idea is pretty simple: make an e-reader small enough to carry everywhere, but without turning it into another smartphone. It has a Carta 1300 touchscreen, physical page-turn buttons, SMARTlight, IPX4 water resistance, and supports both ebooks and audiobooks.

One thing I find particularly interesting is the focus on digital detox. It runs on Linux-based PocketBook OS, so there are no social media apps, notifications, or endless scrolling. You pick it up and there’s basically one thing to do read.

It also supports Bluetooth headphones and Text-to-Speech, so you can switch between reading and listening. There’s support for a wide range of ebook formats, Adobe/LCP DRM, and the PocketBook x Libby app for borrowing ebooks from libraries.

The battery is rated for more than a month of reading, which is obviously a very different experience from carrying another device that needs charging every day.

Curious what people here think about the idea of a smartphone-sized e-reader. Would you actually prefer something this compact over a more traditional 6–7" reader?

Hi, guys! What about something free, simple/easy and secure?

I built dropds (dropds.com), a free site for getting books from your computer or phone onto your e-reader. You upload the file in your browser and download it straight on the device through an OPDS catalog. It was made for the Xteink and should work with other readers that support OPDS catalogs, though I haven't tested those yet. With my Xteink is working fine.

How it works

1. Open dropds.com and drag your books onto the page.
2. On your reader, add an OPDS server using the address shown on screen.
3. Open the catalog, tap a book and download it.

Two kinds of rooms

• Quick: no sign-up and no password. Each book stays available for 20 minutes and is then deleted.
• Personal: lasts 7 days and holds up to 20 books. It is protected by an 8-digit password that you enter on the reader together with a username (the room code). The room is created when you upload your first book.

What else it does

• Converts PDF, DOCX, TXT, Markdown, HTML and FB2 to EPUB right in your browser. PDFs may lose some of their formatting.
• Includes a public-domain book search (Project Gutenberg) inside the reader's own catalog.
• Can hide books from the catalog once your reader has downloaded them.
• Works in Portuguese and English.

This is a test
It's an early version built by an independent developer, so expect some rough edges. That's exactly what I'm looking for: what broke, what was confusing, what's missing. Use the "Contact and suggestions" button at the bottom of the page to send a suggestion, a question or a bug report. If you leave your email, I'll reply.

A few precautions

• Only upload what you have the right to use: your own work, public-domain books, or books you bought and want on your own device.
• Files are deleted automatically and the content is not reviewed, so don't upload anything sensitive.
• Keep the password for your personal room. It is only shown in the browser that created the room.

If you give it a try, let me know how it went, even if it's just "it worked". Thank you!

p.s: of course, only works with firmware that allows you to include OPDS servers.

You can test INKacademic, my personal fork from CrossINK on GitHub (still in progress).