Boox just gave its smallest e-reader a pen. The Boox Go 6 Gen II arrived on June 11 with stylus support and a native notes app. For the first time, the 6-inch travel reader can handle handwriting. Pre-orders are open now at $199.99. Shipping should begin around June 17.
Handwriting is the headline change. The reader pairs with Boox’s InkSense Plus stylus. The pen sells separately for $41.99 on the official store, or $232.99 bundled with the reader. After pairing the pen, you can mark up books and underline passages. You can also jot handwritten notes and to-do lists in the built-in notes app. “These new features turn the e-reader into a small but mighty pocket tool,” Boox said in its announcement.
A suitcase-inspired redesign in four colors
The second-generation model also looks different. Boox reshaped the back shell with tactile grooves and subtle curves, taking cues from a suitcase. In addition, the reader now comes in four muted colors: Plum, Stone, Shell, and Custard. At roughly 160 grams and 6.8mm thin, it stays genuinely pocketable. After all, portability has always been the Go 6 line’s whole pitch.
The screen is a 6-inch E Ink panel with 1448×1072 resolution. That works out to a crisp 300 PPI under a flat anti-glare glass cover. Meanwhile, adjustable warm and cold front lights cover reading in any environment. The 1500mAh battery still delivers days of use per charge.
Android underneath, unlike a Kindle
Performance gets a bump too. The Go 6 Gen II carries 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a microSD slot. Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, and USB-C round out the hardware. More importantly, it runs Android 11 with the Google Play Store built in. As a result, you can run the Kindle, Kobo, and Libby apps side by side. No single bookstore gets to lock you in.
That flexibility sharpens the contrast with Amazon. The retail giant reserves stylus input for the far larger Kindle Scribe. Its 6-inch readers, by contrast, stick to reading. Recent Kindle updates have focused on software instead, such as the Story So Far recaps rolling out now. For pocket-sized note-takers, though, Boox now has the field largely to itself.
