I’m always VERY suspicious of Kickstarter and this post is no way an endorsement of Kickstarter or the product, but it’s interesting enough to share out with the microreader community. I also broke my cardinal rule of never supporting Kickstarter and personally backed this, even though I have a lot of doubts.

The ENILINX Tickey is 3.7″ full color EINK device. An opensource full color microreader for under $50 with USB C? Will Enilinx be able to deliver on what seems an impossible ask? They claim, with a lot of caveats mind you, that it will support 48+ colors thanks to a Modos custom EINK display (for comparison, most color displays a 4-6). I own the XTEINK Nano and it is barely passable at color. I also have the Kobo Clara Color and Remarkable Move, but the colors are so muted. This means I have (and you should too) really low expectations on the color reproduction despite the Tickey kickstarter images.

What sparked my attention is that it’s an ESP32-S3 device with 8Mb on board and fully open, making it potentially great for custom firmware.

Design wise, it’s made of CNC aluminum, at 3.8mm thin and 45g in weight. It also has USB C, which is something I know many people obsess about. I think the aluminum body is a good idea, as it should make the device more rigid and less prone to breakage. But they kickstarter images of people using it as a bag tag make me worry – EINK screens are just not built for that kind of wear and tear.

Other things to note is the faceplates are interchangeable.

As with all Kickstarters, back at your own risk. Early bird orders are still around US$50 + tax and shipping, so assume around US$85 delivered to your door.  If, and this is always the big if on Kickstarters, Enilinx actually can deliver.

If you’re interested in backing, here is the Enilinx Tickey Kickstarter (at your own risk).