BeBook Neo eReader Revealed

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Everybody may be turning out eBook Readers these days, but company BeBook actually has a legacy in the market. They’ve released two previous models (the newer one, the BeBook 2, was covered by us last year) and their newest creation is the Neo, which looks to compete with the big boys.

The BeBook Neo isn’t an ugly Tawianese clone coming out of nowhere, it actually features a decent looking design. Instead of going with a full QWERTY keyboard like the Kindle, they’ve instead gone with a simpler iPod-like circle directional pad. It features a 6-inch E Ink screen, and 6-inches seems to the standard for eReaders, as the Kindle, Sony eReader, others, all feature the same size.

The Neo will be able to display ePub, PDF (both with and without Adobe’s DRM) and TXT eBook formats. It’ll also view any pictures you put on there (albeit, in the monochrome E Ink display). BeBook has got the battery life on the Neo pegged at 7,000 E Ink pageturns. BeBook claims that that ARM-11 Freescale processor they use than 2.5 times faster than other eReaders, but the Kindle also uses the ARM11 processor – so I don’t really know how they got it faster.

It’ll have basic web surfing abilities as it’ll be able to surf Wikipedia and Google. It will feature WiFi connectivity but BeBook has forgone any sort of data-3G connection. It will feature 512MB of onboard storage, with a SD slot for expansion. Another selling point of the Neo, BeBook claims that their UI is better than the Kindle.

They’re now taking preorders for £280 ($451) and the device will ship next month. That’s a bit higher than the Kindle, and the Kindle offers a lifetime 3G connection – but, as we’ve seen, the price of the Kindle is highly subsidized by the Kindle Store. Still, the BeBook Neo looks like a fine eReader for those that don’t want to buy into the Kindle ecosystem.