Boox Picco vs IKAWE Moov: specs, price, release date and which to buy

Boox announced the Picco at IFA in early September 2026 and opened preorders on 15 September. The first batch sold out almost immediately. Here's what Boox lists:

• Screen: 3.97-inch e-ink touchscreen, 480 × 800, 235 PPI
• Light: warm/cool front light
• Buttons: power, a page-turn button and a function switch for the light or dark mode
• Battery and charging: 920 mAh, USB-C
• Storage: 16 GB microSD card included, expandable to 2 TB
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• Size and weight: 105.5 × 62 × 5.5 mm, about 58 g
• Books: EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, FB2, TXT, RTF, HTML and more, added through Boox's Tiles app or website. No PDF.
• Extras: Pomodoro timer, to-do list and countdown apps; the screen rotates four ways
• Price and release: $109.99 from Boox's US warehouse or $99.99 from Hong Kong, shipping around November 2026

Hands-on reports were positive about the size: Android Police was "honestly impressed", and How-To Geek said it "feels great to hold", though navigation on the IFA prototype was slow.

This is the Picco's biggest advantage. At about 58 g and 105.5 × 62 × 5.5 mm, it's one of the two lightest e-readers around, alongside the Xteink X3. Moov is 17 g heavier and 4.5 mm taller, at 75 g and 110 × 66 × 6 mm.

Both disappear into a jacket pocket. If every gram and millimetre matters, the Picco wins; if you'd trade a little size for a bigger page, read on.

Moov's 4.5-inch screen has about 24% more area than the Picco's 3.97-inch one. At the same font size, that's roughly a quarter more text on each page, so fewer page turns.

On sharpness, the Picco's 235 PPI sits between Moov Lite (219 PPI) and Moov Pro (300 PPI). Moov Pro has the sharpest screen of any pocket e-reader we know of: on 8-point text, it uses about 33 pixels for each line of type, against 26 on the Picco.

Both have warm/cool front lights, so both work for reading in bed. Neither has been independently measured for brightness range yet.

Both pair a touchscreen with physical buttons, but differently. The Picco has a page-turn button, a power button and a function switch that toggles the front light or dark mode. Moov has two page-turn buttons, on the left and right sides, plus power, so you can turn pages one-handed in either hand.

This is where the two differ most.

The Picco runs Boox's own system, not Android, so it can't install apps such as Kindle or Libby. Books go on through Boox's Tiles app or website. The eBook Reader called this "a serious sticking point". It reads a wide range of DRM-free e-book formats, including MOBI, AZW3 and FB2 as well as EPUB, but not PDF. Boox hasn't said what the software is built on; readme.club reports that it's based on an early version of the open-source CrossPoint firmware, which Boox hasn't confirmed.

Moov runs CrossPoint out of the box, with over-the-air updates. You can copy books over USB-C, upload them over Wi-Fi from a browser, send them from Calibre or an OPDS catalogue, or share them from the IKAWE companion app. It supports DRM-free EPUB, MOBI, TXT and PDF, and Moov Pro adds enhanced PDF reflow.

Neither reads DRM-protected Kindle purchases or Libby loans. For those, see our guide to Xteink alternatives, which covers Android and Libby-ready readers.

Both charge over USB-C, a relief after Xteink's pogo pins. Moov's 1,100 mAh battery is about 20% larger than the Picco's 920 mAh. Both store books on a 16 GB microSD card that comes in the box; the Picco accepts cards up to 2 TB, Moov up to 256 GB, which is still room for tens of thousands of novels.

Moov's back is magnetic, so it attaches to MagSafe-style phone cases and metal surfaces, and two adhesive metal rings come in the box. The Picco itself has no magnets; Boox sells a $12.99 magnetic case with a built-in ring.

Width decides how well a reader sits on a phone. The Picco is 62 mm wide and Moov 66 mm; both are narrower than most phones.

Moov Pro is rated IPX8 for immersion, so a drop in the bath or the pool isn't fatal. Boox lists no water-resistance rating for the Picco, and neither does Moov Lite. More in our guide to water ratings.