Bookeen Orizon Gets Multi-Touch [French eReader Will Get Multi-Touch Display, Coming To US, UK]

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When I first covered the Bookeen Orizon for us earlier this month, there were a lot of questions surrounding the eReader that hails from France. We now know a little bit more about the device, including that it’ll have a multi-touch capable screen.

The Orizon’s 6-inch electronic paper multi-touch electronic paper display is being made by a company named SiPix, who bills themselves as the world’s premier electronic paper company (E Ink might have something to say about that).

At the time we first covered the Orizon, they said the touch display was “In-Cell”, which confused everybody, but apparently it means multi-touch. We’ve also learned that the Orizon will be getting a release in the US and UK, planned for May 2010.

To recap, the Orizon will have a simple design with a four-way directional pad as the only hard controls. It’s pleasant looking, and is slim and only 0.5cm thick. It will have WiFi, Bluetooth and 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, it’ll support either ePub or PDF.

As we speculated when first reported, it’ll have 1GB of storage, same as the earlier model Cybook, and that can be expanded via a microSD slot. It’ll cost $250 and it’s coming to the UK and US this May.