Every traveler has to make decisions on what to carry with him or her on a trip. Electronic devices tend to be small, whereas books tend to take space and can be heavy. Yet, if I think about all the gadgets I’d like to pack with me on a trip – cameras, a tablet, phones, a laptop, an ereader and chargers for everyone of them – something usually has to go. Any lighter and smaller products that can help space are always welcome.

Energy Ereader E4 Mini is one of the smallest and budget-friendliest ereaders I have discovered so far.

The E4 Mini has 4.3-inch E ink screen in 600×800 resolution that can display 16 scales of gray. EPUB, PDF, TXT, HTML, RTF and MOBI ebooks can be opened in this tiny ereader. Thousands of ebooks can be stored on a microSD memory card.

That’s it, there is no wireless connectivity, touch screen or any other advanced features, because the price at the vendor’s online store is only 37 euros (about USD 42).

Why carry an ereader on a trip if you already have a smartphone or tablet that you can use for reading? Battery life. Ereaders, and especially the Energy E4 Mini, are simple devices that don’t consume power like tablets and smartphones do. Less functionality, less power, less cost.

The screen in the E4 Mini is about the same size as many phone screens (or even smaller), but if the ereader’s battery lasts up to a month, and you have several years worth of books on the device, the investment is worth considering.

Energy has larger and more advanced ereaders in their product range. For instance, Energy Ereader Pro comes with touch screen, wireless connectivity, and backlight. The screen size is 6 inches in 758 × 1024 resolution.
The Pro model is priced at 119 euros (about USD 136) at the vendor’s online store.