Concept → Reality · Rewritten

The Infinite Book and the fight over the page turn

In 2009, when e-readers were still new, a concept from Vienna proposed one you could leaf through by hand. The page turn proved harder to digitize than the page.

The Design Blog editors

The Entourage eDGe dual-screen reader, opened like a book

A render of the Entourage eDGe, a dual-screen reader that opened like a book. AI-retouched from an image by Olzah78, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Verdict 2026

Still a concept

The Infinite Book stayed a concept and was never produced. Readers that flip physical leaves through digital content never reached shops; e-readers settled on touchscreens, with page-turn buttons surviving on a few models, while book-shaped dual-screen devices came and went.

Kobo Libra ColourClosest thing you can buyKobo Libra Colour8.3Design ratingPage-turn buttons on a sculpted gripCheck priceOur design review ↓

The idea today

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Nobody sells an Infinite Book, but these two e-readers keep the page calm and, in one case, keep a real button for turning it.

  • Kobo Libra Colour

    Kobo Libra Colour

    A 7-inch color E Ink reader with physical page-turn buttons on its grip and a shell made mostly from recycled plastic.

    Our design review

    8.3Design rating
    Form8.4
    Material7.8
    Detail8.2
    Longevity8.6

    The Libra Colour is lopsided on purpose: a thick grip on one side carries two physical page-turn buttons, and the screen rotates so either hand can hold it. Kobo says at least 85.5% of the shell is recycled plastic, including ocean-bound plastic, and it is sold as repairable with replacement parts. Android Central found the plastic back less premium than the aluminum Kindle Oasis, the buttons stiff at first, and the power button awkwardly placed on the back.

    Strongest point
    Page-turn buttons on a sculpted grip
    Compromise
    Power button hidden on the back
    Check price on Amazon
  • Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (16GB, 2024)

    Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (16GB, 2024)

    A single 7-inch glare-free screen in a slim, plain body, the plainest answer to how a digital page should feel.

    Our design review

    7.9Design rating
    Form8.6
    Material7.6
    Detail7.4
    Longevity7.8

    The 2024 Paperwhite fits a 7-inch, 300 ppi screen into a 7.8 mm body by narrowing the bezels, and its flush front leaves nothing to catch the eye but the page. It weighs 211 g, is rated IPX8, and charges over USB-C. Dave LeClair at Tom’s Guide praised the light design but faulted the power button on the bottom edge, where a resting finger can switch the reader off mid-chapter. The battery is sealed in a plastic shell.

    Strongest point
    Narrow bezels, flush page, nothing else
    Compromise
    Power button sits where fingers rest
    Check price on Amazon

Product images from the retailer listings, cut out and staged with AI.

  1. 2009Gizmodo reports on Microsoft’s Courier, a secret prototype with two 7-inch touchscreens hinged like a book.
  2. 2009Ewald Neuhofer’s Infinite Book, credited to the University of Applied Arts Vienna, is published: a touchscreen reader with a hinge for endless folding of pages.
  3. 2010The Entourage eDGe ships at $499, pairing a 9.7-inch E Ink screen with a 10.1-inch LCD in a three-pound body that folds like a book.
  4. 2010Microsoft cancels Courier on April 29, saying it has no plans to build such a device.
  5. 2016Amazon launches the Kindle Oasis, with physical page-turn buttons on a thicker grip edge.
  6. 2020Microsoft releases the Surface Duo, two 5.6-inch OLED screens on a 360-degree hinge, at $1,399.
  7. 2024Amazon says it will not restock the Kindle Oasis, its last Kindle with physical page-turn buttons.

What it was

In the autumn of 2009, designer Ewald Neuhofer published the Infinite Book, a project credited to the University of Applied Arts Vienna. It was a reader for books, newspapers and other media that you navigated the way you handle paper. Instead of tapping a screen, you turned leaves, and a hinge let the pages fold round without end, so the content kept going for as long as you kept flipping.

It also had a touchscreen, so you could scroll instead of flip when one hand was busy. A clip held it together, and the same folding that turned the pages made it compact enough to carry. Gizmodo thought it looked more like a brochure or a newspaper than a book, and liked it anyway.

It tried to digitize the page turn. The market kept the page and dropped the turn.

Where the idea went

The years that followed tried the book shape in other ways. Around the same time, Gizmodo revealed Microsoft’s Courier, a prototype with two 7-inch touchscreens hinged like a book. Microsoft canceled it in April 2010. The Entourage eDGe did ship that spring: a $499 device that paired a 9.7-inch E Ink screen with a 10.1-inch LCD and folded in the middle. Its screens could also fold back to back, and the E Ink side took handwritten notes with a stylus. It weighed three pounds.

Dedicated e-readers went the other way, toward one thin screen. Amazon’s Kindle Oasis, launched in 2016, kept physical page-turn buttons on a thicker grip edge. In October 2024, Amazon said it would stop restocking the Oasis, which ended page-turn buttons on Kindles. Microsoft came back to two hinged screens with the Surface Duo in 2020, followed it with the Surface Duo 2 in 2021, and stopped updating the original three years after launch.

What it means now

The Infinite Book bet that reading needs a physical gesture. Most of the market answered with a tap on glass. What survived is a smaller version of the same instinct: a button under the thumb, which some e-reader makers still fit for people who read for long stretches with one hand. Kobo, for one, still puts them on the grip of its Libra Colour.

Two lessons hold. Every extra hinge or leaf adds weight and cost, which is why the folding readers of 2010 were heavy. And the page mattered more than the turn. A calm, glare-free screen has done more for digital reading than any mechanism for flipping it.

The original post, summarized

Our October 2009 post introduced Ewald Neuhofer’s Infinite Book, a touchscreen reader with a clip and an endlessly folding hinge that let you leaf through digital books and media like paper. It is summarized here rather than republished.

Read the full guide
  • Dieter Rams: The Complete WorksBest overallDieter Rams: The Complete Works9.3Design ratingCheck price
  • Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses (Classic Format)Best for architectureAtlas of Mid-Century Modern Houses9.0Design ratingCheck price
  • Braun: Designed to KeepBest brand historyBraun: Designed to Keep8.9Design ratingCheck price

Sources