Bookeen, a well-established European ereader company based in France, announced a new ebook reader this week, the Cybook Odyssey.
What makes the Cybook Odyssey unique is the fact that it is the first ereader equipped with Bookeen’s new High Speed Ink System technology, HSIS for short.
Bookeen says they’ve been working on the HSIS for two years and claim that “the Cybook Odyssey paves the way for a new generation of e-Readers” and that it has an “instantly reactive screen”.
They give a few teaser details about the Cybook Odyssey but not much. It has a 6-inch E Ink Pearl touchscreen, Wi-Fi, and a modified 800MHz Cortex A8 processor.
The Cybook Odyssey will be released in Europe in the “forthcoming weeks” for an undisclosed price.
Below is a video that Bookeen uploaded to YouTube 4 months back showing how fast they’ve managed to get webpage scrolling on an E Ink screen, and provides a sneak peak of what to expect from the Cybook Odyssey. The caption for the video reads: “A new example of Bookeen’s R&D innovation for the next generation of Cybook readers…”
That’s what I am talking about. Now just add a color filter and a plastic display with a lower price point -kiss the physical book goodbye.
BTW -reviewers need to be way more critical. Today’s eReaders do not work well. The experience is lacking and the prices are too high. Why are they all priced around the same? Price fixing? We need an eInk competitor.
They cost the same because they use the same components.
And they use the same components because alternatives (bistate mono LCD, SiPix) can’t match Eink’s price and/or performance.
Very impressive video! Worst thing about current e-ink readers (even the Nook Touch, which is claimed by B&N to have “reduced flashing”) is the constant flashing that makes web browsing all but intolerable.
If this new ereader, or the new e-ink, eliminates flashing as shown in the video, then an ereader will be my go-to device for informational browsing. Hurray!
(But for entertainment, of course, I would still need a color screen.)