Honor’s Life S3 is a small e-reader that magnetically attaches to the back of a phone, giving book lovers a way to carry a dedicated reading screen without having to find another pocket for it.
The device has appeared on Chinese shopping platforms, IT Home reports. It has a 3.68-inch E Ink touchscreen and weighs about 61 grams, with a body that is 5.6 mm thick. That’s extra bulk on the phone, but a compact package for a separate reader.
How to fix it on phones
The S3 includes a magnetic ring for phones or cases that don’t already have magnets, according to GSMArena. A phone therefore does not need a built-in magnetic support to accommodate the reader.
Tapping the touchscreen turns pages, and the screen has a pixel density of 259ppi. The more pressing question is how much text will comfortably fit on the screen. Keeping the font large on a display this small could mean spending more time typing through pages.
I see the appeal for a few pages in the train. Whether it remains comfortable through a longer reading session will take practical testing.
How do the books come about?
Honor’s Smart Space app handles wireless book transfers, with file support including EPUB and PDF. Readers with an existing ebook collection have a way to upload these files to the S3, which also accepts microSD cards up to 1TB.
Honor claims up to 30 hours of continuous offline reading per charge. How often it needs to dock depends on usage, so this figure is best treated as a reading time estimate.
What can US readers get instead?
IT Home reports a Chinese price of 359 yuan for the S3, but there’s no confirmed US release, and we haven’t been able to verify that a seller is shipping it to US addresses.
The Xteink X4 Pro offers a similar magnetic design with a larger 4.3-inch touchscreen and an adjustable front light. Xteink ships to the US and lists it at $99 through its official store, though it’s currently sold out. It’s a close alternative worth checking out for a restock if the phone-mounted design is the main attraction.