The subsequent large Kindle rival has a ...

With regards to e-readers, Amazon’s lineup of Kindle devices leads in reputation as a consequence of their affordability and ease of use. Nonetheless, Amazon’s Kindles have their flaws, notably as a consequence of their closed ecosystem. To get the perfect expertise by way of customization, apps, and studying choices on a Kindle, customers usually resort to jailbreaking it.

Should you’re on the lookout for an E Ink gadget just like a Kindle, however that gives extra freedom, there are a number of alternatives out there, similar to gadgets from Kobo and Boox. However now a brand new participant has entered the scene, and it is the primary to do one thing no different E Ink gadget has finished earlier than.

Viwoods lately launched the Viwoods AiPaper Reader, which is the primary E Ink gadget to ship with Android 16 proper out of the field, Google’s newest Android replace. This implies it ought to be suitable with extra apps from the Google Play Retailer than different E Ink gadgets that run on older variations of Android, and it ought to be supported with updates for an extended interval.

The Viwoods AiPaper Reader incorporates a black-and-white 6.13-inch Carta 1300 E Ink show with a decision of 824 x 1648 pixels. Just like the Kindle Paperwhite, it has a front-lit display screen that makes studying simpler at any time of day. The design of the AiPaper reader is extra just like an iPhone than a Kindle, with Viwoods saying it may be “effortlessly carried” and “slip into any pocket or bag.” The gadget weighs solely 138g and is 6.7mm thick, making it fairly slim and light-weight.

The Viwoods AiPaper Reader is $280

It has a devoted AI button, which helps ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or DeepSeek

Credit score: Viwoods

The Viwoods AiPaper Reader is now out there on Amazon and priced at $280, which is $120 greater than the Kindle Paperwhite, which is recurrently priced at $160. Nonetheless, the AiPaper Reader does have notable specs below the hood that might make the value differential worthwhile to you, together with a 6nm octa-core processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, a 2,580mAh battery, Wi-Fi 2.4G and 5G, and Bluetooth 5.1. It additionally helps data-only SIM playing cards, which let you get a 4G connection on the go.

It additionally helps a wide range of doc codecs, together with PDF, EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, and EPUB3. It additionally helps 4 totally different picture codecs: PNG, JPG, BMP, and TIFF.

Because the title suggests, it additionally helps AI fashions, together with ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and DeepSeek, and it has a bodily AI button on the aspect you should utilize to summon certainly one of these fashions to ask it questions.

The primary underlying characteristic of the Viwoods AiPaper Reader is little question its help for Android 16. Whereas there are different e-readers that run Android, none of them run Android 16 but, so it ought to have the higher hand by way of characteristic help and app compatibility. Viwoods notes that Android 16 offers its e-reader entry to a “big selection of third-party studying apps and books.” Nonetheless, it stays to be seen how well-optimized the gadget is for Android 16 and the way the interface seems with a black-and-white E Ink show.

The AiPaper Reader is not the primary E Ink gadget Viwoods has made. It is usually a pill lineup that includes two fashions, the Viwoods AiPaper and AiPaper Mini, each of which include a stylus, making them extra just like the Kindle Scribe.