Technology@lemmy.worldbyFirmDistribution@lemmy.world
1 day

A $150 Buttonless, Open Hardware Answer to Kindle is being crowdfunded by Open Book Touch

itsfoss.com English

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/49429587

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 :)

83
    Open Book Touch is Crowdfunding: A Buttonless, Open Hardware Answer to Kindle
    itsfoss.com
    It's $149, runs on an ESP32-S3, and skips DRM entirely and lets you skip the Kindle ecosystem.
    • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1 day

      Why buttonless? I like buttons.

      Heck, a scroll wheel would be a killer feature so I don’t smudge the screen with my disgusting oils

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1 day

        Buttons and scroll wheels cost more than touchscreens at this point… 90s me wanted touchscreens on everything, and me since maybe 2015? has been firmly “bring back buttons”

        …whenever they started replacing useful things that SHOILD be buttons always (car) with touch things. Absolutely not bueno.

        • oats@piefed.zipEnglish
          1 day

          My kobo has a power button, and two page turn buttons and its perfect for my needs.

          Seriously, I have 4 (5 if you count the ancient kindle DX) ereaders, and the kobo is the only one I use. Will never again buy one without buttons

            • oats@piefed.zipEnglish
              22 hours

              Hard, no. Uncomfortable, yes.

              I’m really not looking to move my fingers much when I read. What am I supposed to do, rest my finger on the display so I can turn the page and skip 15 words per page?

      • Pantrygheist@programming.devEnglish
        1 day

        I read on a kindle on my bed before going to sleep, and everytime I stretch or turn over the font size changes or it advances a couple of pages. It’s slowly driving me insane.

        • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          1 day

          Yes, but my point was that it was stated in a way like a feature being touted as opposed just a statement of fact, Maybe my impression was wrong, but “buttonless” immediately put me off from the device.

      • Allero@lemmy.todayEnglish
        1 day

        Because buttons take space, reducing space available for the screen that has, well, the book.

        The good sensor is the answer, IMO. I only wonder how should it turn on and off, then.

        • oats@piefed.zipEnglish
          1 day

          Having a space with no display where I can actually hold the reader makes it so much better, for me

          • Allero@lemmy.todayEnglish
            1 day

            Sure. But would that be convenient?

            I hold nothing against buttons if people really want them, but many others would just prefer a larger touchscreen, and this seems to be the target audience here.

            • Nate Cox@programming.devEnglish
              1 day

              Yes. Buttons on the sides are awesome. The Kobo libre ergonomics are fantastic even for troll-handed people like myself.

        • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          1 day

          I think it is definitely a matter of preference. I dislike touchscreens in general for user interfaces. I previous ereader used a touchscreen and swiping to turn pages and I absolutely hated it. I was glad to get back to having buttons to control pages as well as settings.

      • HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish
        1 day

        yeah I like buttons and connectors. You can put plenty without making a chunky device.

        • hash@slrpnk.netEnglish
          1 day

          Security on android ereaders is definitely disappointing. My Boox palma 2 only supports pins, not passwords. And unfortunately I don’t think a pure eink would work for me. The xteink has me curious if you could make firmware to “leech” off grapheneOS’ security by doing something like an SMB share to avoid having potentially pirated books unencrypted.

          What I’d personally love to see is an X4 sized device with NFC, wireless charging, and Lora for meshtastic.

        • flandish@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1 day

          got an x3 this week. love that i can keep it in my little shirt pocket, etc. reading more already vs scrolling. buttons for the win, really. the bezel left right and top are, imho, perfect.

          • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            1 day

            The x3 is actually slightly newer too, but I was already wary of the 4" size so I went for the x4. It ended up being just fine though.

            • flandish@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1 day

              yeah. my x3 seems to fit fine in my notebook holder next to my 3x5 craft paper notebooks. or shirt pocket. i might change to x4 once they start shipping again but i have already read a bunch on the 3 … its size may work out fine. i daily carry an iphone 15 the small one… and i think thats similar in size to the x4?

              • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                1 day

                The x4 is smaller than any semi-recent smartphone I am familiar with, but maybe. The x4 is smaller than a 3x5 card, so this has me doubting that the x3 is truly smaller.

        • oats@piefed.zipEnglish
          1 day

          Read so much about that thing. Make it 100$, give it a backlight and WiFi and I’ll buy three…

          • BigPotato@lemmy.worldEnglish
            23 hours

            Why not add the backlight without making it $100? It already has WiFi (and a separate worm light if the mood strikes).

            • oats@piefed.zipEnglish
              22 hours

              I’m fine with it being cheaper as long as it has a backlight lol

              Its an essential feature for me, just saying of it would make the device more expensive, so be it

        • Creat@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          1 day

          That’s also a rather massive price difference what seems to be similar devices?

          • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            1 day

            I’m impressed for the price, but no way would I have considered paying $150 for it. I was concerned about the size, but I already finished a book on it and it was perfectly fine.

      • Kjell@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1 day

        I wouldn’t mind if my phone was 4,2" but I want a bigger screen for reading books. Like the size of A5 or even A4 paper.

    • kkj@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1 day

      Why would you pay $150 for a 4.26" ESP32- based eReader when you could get a 4.26" ESP32-based eReader for $70 or less? The XTEink X4 is already available.

      • bobbysixkiller@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1 day

        I recently picked up an Xteink X4 for $55. Flashed the Crosspoint firmware on it. Crosspoint just works and has no bloat. I love being able to set the device and send books via the self-hosted web interface. Sending books via wifi from Calibre works too.

        Buttons on the reader are nice. I actually prefer not having a touchscreen for something so small. I do wish it had a front light though. This turned out to be the less-expensive-non-Android-just-an-ereader alternative to Boox that I was searching for. Loving it so far.

      • Grass@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1 day

        I’d be inclined to get the cheaper one and port the firmware if the new one is better, or someone else will almost certainly make a new one that takes the best features of both.

    • lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1 day

      I flashed my Kobo and have a pretty similar experience now. Except with a decent size screen.

      • YoiksAndAway@piefed.zipEnglish
        1 day

        I’ve had a Kobo Clara BW for about 2 years. I use it almost every day and I love it. I think it was about $140 when I bought it. They go for $160 now, but I think the bigger screen makes it a better buy than this e-reader. I love crowd-funded projects, but Kobo is a better option, imho.

        • NOPper@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          1 day

          The point of this one is that it’s open source. There’s a subset of us that find projects like this worth the extra money.

          • lIlIlIlIlIlIl@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1 day

            Obviously, but the point is if the screen is a postage stamp is this actually moving the needle?

            Not sure where this fits nor for whom

    • wewbull@feddit.ukEnglish
      1 day

      I’m looking for an open source ReMarkable alternative. A4 sized preferably. Any options out there?

    • Mystech@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1 day

      If they are targeting the tiny ebook reader niche, they’re going to have to do better on features and pricing than the upcoming refresh of the XTEINK devices.

      • foggenbooty@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1 day

        But XTEINK is actively working to combat the flashing of open source software. It seems they had a spike in sales and interest due to their affordable hardware, but if they continue to lock aftermaket software out tech savvy people will be looking for different options.

      • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1 day

        Exactly, I just got a 4" model and it was 1/3 this price and has buttons and also had better open source firmware I could load on it.

      • kkj@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1 day

        They aren’t even doing better than the current generation. Their version is more than double the price of the X4 and has the same screen and SoC.

    • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      1 day

      Damn, at 10mm thickness that’s a chubby little SOB, nearly twice as fat as my leaf 2. And with a tiny 4.26" screen on top of that, yikes…I love my 7" screen, I’d hate to read on a screen smaller than that.

        • ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          1 day

          I’ve found the 6mm thickness is perfect for my hands, granted I have a medium-sized male hand and not a huge grappler. 10mm thickness is a little too thick IMO for a nice feeling, but not a deal breaker. The very small screen is a definite deal breaker for me though.

    • slickgoat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1 day

      But can you get books to read on it? I suspect that these gadgets will get locked out of the market by the thugs.

      • partofthevoice@lemmy.zipEnglish
        1 day

        These gadgets were locked into the market, locked out of everything else. Usually, how these things go, the community version supplies interfaces for downloading content from third parties.

        Lock the gadgets out all they want. That’ll only make more interest around having all the popular new books available on platforms that thugs can’t control.

    • mesa@piefed.socialEnglish
      1 day

      If anyone wants to see the old project: https://hackaday.io/project/192688-the-open-book

      Its been around for a bit. The newest iteration looks like its trying to be more like kindle.

      GH page: https://github.com/joeycastillo/The-Open-Book

      I forget where but the developer goes over the cost of the physical hardware a couple of years ago somewhere. Its kinda expensive to make your own open source ebook reader from mostly scratch.

      I like this version: https://www.oddlyspecificobjects.com/projects/openbook/

    • mesa@piefed.socialEnglish
      1 day

      Very similar to https://diptyx.dev/

      But its been around longer. Software looks really good for an esp32. Im hoping we see more of these open source ebook readers pop up.

      • kkj@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1 day

        Ooh, I like the clamshell design. Most people seem to use a flip cover for their eReaders anyway, may as well put a screen in it. 3Ah of battery is also a huge upgrade compared to the OP’s 800mAh or the XTEink X4’s 650mAh.

        • mesa@piefed.socialEnglish
          1 day

          Nice, glad you like the design. I do too.

          I think in theory it would be easier to repair. But it is 250 which is quite a bit.

          Ill know in a couple months!