Hanvon Details New eReader Line [Five New eReaders, 10-inch E Ink Display, Handwriting Recognition]

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eBook Readers were in excess at CES 2010, but that didn’t stop Chinese OEM manufacturer Hanvon of showing off their new line of WISEreaders at the big technology expo earlier this month. Hanvon is adding four new eReaders to their lineup. Like some of the eReader Kindle Clones we’ve seen come out of China, these actually aren’t bad.

Hanvon’s low-end 5-inch display eReader was previously out in China, the US and Europe last year, but they’re going to be adding four new models, another that is 5-inches, a 6-inch model, a 8-inch model, and a 9.7-inch model.

Each of the eReaders use the good old E Ink display. Hanvon’s new eReaders will stand out from the older model, and other eReaders in general by having a electromagnetic pad under the E Ink display that, in layman’s terms, can act like a poor-man’s touchscreen. This allows users to take notes on the new Hanvon eReaders with a stylus.

The handwritten notes will then be converted to typed font, Apple Newton-style. If you’re concerned about the accuracy of the handwriting recognition, then you should know that Hanvon developed the first Chinese handwriting recognition software, so, if they can handle Mandarin, they should be able to handle the Indo-European languages.

Unlike some of the cheap eReaders that have come out of China (and the West, for that matter), the Hanvon models have WiFi and 3G connectivity, similar to the Kindle. Hanvon hopes to bring these new models to the US and European markets by mid-2010, although it may come under a different name, with Hanvon being an OEM company. Also at CES, Hanvon announced that they had signed an agreement with E Ink’s parent company Prime View International to develop the first color E Ink-featured gadget.