With Xteink’s devices and other mini ereaders that magnetically attach to the back of phones surging in popularity, many people were hoping to see Amazon release a mini Kindle this fall as a mainstream alternative. Unfortunately that isn’t going to happen.
But Amazon is releasing a new device with a similar form factor and a similar price that’s MagSafe compatible and magnetically attaches to phones. It has a 21-day battery life, and it can be used as a note taker, and provide text-based summaries via an app, but it’s not a Kindle.
The marketing spiel from the press release has a similar vibe as the marketing speak for mini ereaders:
It’s a slim, lightweight device about the size of a credit card that attaches to the back of your phone magnetically. Nothing extra to remember—just attach it and go. With more than 21 days of battery life on a single charge, it’s designed to keep up with you for weeks at a time.
The device being described is the Bee Eclipse, an AI audio recorder that attaches to your phone and records all your conversations, including both over the phone and in-person conversations.
That sounds intriguing on some levels, and horrifying on others. Now AI is going to be tracking everything we do offline as well as online. Here’s a quote from the product page:
AI that learns you over time – The more you use Bee, the smarter it becomes. Bee builds an increasingly personalized understanding of your patterns, preferences, and relationships.
Of course Amazon would be onboard with something like that. Of course they would release a MagSafe compatible AI voice recorder before even considering releasing a MagSafe mini Kindle. Pretty soon the majority of people will be using AI to provide summaries of books instead of reading them anyway. Why pay for a book and take the time to read it when you can get the gist of it for free?
For those that still want to read, maybe Amazon will release something like this in Kinde form eventually. Now that they have the design down, they could slap an E Ink screen on one of these and have something similar to the Xteink X3. I won’t be holding my breath, though.
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