Portability is arguably the most appealing thing about eReaders. But what if eReaders got even more portable? That’s the idea behind the Mooink V, the first full-color foldable eReader.
Revealed at the Touch Taiwan display technology trade show, the Readmoo Mooink V features an 8-inch E Ink Gallery 3 foldable touchscreen display with a 300 PPI resolution. It weighs approximately 0.5 pounds and can lock in a 90-degree halfway-unfolded configuration for a proper paperback-like experience.
Foldable screens tend to have a visible crease, and the Mooink V is no different. In fact, the crease appears to be slightly more prominent than what we see in foldable smartphones. This is due to the denseness of the E Ink display, which is is about four-times thicker than an OLED panel, according to information gathered by New Atlas.
Foldable ePaper isn’t new, per se. The Gallery 3 ePaper display utilized by the Mooink V first debuted as a rollable Gallery 3 E Ink tabletconcept in 2022. Similar technologies have been utilized in other concept products, including BMW’s color-changing E Ink concept car, which regularly shows up at automotive shows with new upgrades and improvements. Still, Mooink V is special because it’s a consumer product. It’s something that people will actually be able to buy.
The idea of a foldable eReader is pretty compelling. I recently bought a small 4-inch eReader for travel and long days away from home—a foldable model like the Mooink V could provide a similar level of portability without restricting the type of content I can consume on the go. A 4-inch eReader is fine for most books, but it’s a non-starter for magazines, graphic novels, news, textbooks, or anything with images, really.
However, I’d be a lot more interested in a black and white version of the Mooink V. Full-color E Ink is “darker” and has worse contrast than old-fashioned B&W ePaper, so it’s very difficult to read in a dim environment—if you aren’t sitting in direct sunlight (or an obnoxiously bright room), you’re basically forced to use a frontlight (which this device appears to lack, oddly enough). And although I don’t mind sitting in the sun, the Mooink V appears to have a very glossy plastic display layer that would be better suited for indoor environments where glare can be minimized.
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To be fair, I haven’t seen the Mooink V in person. This device’s color E Ink panel may be better than the ones I’ve tested. Readmoo claims that the Gallery 3 display panel is more vivid and has a faster refresh rate than common color E Ink screens, so maybe it’s fine for a rainy afternoon with a dim bedside lamp, although I kinda doubt it.
Pricing and availability for the Mooink V are currently unknown. However, the product is reportedly in a production-ready phase, meaning that the model shown at Touch Taiwan should be more or less identical to whatever Readmoo ends up selling to consumers. It’s worth noting that Readmoo is a Taiwanese company that offers direct shipments to the U.S. from its web store—these shipments, which currently fall under DDP levy exemptions, may be impacted by Donald Trump’s tariff policy.
Source: Readmoo via Good e-Reader, New Atlas
