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3G / WiFi-equipped BeBook 2 launching tomorrow?
Man, are people into reading, or what? Hot on the heels of the BeBook Mini launch in the US and news that Barnes & Noble could be introducing an e-reader of its own as early as next week, Endless Ideas is now rumored to have its BeBook 2 on deck for an October 14th release. And considering that it has a booth at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week, we'd say there's at least a decent chance that the rumors are true. If you'll recall, we snagged the first look at the company's first-ever 3G / WiFi-equipped e-book reader back at CeBIT in March (pictured above), and considering that there can really never be enough competition in the space, we'll take the promised touchscreen and free RSS support any way we can get it. We'll be cautiously watching the action tomorrow for a full reveal, and we'd recommend you do as well -- besides, it's not like that International Kindle is shipping before next week anyway.
BeBook mini and BeBook 2 priced, 3G added to the latter
Slowly but surely, those oh-so-juicy details are leaking out about Endless Ideas' upcoming duo of e-readers. We've now learned that the BeBook mini will boast the same specifications as the original BeBook, save for the much more compact 5-inch display; if all goes well, it should be available for purchase this summer for €199 ($270). Moving on to the BeBook 2, we've learned that it will include both WiFi and 3G access right out of the box, and the company is currently working with mobile operators in Germany and France in hopes of providing Kindle-like data access for on-the-go book downloads. Unfortunately, it looks like the asking price of that one will hover in the €350 ($476) to €400 ($544) range, but you can check out a Dutch interview with the new announcements just past the break.[Via Slashgear]
BeBook 2 e-reader revealed and in the wild at CeBIT 2009!
There it is, folks -- the BeBook 2. We knew Endless Ideas was bringing its next-generation BeBook to CeBIT, but we had no idea it'd be this well under wraps. We chatted with the company's CEO and managing director a bit about the direction of the BeBook as a whole, and they're very much believers in keeping format support wide open and giving readers the choice of where to pull content from. We were blessed with a few minutes of hands-on time with the new and improved e-reader, and while the software was still not finalized (thus our inability to photograph it more), we were impressed with what we saw. The next iteration of the BeBook should be a serious contender in the e-reader market, particularly in Europe where Amazon's Kindle has yet to invade. The inclusion of WiFi and 3G is a good move (great move, actually), as those two additions open up all sorts of possibilities that non-connected readers simply can't access. As for the device itself? We're digging it. The build quality felt remarkably sturdy, the aesthetics were beautiful and the thinness was certainly notable. The e-ink display has also stepped up the greyscale level from the original BeBook, and battery life should remain the same despite not being as bulky. As you can tell, the screen also supports doodling, and it tracked inputs as well as we could've hoped. We still couldn't pry out a price, but you can be on the lookout for this to drop worldwide somewhere in the Q3 to Q4 2009 time frame.