BeBook Neo e-reader deemed solid, well designed, expensive
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted May 14th 2010 11:56AM
posted May 14th 2010 11:56AM
Hey kids: Sick of e-readers yet? If not, the kids at trusted reviews just got their hands on what they consider one of the nicest thus far. This 6-inch display-sportin' bad boy has some heft to it -- the reviewers felt that at .66 pounds it might be too much e-reader for some people. Still, it seems well-built and designed for holding for long periods of time. All in all, it's not earth-shattering, as much as "a well thought out refinement" of devices the reviewer has seen before. On the other hand, there is no finger input, MP3 playback is still not supported (an issue to be dealt with on a future firmware release, apparently), the much-ballyhooed Wacom pen notations, while nice, are only available on certain docs, and the UI (which relies on a jogwheel) is counter-intuitive, at first. So, it's pretty damn nice... but is it £238.29 (about $350) nice? Hit the source link to decide for yourself.
I'll continue to use my $148 Sony Pocket Reader thank you very much. While this thing might be 'nice' with it's notations feature, I don't see the appeal for the $200 added cost. Add in a weird job wheel, no thanks.
@futurerheza You raise some great points.
I'll just use my computer to read illegally scanned books...
Oh who am I kidding, ppl barely scan any books other than Light Novels in Japan. I need this.
PS. YES MY PROFILE PIC FINALLY UPDATED
I've had a Nook for about 2 weeks now, and I'm really starting to like.
@joelaf After the latest update the Nook runs beautifully.
@foofighting86
It sure does. And I've been following the Nook dev team
@foofighting86
I returned my nook last night. The device is still to sluggish and glitchy for me even with the 1.3 update. I tried to like it but many of the features like music, browser and dictionary really had no value to me as well. This Sony Pocket Reader while basic, is exactly what I was after. B&N definitely has a better ebook store though...
@joelaf I'm debating a nook. I've got 50 bucks in B&N gift certificates... want an open e-reader. Would prefer an alex but those are just too pricey. Part of me wants to wait until I can find a decent android slate/tablet the other part of me is getting sick and tired of trying to find places to put paperbacks.
A no thrills 100 dollar e-reader that can handle epubs (from wherever) would suit me fine.
@tad604
Walgreen's has one for about $100. I've read mixed reviews. I think most of the time, it comes down to the user's tastes and skill level.
@joelaf is e-ink really that spendy? that walgreens device (and eBookwise another sub 100 e-reader) both are lcd screens. The walgreens reader won't support drm. The whole e-reader and book market seems to be such a mess. I don't want to buy a device tied to one retail outlet. I don't want to break the law to get the books I want.
@tad604
Download Calibre, it's a free converter. I used it to convert a couple of free online William Gibson books, and I'm by means a power user.
No mp3 support is a bad thing? Let's see what's in the bag right now ... phone, laptop, phone. Hmm 3 mp3 playing devices. Not sure why ereaders need mp3 playback since they're meant to be monotaskers by design. I'm not criticizing my analog books for lacking mp3 support, wifi connection, or touch support, although I guess they do support multi-touch input (in a sense). Anyway, the downside with that thing is that it isn't a nook. For that much money it's better be a nook or kindle, or drop another benny and pick up an ipad.
@bluntrauma er, make that phone, laptop, ipod ...
@bluntrauma ever hear of an audio book??? They are pretty popular!
When are hardware designers going to let white plastic just die? Put it next to your soda for awhile, and you'll notice it gets polka-dotted. Not to mention exposing it to cigarette smoke. Also, while 6" is a good size for an e-reader, that's some serious bezel. If you've got that much bezel, maybe drop a level in there and turn pages forward and back by tipping the device sharply? I dunno, maybe put the controls on the side? And why the gigantic jogwheel? There's no harm in making a device a little thicker if they can shrink down the other two dimensions without losing too much good heat dissipation.
The iPad kids who trash e-ink readers don't seem to understand that this is something more targeted at reading. The idea that you need really long battery life and really clear type for actually just reading books is important to a lot of people who just want to read a book. At $350, though, that's pretty steep for a device that really isn't that much better than a Kindle. An open OS and a dev kit for making customized e-readers that hook directly into a vendor's online bookstore might have made it worth it, just so you have the option to shop around a little with different stores.
@zullnero
I use my iPad for reeding. Battery life on it is amazing, it has never been an issue. Yes, e-ink displays are better, but I think the tradeoffs are worth it. With dedicated ebook readers as expensive as they are now, it just makes a lot of sense to spend the extra money to get a nice, big, beautiful capacitive touch screen.
I think the biggest downside to reading on the iPad is the weight of it compared to the Kindle, but I can definitely live with it. The Kindle isn't light enough to just hold up on its own either, I normally set both of them down on a surface.
@Joseph L Flatley I *think* what he means is that you say it's pretty damn nice, but only provide a critique on what it is lacking. So, the question is, what makes this "damn nice?"
Guys the Neo is a rebranded Onyx Boox which was launched by our store in the states at the beginning of the year http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/30/dulin-s-books-brings-onxys-boox-60-6-inch-e-reader-to-us-shores/
Its one of the top rated/recommended readers by users/owners much better than the nook and at least equal to the kindle. It supports more formats than the kindle. The Boox version does support MP3s so its strange that Bebook hasnt implemented the support in their firmware version.
$299-$339 is the price for the Boox 60 and it includes the cover that Bebook charges you extra for.
It also has a webkit browser- I just read this article and typed this reply on my Boox 60.
And B&N just sent me a $50 coupon, just for registering.
The 3 ring control allows you to operate the device without ever using the pen. its very intuitive unlike what the review said.
zullnero- the os is open and the devkit is out and being used by the community already. we have several apps already ported to it like calculators and games etc.
there will be a kobo "app" soon for buying directly from kobo (and others to follow) but as it is right now you can buy and download content from anybody except amazon right from the device using the wifi.
@charlied you ought to preface your comment with a disclaimer stating your relation to the company device. You sound like a 3rd party non biased reviewer until we get to the second paragraph and you say "we".
You claim the interface is intuitive, well if you had a hand in designing/building/testing it I'd assume you'd think so.
sorry i thought i made in it clear in my first post where i said " it was launched by our store". But I truly believe what i said, its why we chose to stock the device. and by we I meant owners/users. I have several great new apps on my personal device thanks to the user community in China Russia and the US
I returned the Nook and bought the Sony Pocket Reader. Using Calibre, I am not limited to which Ebook store to use.
The Nook is sluggish and has lots of bells and whistles that I never use. The Pocket Reader is smaller and more nimble. I got it used (but looks brand new) from Amazon marketplace for $105 //
I'd buy a BeBook just to pretend it had something to do with BeBox and the brilliant failure of the Be Operating System.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS
If we're sick of e-readers, it's only because you beat the subject into the ground with the over hype of the Kindle.
Yar, the BeBook was once the definitive guide to all things BeOS!
http://www.haiku-os.org/legacy-docs/bebook/
I'd probably put the BeBook on the BeBook if I had one.
I'm sorry but this post is a bunch of BS. That bebook is the same as the Onyx Boox 60, which I have for a week now. (Their firmware is interchangeable)
It plays back mp3 just fine, wacom can be used anywhere (I hardly use the jogwheel, only for pageturns) in the menu and every ebook format it knows (which is probably all of them). Even the wifi works quite well.
I agree it is a bit heavy and a bit expensive, but both bearable, since it is the most feature packed (only 3G missing) and they are coming out with a new firmware every month.