The Co-Op Bookshop is now selling two models of the BeBook e-Book Reader:Bebook Mini (5 inch display), Bebook Neo (6 inch display). I tried the larger Mini model at the CoOp Bookstore at ADFA. The Mini looks an adequate device for reading for pleasure and a suitable rival to the Amazon Kindle for those who do not want to buy from Amazon. However, like the Kindle, the BeBook is not suitable for serious reading for work or study purposes.
The Mini looks something between an Amazon Kindle and a Apple iPad. There is no keyboard, with just a few navigation keys and a monochrome e-Ink screen operated with a stylus. The screen appears to be less reflective than that of the Kindle, but adequate. I noticed I could see a shadow of the previous page when a new one was displayed.
The Mini seems to be slower to refresh the screen than the Kindle, but was adequate. I was able to insert a SD flash card and display content from it. I was very impressed that the HTML browser inbuilt was able to display web based slide presentations I have created using HTML Slidy.
The Mini looked a better size for a handy book reader than the larger Kindle and I did not miss the keyboard. The biggest limitation I found with the Mini was the lack of any wireless access. Unlike the Apple iPad the Mini has no WiFi. The only way to get content into the device is with a USB cable or a flash memory device.
One advantage of the BeBook was that unlike the Kindle, it did not keep promoting me to go to the Amazon store to buy books.
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