Quite possibly the laziest gadget you’ll come across all year, there is now a remote page turner for a device within an arm’s reach of your body.
Every day, this journalist wakes up excited to see what sort of technology will greet him. Gadgets to solve problems, and come up with ways to change the world and how people will use it, and some of it is truly exciting.
And then there are other days where technology releases leave you scratching your head, as if to ask “why”.
This week might have one of those, as Kobo announces a new gadget designed for people who love reading an eBook, but might not want to touch their screen to turn a page.
It’s not a new feature per se where the screen is monitoring your eyes to work out when you’re ready to turn the page, nor is it you simply calling out “turn page” and have the eReader listen. Rather, it’s a gadget called the “Kobo Remote”.
The Kobo Remote is basically a Bluetooth button on a strap that allows you to trigger the next page on a Kobo eBook reader such as the Libra Colour or Sage without touching the screen.
And it will cost $44.95 when it launches on November 4, 2025.
We’re not entirely sure why the Kobo Remote is needed, let alone what problem it solves that your hands couldn’t do. You’re already going to be holding a touchscreen eReader sized between 6 and 10 inches within arm’s reach from your face, and so reaching out to turn the page simply by touching that touchscreen doesn’t seem like much effort.
And yet, Kobo has made this gadget all the same.
“We know that sometimes maximum reading comfort means burrowing down in the blankets, tucking yourself in, and becoming completely absorbed in the story,” said Michael Tamblyn, CEO of Rakuten Kobo.
“The Kobo Remote is the perfect accessory for peak immersive reading; it’s an invitation to lounge deeper, multitask smarter and simply enjoy reading without limits, no matter whether your environment is beach or blankets. We look forward to sharing more details soon,” he said.
At the time of publishing, Kobo hadn’t confirmed how the remote worked, and whether it’s just a Bluetooth version of a volume key, which is basically how selfie sticks work to trigger phone cameras. As it is, the Kobo Stylus lacks a button to trigger the next page, so you can’t use that, either.
Frankly, we’ve never been so deeply engrossed in reading a book that the mere action of turning a page has been seen as difficult or exhausting in the slightest, but if the idea of touching a screen bothers you, this gadget will be out in November made for just one purpose: turning the page of an eReader.
