After smartphone, tablet, laptop and even as bizarre as a toothbrush, Xiaomi has now launched another product, this time it’s an e-book reader.
This segment isn’t blessed with options, and Amazon takes the cake with its Kindle range of devices, but Xiaomi will hoping that its first e-book reader can appeal to those who aren’t looking to spend a lot. Speaking of which, the Mi Reader, priced at Rs 6,000 approx will start selling in China in the coming weeks, and there’s a possibility it might launch in India in the near future.
But what’s caught our eye is that Amazon has relied on its silent monopoly in the segment, and that changes for good, especially giving people the option to choose.
The Mi Reader is unique in its ways, but the design form factor is similar to every e-book reader we’ve come across till now. The device gets a 6-inch e-ink display with HD resolution and supports 24 brightness preset options.
Interestingly, the Mi Reader is running on a custom skin based out of Android 8.1 version. This has allowed the company to support multiple file options, which the Amazon Kindle reader doesn’t. This device supports file formats; TXT, EPUD, PDF, DOC, XLS and PPT, as well as other Microsoft Office files.
It also lets you import existing library stored on the cloud, and it lets the users switch reading between phone and the Mi Reader.
In terms of the hardware, Mi Reader comes loaded with an 1800mAh battery, which can be charged with USB Type C port. It comes packed with a quad-core processor, which should be robust enough to perform without any jitters. There’s also 16GB onboard storage, which most likely can be used to store other e-books.
It’s fair to say the Mi Reader comes across like an open-source version of the Amazon Kindle, and it doesn’t cost that a lot either.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)