I am not a big reader. I tend to read two books at Christmas, then that’s it for the year. My wife, on the other hand, can read up to two books a week. (She does not sleep much). Most of her reading happens in bed, and over the years, we have gone from booklights to reading on her smartphone.
When the Bigme B6 Colour eReader arrived for testing, I knew I needed her opinion. The B6 has a colour e-ink six-inch display and runs Android 14. The display emits zero blue light to support sleep and mimics the look of paper at 300PPI when viewing black-and-white content. With an 8-core processor, 4GB of memory, and 64GB of storage, the unit is quite responsive.
This is not a full-colour display, but it does reproduce colours at 150DPI, which is quite usable in most circumstances. Running Android also means that, in addition to reader apps, you can install any Android-compatible app.
The built-in storage supports up to 40,000 books, and if you need additional storage, a microSD card can be added, expanding capacity to up to 1TB.
Even with the much bigger screen, the eReader weighs about the same as a smartphone: 176 grams or 255 grams with its case. It is also super thin at under 7mm. This all means it is easy to hold for many hours of reading enjoyment. It comes preloaded with common reading apps, so you can download a book from Amazon or your local library. The eReader connects to Wi-Fi to allow downloads and updates.
The quirks of an Android-based eReader
Although this is an Android device, it does not exactly mimic a smartphone, which threw my wife off to start with. Case in point: the brightness can be adjusted to 36 different levels, with a button that automatically switches to an adjustable preset for night and day viewing. It took her a while to find this setting, so we had a lighthouse in bed for a while.
Our biggest complaint is that a warning message keeps appearing, indicating that the WeChat (app) version on the device is not secure, and Google has blocked access, including the ability to upgrade. We don’t use WeChat, but the constant message is annoying. I am sure Bigme will resolve this.
If audiobooks are more your thing, stereo speakers will also facilitate playback. A translator is included, and you can also dictate to your reader. You can view photos but not take them, but know they will look like a newspaper photo, not what you see on your smartphone. Those of you who are super lazy can even ask AI to summarise a book for you, but that is not really the point.
The Bigme B6 comes with a USB-C charging cable, and you can expect between six and 12 hours of use per charge, depending on brightness and whether Wi-Fi is enabled. In standby mode, an image or the time and calendar is displayed on the screen. We selected time, but the time does not change from the last time the unit was activated, which serves no purpose.
So is the Bigme any good? My wife does not tolerate my gadgets for very long, and there have been some complaints as mentioned above, but the proof is that she is still using this eReader. The Bigme B6 is available from Amazon for around $270 in Australia, including a protective case.
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