Currently most of the popular portable ebook readers are using eInk technology to display text, graphs, and pictures on the screens.  But there are starting to emerge competitors which bring with them promises of color, flexible, higher resolution, and easier-to-read devices.

Here’s an update on what’s going on in the world of electronic paper:

• PVI eInk
  • PVI is the company that owns the eInk technology in the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, as well as other devices
  • Currently the leader in ePaper technology
  • Uses electrophoretic technology
  • Future plan – color and flexible screens within 2 years, video within 4 years
• Fujitsu FLEPia
  • The first company to make a color ebook reader!
  • Also has touchscreen functionality
  • Once Fujitsu brings prices down, they could have a serious Kindle competitor
  • Future plan – no ETA on when video will be available
• Pixel Qi LCD
  • Been in development for only one year
  • Uses advanced LCD and OLPC technology, so will be fairly cheap to manufacture
  • Already supports color and video!
  • Future plan -  take over the ereader market
• Qualcomm Mirasol
  • Uses reflective technology called Interferometric MODulation (IMOD) with Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) – basically a lot of big words that only super smart people understand
  • Inspiration reportedly comes from looking at how butterfly wings work – cool!
  • There’s already a few products using this technology and a bunch more in development, including a couple mobile phones
  • Already supports color and video.   Requires very low power usage and is viewable in direct sunlight.
  • Future plan – unknown
• BridgeStone QR-LPD
  • Quick Response Liquid Particle Display (QR-LPD) uses particles suspended in air rather than in link (like eInk)
  • Already in use in stores in Asia
  • Already has color and touchscreen functionality!
  • Future plan – no ETA on when electronic reading devices will be sportin’ this cool tech
• Plastic Logic
  • Designed with business users in mind
  • It’s extremely flexible, has touchscreen, is unbreakable, and can be quite large if needed
  • Uses Organic Thin Film Transistors (OTFT) which is cheaper than silicon
  • Future  plan – color and video to come in the next couple years
• LiquaVista
  • A child company of Philips
  • Uses electrowetting technology that is great for video playback
  • Compatible with LCDs
  • Flexible, has color and of course video, and has 3 operational modes – reflective, transflective, and transmissive
• ASU Flexible Display
  • Has over $100 million in investment including from HP and the US Army
  • Primary design is for the screens and they borrow existing technologies to “ink” the displays
  • Uses Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED), eInk, and Kent Displays
  • Already supports video and color
• Gamma Dynamics EFD
  • Based out of the University of Cincinnati’s Novel Devices Lab
  • Uses electrofluidic displays (EFD) which have a greater than 85% reflectance to white (very impressive)
  • Supports video
  • Is flexible and very durable
  • Not in commercial use yet; no word on when this will happen
• Opalux P-Ink
  • Design based off the structure of opals and uses photonic chrystals
  • Supports video and color
  • Can diffract and reflect different colors based on how the ePaper is structured
  • Extremely flexible and durable

Well that’s definitely a lot to take in.   Hopefully that helps you get some understanding of all the development that’s going on to advance portable ebook readers and make them easier to use and read.

The BeBook was released in late 2007.  Since then it has been rebranded and sold as different names in countries around the world – lBook, DigiBook Reader, Apollo-Hanlin, Walkbook, Papyre, HanLin eBook, Astak EZ Reader, and Eco Reader.

But the company who created this portable ebook reader, HanLin, has been in the game since the year 2000, so they definitely aren’t a fly-by-night startup.

The BeBook is of average size and weight for an electronic reading device.  It use eInk technology for its screen display and has buttons on the bottom and side to navigate and control the display.

Specs

• Weight - 7 oz
• Thickness - 0.4″
• Size – 7.25″ x 4.75″
• Screen Size - 6″
• Battery Life - 9000 page turns
• Storage – 512 MB  internal + SD external slot
• Price - $280

The BeBook comes stock with a leather case, which is a welcome change from many other portable ebook readers that require you to pay extra for this accessory.  Upon turning on the BeBook, the first thing I decide to play with is the interface.  There’s a Menu button, “return” button, and 10 number keys.  In order to choose a menu item or select a book it’s as simple as pushing the corresonding button.  Not very difficult!

You can also move through pages by pressing the appropriate button on the left side of the device.

Where the BeBook really shines it with all the different file formats it can handle.  A heck of a lot more than most competitors, that’s for sure!   The list includes:  PDF, TXT, RTF, EPUB, LIT, PPT, WOLF, DOC, CHM, FB2, PRC/MOBI, HTML, DJVU, MP3, TIFF, JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, RAR, ZIP.   Wow.

It has a decent battery life, and with the external SD slot it’s doubtful you’ll ever fill it up completely with books.

Summary

The BeBook is a pretty darn good device.  It’s simple to use, works exactly as advertised, and it’s obvious from its evolution that HanLin is willing to continue its improvement in future versions.  Also, it has excellent support for many different ebook formats.  It you want a decently priced ebook reader that doesn’t force you to use a proprietary format (like Sony and Amazon), you’d likely be satisfied with the BeBook.

If you’d like to read more or buy a BeBook, you can here.

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