An E-Reader Shaped Like an Actual Book

Diptyx is an open-source e-reader with two 5.83-inch e-ink displays joined by a hinge. It closes like a codex, opens like a book, and runs on an ESP32-S3 with custom firmware. The project launched on Crowd Supply at $230 and funded quickly, with deliveries scheduled for mid-2026.

The design is deliberately physical. Two 1500mAh batteries and an efficient buck converter give it weeks of reading on a single charge. Books load as DRM-free EPUBs over USB-C. No account, no cloud sync, no store. A 2GB SD card holds the library. Navigation happens through physical buttons, not swipes. The whole thing weighs 300 grams, about the same as a slim paperback, and measures 120 by 150mm when closed. Art nouveau patterns cover the back panel, treating the object as something worth looking at even when you are not reading.

Every commercial e-reader is a single slab. Diptyx asks what happens when you take the book's own shape seriously: two pages, a spine, a cover that protects the screens without needing a case. The codex form factor has been sitting there for centuries, waiting for someone to build electronics into it instead of against it. How many other objects already contain their own best redesign, hiding in plain sight because we keep assuming the rectangle is the only starting point?