The Moaan Plus (available on AliExpress and from other dropshipping marketplaces) also sports an e-ink display in a similar size, is significantly cheaper, and just as functional as a single-purpose e-reader device. Just takes a bit of tweaking to overcome the initially chinese-only interface and sideload a replacement keyboard (the default one is horrendous) and e-reader apps.
I bought a Moaan Plus to see if it would work for me - basically, is a phone-sized eInk ebook reader something I'd keep using?
3 months on: I love this little thing and carry it everywhere. Although it's just slightly smaller than my Pixel 8 Pro, it feels close to weightless. It's small and light enough that I can just drop it in a pocket and head out for the day, then pull it out and read when I'm e.g. waiting in a supermarket queue. I find it hard to imagine a better form factor for reading in these types of ad-hoc situations that come up several times a day.
Battery life is fine - given how I use it, I drop it on a charger for a few minutes each day and it never goes flat. No idea how many days the battery would last if I didn't do that, but I don't use it the same way as I use my 7" ebook reader so it's not a concern.
Similarly although it's notionally an Android tablet, I don't think it would work as a replacement for a typical tablet or phone. FWIW, I currently have 700+ apps installed on my Pixel 8 Pro, and just 6 on the Moaan Plus:
- F-Droid (essentially a replacement for the Google Play store)
- KOReader, which meets all my reading needs in combination with Calibre on laptop and Wallabag
- Koofr, so I can access all my ebooks whenever I can sync via an Internet connection
- Markor, for capturing notes in Markdown
- DuckDuckGo, because eventually I'll need a browser at some point
- Simple Keyboard, to replace the supplied Chinese keyboard app which is useless to me
Downsides of the device:
- it's Android 11, which may or may not be a concern for you (given how I use it, it's not a concern for me)
- no Google Play, so you're going to have to install software from somewhere else. F-Droid is a pretty good substitute, but doesn't have all the apps you might want. The big one missing for me is Zotero, which I'd love to have on this device
- no fingerprint or facial recognition, which would concern me if this thing didn't live in my pocket 99% of the time
Upsides:
- it's small enough that you can carry it with you anywhere, and close to weightless compared to a phone. If you're someone who reads a lot, this can be a game changer as you can carry a bunch of books in just about any situation
- it's about half the price of a Boox Palma
- 2Gb RAM and 64Gb of storage, more than enough for ebooks
- fast enough
- eInk screen, which is way easier on the eyes than reading on a LCD screen
- limited set of features, which means I'm not tempted to install more apps on it to try to make it do more than I need
