Bookeen Shows Off The Orizon eReader [New eReader To Feature 6-inch Display]

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The folks at Bookeen showed off their second generation eReader, named “Orizon”, at CES last month. We covered their earlier attempt, the Cybook Opus, when it was released and now the Orizon features some improvements, including a touchscreen. Plus, the French eReader company has also planning to make some changes to their Cybook Opus line.

On the outside, the Bookeen Orizon is very similar to its earlier version, but they’ve made some changes. They’ve upgraded the screen size a bit – it’s now a 6-inch screen over the 5-inch screen. The screen on the new device is now a touchscreen, although, Bookeen apparently lost some dpi on the change. We reported that the Cybook Opus had a dpi of 200 while Bookeen is saying the Orizon has a 167 dpi.

On the outside, the device isn’t bad looking. It’s pretty slim and is only 0.5 cm thick. Bookeen didn’t say who made their electronic paper display, but it does use “In-Cell” technology, which apparently means capacitive as they note the touchscreen can be used without a stylus.

No word on how much internal storage the Orizon will have (the previous model, Cybook Opus, had 1GB), but it will support WiFi, Bluetooth or USB connectivity. The Orizon will run version 3.0 of Bookeen’s eReader OS, called “Book Reader”. They promise that it will be quicker than previous versions of the software. For file formats, the device is only compatible with ePub.

No word on a release date (or even if this French company will release the Orizon outside of France), but they were telling the press at CES that it will cost $250, which is a competitive price for such a device. Also, they’ve declared that they’ll be expanding their Cybook Opus line by offering multiple colors to the device.