URL for the crowdfunding: https://www.crowdsupply.com/oddly-specific-objects/open-book-touch
Specs:
- Display: 4.26" e-paper touchscreen, 480 × 800 px, warm + cool frontlight
- Processor: ESP32-S3 dual-core, Wi-Fi + Bluetooth LE
- Memory: 16 MB flash, 8 MB PSRAM
- Formats: EPUB and plain text, no DRM
- Storage: microSD card slot
- Interface: USB-C with integrated LiPo charging
- Dimension: 78 × 120 × 10 mm, about 85 g
- Open source: MIT-licensed firmware, open hardware (to be released at shipping)
It also has a replaceable 800 mAh battery, I found it cool :)
Can’t be cheap being a crowdfunded product, but not expensive either. The biggest turn-away I can see is the small screen. Most e-ink readers nowadays start at 6". A 4.x" screen will lose a considerable chunk of potential backers.
I love physical buttons and switches, I don’t like an e-reader without page buttons.
This. I don’t see why “no buttons” is supposed to be appealing? I’d much prefer only buttons, no touchscreen.
MIT licenced firmware… Another bunch of libertarian kids who don’t know better.
Like they don’t know everyone likes buttons, specially page turn buttons,
I only vaguely remember hearing nerds debating between the GPL licenses and MIT, way back when…What makes the MIT license libertarian?
4" screen and 16MB flash is a joke. Ebooks are small, but not that small. Considering how many used, end of life Kindles there are out there stuck on old easily jailbroken firmware, I don’t see why anyone would ever choose this as an alternative. The software for jailbroken Kindles is incredibly mature and at the point of “just works”. E-ink technology hasn’t progressed much in the past ten years, so you really don’t miss out on anything by buying a $30 used one.
Edit: just realized it has micro SD support. So my storage concerns are invalid. It’s still incredibly clunky looking though, a 1cm thick device with only a 4" screen sure is something. My eyes probably couldn’t handle it even with the largest font.
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4" screen?!
Why is it buttonless??? We like physical buttons, how are we supposed to turn it on/off??? This is just confusing lol
I think they mean no buttons on the front. Something lime Kindle Paperwhite 10th gen I have used. You can see power button on the side when you look at the pictures in the article.
Ah ok then thats good :3
The replaceable battery is definitely a requirement for me moving forwards on all new tech I purchase.
while it’s nice, i’d argue e-readers use so little battery that even the default should last for at least a decade, but having it is awesome for sure.
Generally great idea, but the screen size invalidates it for me. Hope they’re successful enough to launch a 2nd round with a 6"+ screen
$150 for ESP32-S3? Are you serious? My first e-book in ~2008 was much more powerful.
It sounds like most of the price is going towards the screen. Apparently sourcing e-ink screens isn’t trivial.
ESP32-S3 seems rather properly sized computing power -wise for this kind of device. And it’s quite low-power as well.
Granted there are some tasks where even this kind device could use some computing, like extracting, indexing and rendering pdfs.
The specs vs the price does match up.
🏴☠️
Why is buttonless a selling point?
Not trying to be snarky, genuinely wondering.
