Boox is expected to launch its Picco e-reader in November, offering a compact alternative to the increasingly popular Xteink X4 range. The device has a 3.97-inch touchscreen e-paper display and physical page-turn buttons, although its price has not yet been announced.
The Picco was first teased by Boox in July, but details have since emerged from the IFA technology show. Unlike Xteink’s devices, it will not feature magnets on its rear for attaching it to a smartphone.
Its physical buttons can be customised, with separate actions available for short and long presses. The touchscreen is another notable addition, giving the Picco a more flexible control system than the X4 Pro.
Boox has not included built-in storage. Books will instead be stored on a microSD card, while files can also be transferred directly through the device’s USB-C port or over Wi-Fi using a companion app.
The Boox Picco will not run Android, as many of the company’s larger e-readers do. It will use a stripped-back Linux-based operating system with a small selection of extra tools, including a timer, a to-do list and reading statistics.
That simpler software could make the device less open to modification than Xteink’s readers, whose firmware can be customised by users. Boox has not indicated that it plans to make the Picco’s firmware similarly accessible.
Further details, including battery life, Bluetooth support and whether the e-reader will support audiobooks, remain unknown. The company is expected to reveal those specifications alongside the Picco’s launch in November.
