E-Readers are getting quite large, 6-inch devices used to be the norm, but they have slowly increased. It is standard for 7-inch and higher to be marketed by companies such as Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble. What about smaller e-readers? Many still want these since they are portable and fit in your pocket. What are the best small-sized e-readers currently available?
Onyx Boox Palma 2
The Onyx Boox Palma 2 features a 6.13″ HD Carta 1200 glass screen with a flat cover lens. The resolution is 824×1648, ensuring all your books have razor-sharp fonts. It has a flush screen, a sleek bezel design, and excellent warm lighting. A light sensor automatically adjusts the brightness depending on your environment. There is also a G-Sensor for automatic screen rotation, which is fantastic for reading in portrait or landscape mode.
Underneath the hood is an Octa-core processor, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal storage. If there is insufficient space to store your books, apps, and audiobooks, an SD card can store an additional 1TB. You can listen to or stream your favorite audiobooks, music, or podcasts with dual speakers or pair your wireless headphones or speakers via Bluetooth 5.1. Dual microphones ensure you can speak to your friends using voice communication apps. If you like to take pictures, there is a 16MP Rear Camera with LED Flash. This device also has WIFI and a USB-C port for transferring data or charging. A respectable 3,950mAh Li-ion Polymer battery powers it. The dimensions are 159 x 80 x 8.0 mm (6.3″ x 3.1″ x 0.31″) and weighs 170 g (6 oz).
The Onyx Boox Palma 2 runs Google Android 13 OS. It comes preinstalled with Google Play, where you can install millions of free and paid apps. If you like using the Kindle app for Android, Onyx has optimized it on a software level to eliminate the animated page turns and increase performance. They have also used several writing apps, such as Evernote. This makes it a good e-reader since you can sideload in your books or install apps,
Hisense Hi Read Pro
The Hisense Hi Reader features a 6.1-inch E INK Carta HD display with a resolution of 1200 x 825 and 300 PPI. The color scheme is black on the front and back. The screen is flush with the bezel and protected by a layer of glass. The Hisense logo and the Hi Reader Pro model are on the back. It has a front-lit display and warm lighting, and 36 different levels are controlled with a slider bar in the drop-down menu.
Underneath the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128 GB of internal storage. There is WIFi for surfing the web and installing apps. Bluetooth 5.0 is also included for those who like pairing wireless headphones or external speakers to listen to audiobooks, podcasts, or music. It has a single super linear speaker and dual microphones. The Hi Reader supports high-resolution audio with APTX, AAC, SPC, and LDAC at a high bit rate. There is a USB-C port for charging, and it is powered by a 4000 mAh battery. It weighs 183g, which is nice and light.
It ships with Android 11, and although it ships with Google Play, numerous resellers on Aliexpress ship it with a crack that installs Google Play and Google Play Services. If you do not buy it cracked, you can sideload it in your books or apps via the USB cable. So, it is a solid e-reader and an even better audiobook player.
Y-Ben P47L Mini
The Yiben p47L features a 4.7-inch E INK Carta display with a resolution of 960×540 and 234 PPI. It does not have a touchscreen display but has two manual page turn buttons on either side of the screen and a series of buttons on the bottom, which assist in navigation and accessing various menus and functionality. There is no front-lit display.
Underneath the hood is an RK2818 – ARM + DSP 600MHz single-core processor, 128MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage. It does not have WIFI or Bluetooth, but it does have a Micro-USB port for transferring data. It is powered by an 800 mAh battery. You will have to sideload your books on this device; luckily, it supports PDF, EPUB, TXT, DJVU, HTML, RTF, FB2, DOC, MOBI, CHM, and PRC. This device has an English option for languages. It does not run Android or Linux but uses an operating system called Ucos. The bright and bubbly UI makes selecting various UI elements super easy.
You have to sideload in your books on this one since it doesn’t support apps. Luckily, it supports many formats and is cheap, so it is a no-brainer.
Bigme Hibreak Pro
The Bigme Hibreak Pro is the world’s most potent E-ink smartphone. It destroys everything else on the market, which isn’t saying much. The big selling points are the 6.13-inch Carta 1200 display, which keeps things high resolution and page turns fast, the Dimensity Octa-core, 2.4GHz processor, and all the different speed modes.
The HiBreak Pro comes with a 6.13-inch E INK Carta 1200 e-paper display with a resolution of 824 x 1648 and 300 PPI. The device’s color scheme is white, and the screen is slightly sunken and is not protected by a layer of glass. The rear has a nice leather-like finish but does little to alleviate the overall plastic feel the build is all about. Bigme said the display offers zero blue light and zero flickering, which makes it highly safe for the eyes. The front light feature offers 36-level warm and cold dual temperature controls for comfortable reading in external lighting. A light sensor is at the top to adjust the screen’s brightness automatically. The dynamic refresh technology removes residual images automatically, so there is little to no ghosting.
Under the hood, the phone features a 6nm octa-core 2.4 GHz MediaTek Dimensity 1080 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage. You cannot expand the storage since it does not have an SD card. However, the storage should be enough for thousands of apps, audiobooks, and e-books.
It ships with Google Android 14 and has full Play Store and Play Services access. You can sideload in your books, but most people will install and keep updated on their favorite apps. Although this is a phone, you don’t need to use it as a phone; it is just a tremendous e-reader.
Xiaomi Moaan InkPalm Mini 5 Pro
This pocket-friendly device has the form factor of a smartphone but is a cutting-edge e-reader. They are hyping the retail box. This is an English edition with 2023 branding. It comes with a free Matte screen protector because the screen is made of glass and flush with the bezel, so this should reduce reflections. A free case and a creme beige are also included, which should protect the unit and save some cash since you don’t have to buy an aftermarket one. The back platting is matte gunmetal, which looks polished and premium. This is one of the few mini e-readers that fit inside your pocket.
The Xiaomi InkPalm 5 Mini Pro features a 5.2-inch E INK Carta HD e-paper display with a resolution of 1280×720 with 284 PPI. The screen is flush with the bezel and protected by a layer of glass. There are 24 warm and cool LED lights to read at night or in low-light conditions. The illumination is controlled via slider bars, which makes the screen look as good, on a brightness level, as the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite.
Underneath the hood is a quad-core 1.8GHz Quanzi processor, 1GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage. You can connect to the internet via WIFI and listen to audiobooks, podcasts, or music with wireless headphones, thanks to Bluetooth 5.0. Volume buttons on the side can double as manual page-turn buttons with the main reading app. Many third-party reading apps, such as Aldiko or Moon+ Reader, have key mapping tools, too. It is powered by a 1,300 mAh battery, so you should be suitable for a week of non-stop use. The dimensions are 143×76.6×6.9mm and weigh 115g, which is very light.
It ships with Android 8.1, which is ancient but should still support many e-reading and audiobook apps. You can also sideload in your books.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.