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.

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 :)

    • AlteredEgo@lemmy.mlEnglish
      44·
      2 months ago

      If you’re honestly asking, one thing I just read is that you need an account to use it. Not sure if that is a downside for many.

      • PerogiBoi@lemmy.caEnglish
        41·
        2 months ago

        Kobo does not need any account to use. Out of the popular mainstream eReaders, it is one of the most open. You can add non-drm ebooks to it without any issues unlike the Kindle.

        I’ve been using send.djazz.se to wirelessly transfer books to my Kobo, as well as the open source Calibre program on my laptop.

        No accounts required.

        • AlteredEgo@lemmy.mlEnglish
          31·
          2 months ago

          “I just read this” in a review of someone very upset about requiring an account, while the signup server was offline over Christmas. I’m very sorry I came off so “confidently”, I thought writing “I read this” is a reasonable indication that this is second hand knowledge not first hand. Hearsay in a court of public opinion you could say. I guess this confidence is just my natural charisma which is my undoing again lol

          It might also be that this is only true for the regional distributor in my country. I suspect my country is the original inventor of enshittification.

      • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        You do?

        I reset one recently, I would have thought that the account would have been reset like the rest. Anyway it works fine with my calibre archive.