New 5.8″ Veidoo eReader with Android for $59

I came across a really unusual ebook reader on Amazon. At first I thought it might be fake, but the seller actually has a 98% positive rating and it’s being shipped by Amazon, but apparently not until the end of December, and that’s not the only odd thing about the device.

First off, the Veidoo eReader is only $59.99, and that’s pretty unusual in itself considering most ereaders cost a minimum of $99 these days.

At first glance it looks like an interesting device with some nice features. It has 32GB of storage space and a memory card slot; it has a built-in speaker to listen to audio; it appears to have some kind of sensor buttons to turn pages; and it runs Android, although they don’t disclose what version or say if it can install apps.

The Veidoo ereader also sports a quad-core CPU, with 1GB of RAM, and it has WiFi, a USB-C port, and a 1500mAh battery.

The screen is where things get weird. The listing says it has a 6-inch screen in some places and a 5.8-inch screen in others.

Either way, the screen resolution is listed as—get this—648 x 480. That’s only 139 ppi if it’s a 5.8-inch screen, and 134 ppi if it’s a 6-inch screen. Most ereaders have 300 ppi screens these days, and the budget ones have 212 ppi, so this is on an entirely different level.

Adding to the oddness factor, the screen appears to lack a frontlight. There’s no mention of a light anywhere in the description and none of the pictures show a frontlight.

It’s not uncommon to see different types of ereaders from China turn up for sale on Amazon, but this is the most unusual one I’ve seen in a while. It has some good things going for it, but the super low resolution screen helps explain the low price.

Veidoo eReader