Thats right folks the long awaited update to the Bebook One is finaly going to be released on the 14th of October 2009 during the Frankfurter Buchmesse (Frankfurt Book Fair).
If you happen to be in the area, you can find the BeBook booth at hall 4.2, booth 450.
If you have been holding off from buying an Ebook Reader, now is the time – With great offerings from the likes of Bebook, Sony, Amazon, Cybook, and Irex you are spoilt for choice.
We haven’t managed to get our hands on a Bebook 2 yet, but from the information provided by the guys behind Bebook it sounds like a really good candidate for the top ebook reader slot in Europe.
So far, the specs include:
Wireless connectivity (3G and WIFI)
Touchscreen
Purchase from the ebook reader with selected ebook partners using 3G or Wifi
Free Wireless RSS support (unlike the Amazon Kindle which charges per feed, per month)
We’ll update you as more details come in.
Update: No sign of a release I’m afraid Sounds like the BeBook team is busy with the post Bookfair work.
Although this date was provided by ByBook/Endless Ideas in a Dutch TV show a few weeks ago, it looks like they have delayed the launch…
We have found this interesting interview from the Book Fair, and their representative talks about launching in the next months. The interesting thing to note is that they mention different launch scenarios: Selling the ebook reader direct without a sim, selling the ebook reader with a sim card and contract, or selling the ebook reader with a subsidised 3g contract paid by the prefered ebook seller. I would imagine this could complicate things massively, and could be the reason for the delay. Check out the interview below:
Borders UK is looking to rival Amazon by beating them to a UK launch, with their unveiled Elonex ebook reader. This new ebook reader was launched nationwide in UK Borders stores at a £189 – Much cheaper than the the iRex iLiad, priced at £399, which they will continue to sell alongside the Elonex.
The Elonex eBook is compatible with the free Adobe Digital Editions software, and is one of the first ebook readers to market with this technology and supports DRM protected reflowable PDF and ePub formats, as well as other less widespread eBook formats and images/pictures. This puts the Elonex closer to the Bebook beating the Sony Ebook reader in terms of ebook formats, but doesn’t quite match the wide range of ebook formats available for the Bebook.
The ebook features a 6 inch e-ink screen, and at 9mm thick and only 180g it’s incredibly thin and light – And the long battery life means you can enjoy up to 8000 pages between charges.
The new device comes with 100 titles already pre-loaded and can hold up to 1,000 books (8000 with the optional 4gb SD card).
The device was launched into the 41 Borders stores and 10 Books Etc and Borders Express branches on the 30th June.
Customers will be able to take advantage of the 45,000 ebook library available on the Borders UK website, which are all going to be compatible with the device to maximise readability – Plus the many more available in epub format. Click here to see the range of ebooks available at Borders.
Our friends over the Atlantic over at BGR have uncovered what appears to be Amazon’s Kindle 2 ebook reader. Although we are suspicious, the picture does look authentic, and if this is true this could be the follow up to their very popular ebook reader.
Unfortunately for us in the UK, Amazon has yet to release any Kindles over to Britain or anywhere else than the US so far.
Looking at the photos of the new Amazon Kindle 2 e-book we are impressed, although the unit hasn’t gone down in size it looks much cleaner and neater than the current model. This is very much in line to its close competitors including the awesome Sony Ebook readers.
The unit now has a joystick, and the following buttons: Home, Next Page, Menu, a joystick, and Undo. On the left side, there’s Previous, Page, and Next Page.
It looks like the buttons are much smaller to prevent any accidental page turning which was an issue with the original Kindle device. The joystick takes the place of the scroll wheel and it “takes a little getting used to.”
The keyboard of the new Amazon Kindle device has been redesigned and we are impressed by its good layout, but lettering on the keys could be better.
Looks like they no longer have their own charger. The Kindle 2 is able to be charged with a miniUSB cable which sounds like good news for the travellers in us!
The display is roughly the exact same as the original Kindle even though at first glance it might appear a bit smaller due to the new shape.
Sounds like the BeBook team is busy with the post Bookfair work.
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