Endless Ideas has come out with a new 6-inch reader called the BeBook Neo that features the usual touchpanel ePaper display, but without the 3G connection that a lot of current readers will be touting. Instead of having instant anywhere access, or at least “anywhere-you-can-find-a-3G-signal-from-your-specific-network” access, the BeBook Neo comes equipped with standard Wi-fi and a download interface that supports international eBook stores.
This is what they’re selling on this particular product: the freedom to choose where (or who) to buy your eBooks from. The interface comes with a shortcut that takes you to its download portal, where a worldmap lets you choose where you’ll be downloading from (instead of tying you down to a preselected or partnered store). This in turn gives you a list of third-party stores that are available in your location—a good alternative to people outside Amazon’s coverage who might want a Kindle, but have no access to Amazon’s library. Or any other buyer who can’t be tied down to a particular library or mobile network for that matter, since a lot of readers coming out usually come with a built-in 3G connection that connects to, say, AT&T.
The BeBook Neo is a pretty basic device—which, by the way, isn’t necessarily bad if all you need is a screen for showing book pages. It doesn’t come with a QWERTY keyboard, but is equipped with Wacom’s touchpanel that allows for page-turning, adding notes, sketches and markers with the stylus. The Wi-fi connection also gives the user basic access to Google and Wikipedia if you need to look something up while connected to the net via Wi-fi.
Endless Ideas also boasts that this is the “fastest eReader currently on the market,” running on a Freescale processor that offers up to 2.5 times faster browsing and operating speeds. Now, we can’t know if this is definitely the fastest, but as long as it turns the page when we want to (and do it quickly), then that’s good enough. The reader’s battery is listed to last for up to 7000 page-turns on a full charge, which is pretty much standard compared with the rest of the current pack.
It’s set to be released in Europe on February 25th for the equivalent of around $450.
Tags: eBook Readers, Endless Ideas
