Very small e-readers are all the rage right now. Boox, no stranger to reading tech, has just put its 3.97in Picco reader up for pre-order. This only applies, right now, if you order from Boox directly, but it’ll also wind up on Amazon soon. If even that is too far out of your comfort zone, the R1,800 ($110) reader will probably get here… eventually.
As with competitor models, this sub-4in reader will slip into just about any pocket. It’ll also live on the back of a smartphone, so you don’t lose it in the depths of a laptop bag. Said smartphone will have to support MagSafe, or you could install a compatible case that’ll let it take up that useless real estate.
Picco your favourite book
The Boox Picco, like similarly sized readers, is billed as being about the size of a playing card. That’s possibly rough on the eyes, if you’re used to dense text. It’s also a way to get your reading in wherever you are… without toting around a separate, full-sized device. It won’t solve the world’s literacy problem, but it does make seething at George R. R. Martin never releasing The Winds of Winter while you reread A Storm of Swords that much easier.
The 3.97in 480 x 800px touchscreen ePaper display suits all-text use well. Boox has stuffed, somehow, an adjustable light behind the Picco’s screen. Sure, you’ve got to manually activate the light, but that’s handy in its own way. It’ll help you make the most of the 920mAh battery, for starters. Storage is handled by an included 16GB microSD, but you can probably swap that out if you’re voracious.
It’s impressive enough for a 58-gram device, but it’s more than just a digital book. There’s also a Pomodoro timer, a to-do list function (which is genuinely handy if you’re pairing this with a phone), and side-mounted page-turn buttons on the right-hand edge. There’s (obviously) no waterproofing, but it’ll handle basically any format, including Amazon’s proprietary book formats. Plus EPUB, MOBI, HTML, and other common book formats. PDF is missing from the list, but those tend not to scale down well anyway. That’s not a reason to skip this one.
Pre-orders are currently live, but you’ll have some extra shipping admin to contend with. On the other hand, if you’re not interested in importing, either from Boox directly or from Amazon, the lineup is available in South Africa. You’ll just have to wait until the Picco makes landfall.
