Boox Tab Ultra C, Color E-Ink Tablet, E-Ink Tablet, Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C, Bigme Galy, Bigme Galy Color Tablet, Color E-Ink, E-Ink Gallery 3, Gallery 3, E-Ink 3
#bigme #eink #ereader

[@EduardoRubioLogan]

Pros : Good colors Cons : Really everything else Unfortunately it was a waste of money I was a kickstarter supported and got the extra pen and folio case etc etc, ended up selling it at a loss in FB marketplace, super slow in all modes, battery is awful, support is very slow. Now I have the Boox Note Air 3C ... Battery is still bad but usage is waaay better Awesome video btw

[@denismalinovskiy3914]

Thank you for the adequate review. It seems that even E Ink itself doesn't promote this product much and it has more of an experimental reputation. There's a Sharp product demo, but after at least an year of waiting, it still remains a demo. Pocketbook postponed its Viva indefinitely, so there should be some production or development issues on E Ink's end.

[@samuelvarga3223]

Hi, will you take a look at the Pocketbook Inkpad color 3? I love your reviews btw, keep up the good work!

[@ChalidRaqami]

Thanks - yes, I'll most likely publish the review mid/end of next week :)

[@samuelvarga3223]

@@ChalidRaqami Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it!!

[@julieparadise9694]

Thank you for this interesting review, as all you reviews are balanced and very informative! Offtopic: As much as I understand that speaking English is a lot more reasonable to reach an international audience, it would also be really nice to hear you speak in (what I imagine to be) your lovely and melodic Austrian-coloured German every once in a while. ;-)

[@kurtgodel5236]

Perish the thought!

[@slydog7131]

Some of the color fields actually looked better on the K3 screen, whereas the G3 screen could look grainy. Overall, colors did look overall more vibrant on the G3, but the slow refresh rate makes the K3 devices the better choice.

[@gLitCheRR44]

agreed, colors look better (or more natural) on kaleido

[@valeriopastore7310]

For less than $300 I can get my hands on the NXTPAPER 11 tablet, with a WAY better performance. This thing should be sold at $400, tops.

[@cooluser23]

Do you think Gallery 3 will work better once Onyx Boox adds their BSR technology to it?

[@ChalidRaqami]

Not sure about BSR and Gallery 3, but I'm certain it will get better with further optimizations from E-Ink itself. The first version of ACeP was also much slower and Gallery 3 is already much better. We even saw some improvement already on the Galy itself. So it might take a while, but I think E-Ink with colored particles are the future. I just wouldn't hold my breath and wait for it.

[@anatolitrafimuk4987]

The Bigme says: "Galy is an TabletPC." But in reality devices with Gallery 3 only can be a ereader, just for enjoy reading. I use Bigme Galy as well, and accept is as an experiment and I satisfied. But most people heard about "Tablet PC" and was dissapointed. The epaper is static images, not fast moving etc. etc. I can use Galy without backlight and read colored content. Kaleido 3 can't work witout backlight.

[@ChalidRaqami]

I agree - the option to use it without the frontlight it a huge plus and I have no doubt that this is the future of E-Ink. Hopefully the E Ink Holdings can fix the issues they were having with its production.

[@anatolitrafimuk4987]

​@@ChalidRaqami What I really need is a large size, like 10.3", black is black and not dark blue, white is white but not pale peach. I look forward to Gallery 4. Thanks for your reviews!

[@sinocelt]

Thank you for an honest review. I was interested in the Boox tablets, but their latest one came out with Android 12 at a time when Android 14 was already out, and they'll never offer a version update down the road, as evidenced by the fact that their older tablets never got one. 😕

[@slydog7131]

The CPU used in the previous ones was only licensed for Android 11, so an update just wasn't possible. They have changed the CPU which is why they can now move to Android 12.

[@sinocelt]

@@slydog7131 They moved to Android 12 when Android 14 was already out. So their brand new tablet, which came out this year, came out with an Android version that is two generations behind (2.5 years) and will be stuck with it.

[@DoubLL]

I've been using the Note Air 2+ for a few months now and I really like it. Honestly, I don't really know why I would need the new android versions; despite running Android, it's not a phone and I use just a handful of apps which all run great. I connect to the internet about once every two weeks and only ever use trusted websites and apps, so security isn't really a concern.

[@janinawalker4200]

@@slydog7131 Since you are seemingly also referring to Onyx Boox which has just moved up to Android 12 on the latest two versions, does that mean you would say the Onyx Boox is a better company to go with when buying? I am asking, as I am waiting for Onyx Boox to come out with an A4 sized Android 12 model in their best line. The only reason why this review interested me, and it is an excellent review as it is a good analysis, was because I knew the hardware on this is interesting so I needed to find out what it was like by someone who used it. Overall, I am so very glad the European court decided to force the use of replaceable batteries by 2027 as the fact these devices depend on battery power means a person would otherwise need a new device every time the battery wears out, which really is not good. That is similar to saying a person would need a new car every time the battery wore out, which in all cases is totally incorrect,

[@peacemaker9807]

It seems eink wants to disown gallery 3. Battery life issues alone might kill this thing.

[@firstnamelastname8413]

It is so blue