eInk book reader available(?) next year

[mdlbear]

This Chinese e-book reader is based on the same display technology (800x600 A6 ePaper) as the DRM-crippled Sony Librie, and the insanely expensive eInk development kit. No telling whether one could obtain a Hanlin eBook v2 in the US. Their contact page says:

V2 eBook will be formally sold in May next year. Its appearance is same as V8, adopting LINUX OS, besides the above-mentioned features of V8, V2 can support the development of user self-defined format; user can buy the licensing SDK.

Comments

[ravan.livejournal.com]

I've seen the Librie. Between draconian DRM and small selection of content, it will remain a novelty, nothing more.

The V8 is a step in the right direction, although knowing our luck it won't be available in the US until 2007. The SD flash reader is useful. The Sony Librie only takes those dorky, Sony only, memory sticks.

[mdlbear]

It's possible to translate other, non-broken formats like HTML to a format the Librie will handle, but it's still pretty broken. And too expensive. Since the V8's newer with the same display technology, it should be cheaper. How much cheaper is the question -- at $300 it would still be an expensive novelty; at $150 it's almost an impulse purchase. We'll see.

[victorthecook.livejournal.com]

Jinkies. I just checked out eInk's dev kit pricing. Three thousand dollars for one prototype display? I wonder what their bulk pricing is?

[mdlbear]

The one product I know of using that display is Sony's Librie, which sells for nearly $500. With a price like $3k on the prototype, they're clearly looking for customers that will order 10,000 units or more at a time. Hobbyists need not apply.