Boox teased the Picco, its version of the popular Xteink X4 e-reader, in July, but provided almost no details. Now, thanks to some reports from IFA, we have a little more information, although unfortunately there is no price yet. Unlike the Xteink devices, the Picco won’t have magnets on the back to connect it to a phone. The 3.97-inch e-paper display, however, will be touch-enabled, which The Verge’s Andrew Liszewski called a “welcome upgrade” on the X4 Pro. The Picco has physical page-turn buttons and they can be customized with different actions for short and long presses. There is apparently no built-in storage and it relies entirely on a microSD card to store books. But in addition to adding files to the card, you can transfer reading material to the Picco directly via USB-C (which the Xteink devices lack) or even WiFi from a companion app. The Picco won’t run Android, like Boox’s other devices, and will instead run a stripped-down Linux-based operating system. The company includes a handful of additional apps like a timer, to-do list, and reading statistics tracker. But Boox is unlikely to open up its firmware like Xteink has, so it could be a less hackable and customizable device. There are still a few things we don’t know, such as price, battery life, Bluetooth support, or whether it will include an audiobook player. But everything should be revealed in November, when it is expected to be released.
