E-book Reader Matrix
From MobileRead
This page compares e-book reader devices that use E Ink technology. If you prefer Devices that use an LCD (TFT) display See: LCD E-Book Reader Matrix. For a general introduction to all e-book devices see: E-book devices
Contents |
[edit] Matrix (Electronic Ink devices)
[edit] 5" Devices
| Brandname | HanLin eBook | Bookeen | Polymer Vision | Pocketbook |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | V5 | Cybook Opus | Readius (un-released) | 360° |
| Manufacturer | Jinke Electronics | Netronix | Polymer Vision | Netronix |
| Picture |  |  |  |  |
| Dimensions | 151 × 105 × 10 mm (5.9" × 4.1" × .4") | ? × ? × ? mm (?" × ?" × ?") | 57 × 21 × 115 mm (closed) 160 × 115 × 21 mm (open) | 152 × 102 × 9 mm (6" × 4" × .35") |
| Screen Technology | E Ink Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex | Rollable organic TFT backplane with Vizplex frontplane | E Ink Vizplex |
| Display Size | (76 × 102mm) 5" 600 × 800 pixels, 200 ppi | (76 × 102mm) 5" 600 × 800 pixels, 200 ppi | 5" 240 × 320 pixels | (76 × 102mm) 5" 600 × 800 pixels, 200 ppi |
| Grey Levels | 8 | 8 | 4 | 8 |
| Touch Screen | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Full-screen Refresh Rate | 0.9s | 0.9s | ? | ? |
| Power | Li-Polymer 1000mAh | Li-Polymer 1000mAh | ? | Li-Polymer 1000mAh |
| Battery Life | 9'000 pages | 8'000 pages | "30 hours" | 8'000 pages |
| Weight | 160g (5.7oz) | 148g (5.3oz) | 115g (4.1oz) | 148g? (5.3oz) |
| OS | Linux | Linux | WinCE | Linux |
| Boot Time | 16s | 20s | ? | ? |
| SDK | yes | ? | ? | ? |
| CPU | Samsung® S3C2440 (ARM920T core, 400MHz) | Samsung® S3C2440 (ARM920T core, 400MHz) | ARM11 400MHz | Samsung® S3C2440 (ARM920T core, 400MHz) |
| Memory | 32MB RAM, 512MB Internal, 2M NOR Flash | 32MB RAM, 8MB ROM + 512MB Flash | 128MB RAM + 256MB Internal | 32MB RAM + 128MB NAND Flash |
| Expansion Slots | SD/SDHC | SD | High Capacity Micro SD | SD |
| Other Interfaces | USB 2.0 (charging), headphone 3.5mm stereo | USB 2.0 (charging), 2.5mm stereo | USB 2.0 (charging), Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, GSM/GPRS/ EDGE tri-band | USB 2.0 (charging), headphone 2.5mm stereo |
| Supported Formats | PDF, TXT, RTF, EPUB, LIT, PPT, WOLF, DOC, CHM, FB2, HTML, DJVU, MP3, TIFF, JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, RAR, ZIP | OEB-XHTML, TXT, HTML, PDF (non DRM), PRC/MOBI, JPG, GIF, PNG, MP3 | TXT, HTML, PDF | FB2, TXT, PDF, DJVU, RTF, HTML, PRC, CHM, EPUB, DOC, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP,MP3 |
| Supported DRM Formats | Wolf, Adobe (EPUB/PDF) | Adobe (EPUB/PDF) | ? | ? |
| Search functionality / Dictionary lookup | no | ? | ? | ? |
| Note taking / highlighting / underlining | no | no | no | no |
| Text to Speech | yes (not for PDF/ePub) | no | no | no |
| Software | WOLF Maker, WOLF Printer | Bookeen® Multi-format eBook reader | ? | ? |
| Services | iStation, ReadMan | ? | ? | |
| Content Partners | MobiPocket, Ubibooks, Cluster21 | ? | ? | |
| Price | US$199 | US$? / ?€ / £? | ? | US$200(?) |
| Release Date | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| Misc Info | Company has been selling e-book devices since 2000 (V2 and V8 not shown).
Sold under other names worldwide: Bebook mini, Astak EZ Reader Pocket PRO. | Sold directly by Bookeen
3rd generation Cybook (1st with E Ink). | Device also functions as a phone and has SMS capabilities | Netronix Astak Mentor model |
[edit] 6" Devices
| Brandname | HanLin eBook | Sony Portable Reader | Amazon Kindle | STAReBOOK | Bookeen | Astak Mentor | Pocketbook | COOL-ER | Wizpac | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | V3 | PRS-505 | PRS-700 | Kindle 2 | STK-101 | Cybook Gen3 | Mentor Lite (un-released) | 301 Plus | Cool-er Classic | txtr reader |
| Manufacturer | Jinke Electronics | Sony | Hon Hai Precision Industries | Netronix | Netronix | Netronix | Netronix | Netronix | Wizpac | |
| Picture |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |  |  |
| Dimensions | 184 × 121 × 10 mm (7.24" × 4.74" × .39") | 175 × 122 × 8 mm (6.9" × 4.8" × .3") | 175 × 128 × 10 mm (6.8 × 5.0 × 0.4") | 203 x 135 x 9 mm (8" x 5.3" x 0.36") | 188 × 118 × 8.5 mm (7.4" × 4.6" × .3") | 188 × 118 × 8.5 mm (7.4" × 4.7" × .3") | 188 × 118 × 8.5 mm (7.4" × 4.7" × .3") | 188 × 118 × 8.5 mm (7.4" × 4.7" × .3") | 183 × 118 × 11 mm (7.2" × 4.64" × .43") | 128 × 146 × 8 mm (5" × 5.75" × .3") |
| Screen Technology | E Ink Vizplex | EInk Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex | |
| Display Size | (90 × 120mm) 6" 600 × 800 pixels, 167 ppi | (90 × 120mm) 6" 600 × 800 pixels, 167 ppi | (90 × 120mm) 6" 600 × 800 pixels, 167 ppi | (90 × 120mm) 6" 600 × 800 pixels, 167 ppi | (90 × 120mm) 6" 600 × 800 pixels, 167 ppi | (90 × 120mm) 6" 600 × 800 pixels, 167 ppi | (90 × 120mm) 6" 600 × 800 pixels, 167 ppi | (90 × 120mm) 6" 600 × 800 pixels, 167 ppi | (90 × 120mm) 6" 600 × 800 pixels, 167 ppi | |
| Grey Levels | 4 | 8 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | ? | |
| Touch Screen | n.a. | n.a. | yes (finger or stylus) | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Full-screen Refresh Rate | 0.9s | 0.8s | ? | ? | 0.9s | 0.9s | ? | ? | ? | ? (fast) |
| Power | Li-ion 950mAh (Nokia Phone battery) | Li-ion | Li-ion | Li-ion 1530mAh | Li-ion 800mAh | Li-Polymer 1000mAh | Li-Polymer 1000mAh | Li-Polymer 1000mAh | Li-Polymer 1000mAh | Li-Ion |
| Battery Life | 9'000 pages | 7'500 pages | 7'500 pages | with EVDO: "4 days", without: "up to two weeks" | 8'000-10'000 pages | 8'000 pages | 7'000 pages | 7'000 pages | 8'000 pages | ? |
| Weight | 200g (7.05oz) | 250g (9oz) | 283g (10oz) | 289g (10.2oz) | 176g (6.2oz) | 174g (6.13oz) | 174g | 174g | 178g | 260g (9.2oz) |
| OS | Linux | Linux 2.4.17 | Linux 2.6.23 | Linux 2.6.22 | Linux | Linux | Linux | Linux | Linux | Linux |
| Boot Time | 16s | n.a. | n.a. | ? | 15s | 20s | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| SDK | yes | no | yes | no | n.a. | ? | ? | ? | ? | API yes |
| CPU | Samsung® S3C2410 (ARM920T core, 200MHz) | Freescale i.MXL MC9328MXLVP20 (ARM920T core, 200MHz) | Freescale i.MX31L (ARM1136JF-S core, 532MHz) | Freescale i.MX31L (ARM1136JF-S core, 532MHz) | Samsung® S3C2410A (ARM920T core, 250MHz) | Samsung® S3C2440 (ARM920T core, 400MHz) | Samsung® S3C2440 (ARM920T core, 400MHz) | Samsung® S3C2440 (ARM920T core, 400MHz) | Samsung® S3C2440 (ARM920T core, 400MHz) | Freescale i.MX31L (ARM1136JF-S core, 532MHz) |
| Memory | 512MB, Internal 2M NOR Flash, 512MB SD Card included | 64MB RAM, 2MB(NOR) + 256MB(NAND) Flash (~210MB user accessible) | 128MB RAM, 512MB(NAND) Flash (~384MB user accessible) | 128MB RAM + 2GB Flash (1.4GB user accessible) | 64MB Ram | 32MB Ram, 8MB Rom + 512MB Flash | 32MB Ram + 512MB NAND Flash | 32MB + 512MB | 128MB + 1GB | 64Mb |
| Expansion Slots | SD/MMC up to 4GB | MMC/SD/SDHC, Memory Stick Pro Duo | MMC/SD/SDHC, Memory Stick Pro Duo | none | SD/MMC | SD | SD | SD and SDHC | SD and SDHC up to 4GB | Micro SD - 8G included |
| Other Interfaces | USB 1.1 (charging), headphone | USB 2.0, headphone | USB 2.0, headphone | USB 2.0 (charging), headphone, EVDO/CDMA | USB 2.0, headphone, mono speaker | USB 2.0 (charging), 2.5mm stereo | mini USB 2.0, 2.5mm stereo | mini USB 2.0, 2.5mm stereo | mini USB 2.0, 2.5mm stereo(?) | USB 2.0
|
| Supported Formats | PDF, TXT, RTF, EPUB, LIT, PPT, WOLF, DOC, CHM, FB2, PRC/MOBI, HTML, DJVU, MP3, TIFF, JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, RAR, ZIP | BBeB (LRF/LRX), PDF, EPUB, TXT, RTF, JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG, MP3, AAC | Kindle (AZW and TOPAZ), PRC/MOBI (non DRM), TXT, MP3, Audible (format 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX)), MP3; | STK, MP3 | OEB-XHTML, TXT, HTML, PDF (non DRM), PRC/MOBI, JPG, GIF, PNG, MP3 | eReader, PDF, EPUB, HTML/CHM, TXT, RTF, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, MP3, AAC | FB2, TXT, PDF, DJVU, RTF, HTML, PRC, CHM, EPUB, DOC, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP,MP3 | JPEG, PDF, EPUB, TXT | PDF, HTML, ePUB | |
| Supported DRM Formats | Wolf and MobiPocket or Adobe ADEPT (EPUB/PDF) | Marlin DRM (BBeB), Adobe ADEPT (EPUB/PDF) | AZW and TOPAZ (Kindle only, USA only) | .stk? | MobiPocket | eReader and Adobe ADEPT (EPUB/PDF) | ? | Adobe ADEPT (EPUB/PDF) | ? | |
| Search functionality / Dictionary lookup | no | no | search using touchscreen | search using keyboard, dictionary using 5-way | dictionary: Using 5 way button | ? | ? | dictionary lookup, search using creative keyboard input | ||
| Note taking / highlighting / underlining | no | no | using touchscreen | using keyboard and 5-way | ? | bookmarks menu | ? | built in application | ? | ? |
| Text to Speech | no | no | no | yes | no | no | no | no | no | no |
| Software | WOLF Maker, WOLF Printer | eBook Library, Adobe Digital Editions | NetFront web browser & MobiPocket Java Reader | eREAD Editor | Bookeen® Multi-format eBook reader | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| Services | iStation, ReadMan | Sony CONNECT | Amazon Kindle Whispernet. E-mail conversion of DOC, HTML, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP and PDF | Isoshu | ? | ? | ? | Book purchase | ||
| Content Partners | MobiPocket | Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins | Amazon | Isoshu | MobiPocket, Ubibooks, Cluster21 | FictionWise | ? | Cooler Books | online portal txtr.com | |
| Price | US$299 | US$299 / €300 / £199 | US$349 | US$359 / € n.a. | US$420 | US$350 / 280€ / £180 | ? | US$360 | US$249 | ? |
| Release Date | Q3 2007 | 2 October, 2007 | 14 October 2008 | Ordering began 02/09/09 | 11/2006 | Ordering began 28 Oct, 2007 | September, 2009 | 2008 | 2009 | Q3 2009 |
| Misc Info | Company has been selling e-book devices since 2000 (V2 and V8 not shown).
Sold under other names worldwide: lBook V3, DigiBook Reader V3, Apollo-Hanlin V3, Walkbook, Papyre 6.1, BEBOOK, Astak EZ Reader, Kolibri V3, Eco Reader. Alternative opensource firmware (openinkpot) available, that supports search, more formats and more. | Company has been selling e-book devices since 2003 (PRS-500 not shown).
Originally only available in the US, now in Canada and the UK (PRS-505 only in UK). | Amazon pays for the wireless connectivity for Kindle so there are no monthly wireless bills, data plans, or service commitments for customers.
Currently USA only. Annotations stored in plain text files. | eREAD is a new Taiwanese company (also available in: China and New Zealand).
Similar to Explay TXT.BOOK, Ganaxa GeR2, Orsio b721. | Sold directly by Bookeen, by BooksOnBoard.com in the US & Canada, and via wholesalers.
3rd generation Cybook (1st with E Ink). The original hardware was an EB-100, like the STAReBOOK STK-101, with 16MB of memory and a 200MHz CPU. It is now an EB-600, like the Astak Mentor Lite, COOL-ER Classic and Elonex. The software is from Bookeen. | Astak also sells Hanlin products under the EZ Reader brand.
Other brand names for the Netronix EB-600 with Netronix standard software include COOL-ER Classic and Elonex (sold by Borders UK). | software package containing calendar, notepad, calculator and some games. | n.a. | capacitive slider controls. | |
[edit] Larger Devices
| Brandname | HanLin eBook | iRex | Amazon Kindle | Astak Mentor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | V9 (un-released) | iLiad | Digital Reader | D00611
Kindle DX | EB-900 (un-released) |
| Manufacturer | Jinke Electronics | iRex Technologies | Hon Hai Precision Industries | Netronix | |
| Picture |  |  |  |  |  |
| Dimensions | 256 × 173.5 × 14 mm (10" × 6.8" × .56") | 216 × 155 × 16 mm (8.5" × 6.1" × .6") | 268 × 217 × 12 mm (10.6" × 8.5" × .5") | 264 × 183 × 10 mm (10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38") | 255 × 195 × 14mm (10.0" × 7.7" × .55") |
| Screen Technology | E Ink Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex | E Ink Vizplex FlexiScreen |
| Primary Display | (140 × 203mm) 9.7" 825*1200 pixel, 4 gray levels, 150 ppi | (122x163mm) 8.1" 768x1024 pixels, 16 gray levels, 158 ppi | (163x203mm) 10.2" 1024x1280 pixels, 16 gray levels, 160 ppi | (140 × 203mm) 9.7" 825 × 1200 pixels, 16 gray levels, 150 ppi | (140 × 203mm) 9.7" 825x1200, 4 gray levels, 150 ppi |
| Secondary Display | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| Touch Screen | yes (only V9t) | yes (WaCom Pen) | yes (WaCom Pen, DR1000S & DR1000SW editions) | no | yes (finger or stylus) |
| Full-screen Refresh Rate | 0.9s | 1.3s | 0.85s | ? | ? |
| Power | Li-ion 950mAh (Nokia Phone battery) | Li-ion 1100mAh (x2-cells); 2nd Edition ~20% larger | Li-ion 1140mAh | Li-ion 1530mAh | Li-Ion 2100mAh |
| Battery Life | 9'000 pages | 15 hrs with larger battery | 10 hrs | with EVDO: "4 days", without: "up to two weeks" | 5'000 pages |
| Weight | 320g (11.4oz) | 388g (13.7oz) | 570g (20.1oz) | 535g (18.9oz) | ? |
| OS | Linux | Linux | Linux 2.6.24 | Linux 2.6.22.19 | WinCE(?) |
| Boot Time | 16s | 44s | 50s | ? | ? |
| SDK | yes | yes; many Linux apps have been ported | yes | no | ? |
| CPU | Samsung Arm 9 200MHz | Intel X-Scale 400MHz | Freescale i.MX31L 400MHz? | Freescale i.MX31L | Samsung S3C2443 400MHz |
| Memory | 512MB, Internal 2M NOR ROM, 512MB Nand Flash | 64MB Ram + 128MB free Flash | 128MB Ram + 1GB SD | 128MB Ram + 8MB NOR Flash + 4GB NAND Flash (~3.3GB user accessible) | 64MB Ram + 512MB NAND Flash |
| Expansion Slots | SD/SDHC | MMC, CF Type II, USB Memory | SD/SDHC | none | SD |
| Other Interfaces | USB 1.1, headphone | USB 1.1, headphone, WiFi 802.11b (NOT for Book Edition), 10/100 LAN | USB 2.0 (charging); 1000SW only: WiFi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth | USB 2.0, headphone, EVDO/CDMA | 2 × USB 2.0 (one charging), headphone, Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11g, SD3G |
| Supported Formats | PDF, TXT, RTF, EPUB, LIT, PPT, WOLF, DOC, CHM, FB2, PRC/MOBI, HTML, DJVU, MP3, TIFF, JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, RAR, ZIP | PDF, HTML, TXT, JPG, BMP, PNG, PRC/MOBI, DJVU (via FBReader: fb2, CHM, Plucker, zTxt, TCR, RTF, OEB, EPUB) | PDF, HTML, TXT, JPG, BMP, PNG, PRC/MOBI | Kindle (AZW and TOPAZ), PRC/MOBI (non DRM), TXT, PDF, Audible (format 4, Audible Enhanced (AAX)), MP3; | eReader, PDF, HTML/CHM, TXT, RTF, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, MP3, AAC |
| Supported DRM Formats | Wolf, MobiPocket | MobiPocket | MobiPocket | AZW and TOPAZ (USA only) | eReader and Adobe(?) |
| Search functionality / Dictionary lookup | no | using touchscreen | using touchscreen | using keyboard and 5-way | using touchscreen |
| Note taking / highlighting / underlining | no | using touchscreen | using touchscreen | using keyboard and 5-way (unavailable in PDF files) | ? |
| Text to Speech | no | no | no | yes | no |
| Software | WOLF Maker, WOLF Printer | iLiad Companion Software & Mobipocket Java Reader; Linux: FBReader, Gargoyle | Paperless iRex Printer & Mobipocket Java Reader | NetFront web browser & MobiPocket Java Reader | ? |
| Services | iStation, ReadMan | iRex Technologies Delivery Service (iDS) | Amazon Kindle Whispernet. E-mail conversion of DOC, HTML, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP and PDF | ? | |
| Content Partners | MobiPocket | De Tijd, IFRA, Les Echos, NRC Handelsblad, MobiPocket | Amazon | FictionWise | |
| Price | US$??? | 2nd edition: US$699 / €599; Book Edition: US$599 / €499 / £399 | DR1000: US$??? / €???; DR1000S: US$859 / €699; DR1000SW: US$??? / €???; | US$489 / €n.a. | US$588(?) |
| Release Date | Unknown | Q3 2006; 2nd Edition Q3 2007;
Book Edition 7 May 2008 | DR1000 ?;
DR1000S Oct 1st, 2008; DR1000SW ? | Ordering 05/09/09 Delivered 06/10/09 | September, 2009 |
| Misc Info | Company has been selling e-book devices since 2000 (V2 and V8 not shown). V9 will have 9.7" screen.
Sold under other names worldwide: lBook V3, DigiBook Reader V3, Apollo-Hanlin V3, Walkbook, Papyre 6.1, BEBOOK, Astak EZ Reader. | Company was established in 2001 as a Royal Philips Electronics spin-off.
2nd Edition iLiad beefs up the case frame and upgrades with larger battery. Book Edition is the same as 2nd Edition without WiFi and lower priced | Company was established in 2001 as a Royal Philips Electronics spin-off.
Base DR1000 without touchscreen, DR1000S adds touchscreen. DR1000SW adds WiFi and Bluetooth. Annotations stored in plain text files and only exportable to Windows (and perhaps only for PDFs). | Amazon pays for the wireless connectivity for Kindle so there are no monthly wireless bills, data plans, or service commitments for customers.
Currently USA only. | Astak and Netronix are sister companies |
