E-readers such as Amazon’s Kindle range or from rival Kobo let you buy, download and read e-books, but they are devices that largely run on Wi-Fi and are designed simply to act like a book most of the time.

That means they are firmly in the camp of single-purpose devices, purposefully limited in their functionality to only be for reading, and hence less distracting.

But if you love your E Ink e-reader and do want it to be able to do more, there’s a new gadget from Chinese manufacturer Onyx that could be for you.

The firm has just announced (via Chinese social site Weibo) the Boox P6 Pro, a smartphone-sized E Ink device running Android. Unlike older versions the company has produced, this model has a SIM card slot and full 5G support, so you’ll be able to use it on cellular networks and away from Wi-Fi.

This means the P6 Pro might be able to be used akin to a regular smartphone to make calls and use data service for apps, but remain primarily an e-reader. Onyx has announced a monochrome and a colour version, which for now are only for the Chinese market.

Fans of e-readers could well flock to a device like this that offers the functionality and comfortable reading experience of E Ink but with the ability to use messaging apps to keep in touch while on the go. If it could be used as a phone, it could replace a regular smartphone entirely.

Promotional videos for the P6 Pro show it being used as a phone, but it’s unclear if this is through data-first apps such as WhatsApp or whether the device has a native phone app.

The Boox P6 Pro the sequel to the Boox Palma and Boox Palma 2, the latter of which I reviewed last year. I loved the versatility of the Android platform allowing me to carry around the Kindle and Kobo apps, as well as other apps for reading. But as it ran Android, I could have put messaging and social media app on it too, but only use them on Wi-Fi.

Given the popularity of e-readers it’s a little surprising that hardly any E Ink smartphones exist. Another little-known company Bigme makes an E Ink phone called the HiBreak Pro, and TCL has some phones that uses its matte NXTPAPER tech.

For now, the P6 Pro has only launched in China. Both versions have a 16MP camera that looks like it is mostly for scanning documents, an SD card slot for memory expansion past the 128GB built in, 8GB RAM, Bluetooth 5 and 3,950mAh batteries. It even has stylus support.

The colour version has a Kaleido 3 colour E Ink screen similar to the one seen on the Kobo Libra Colour.

Even if the devices don’t have a phone app, they could be used as mobile communications devices with access to every other app., Unfortunately they run Android 13, an ageing version of Android. I wouldn’t expect any updates to newer versions, though Onyx has done well to send feature updates and bug fixes to the Palma 2 I’ve tested.

The P6 Pro will sell for CNY 2,516 (£265) while the colour version is CNY 2,991 (£315). Fingers crossed Onyx announces international availability soon, as this is a gadget I’d be very interested to test out.