E-Reader Reviews

Overall
Usability
Design
Value for money

I love my bebook. I’ve had mine for a year and have only grown more and more attached to it. I did a LOT of research before buying. I’m in the USA, and Amazon’s Kindle was tempting, but the limited formats and especially the dreadful design of the first model put me off completely. Sony had similar problems. Others were just too expensive. Bebook was nearly perfect. (Far too expensive, like all readers, but still the best in my opinion.) No DRM formats at first, but it read just about anything else you could throw at it. The ability to read drm’d mobipocket books was strongly hinted at as a future upgrade, and that helped my decision to buy as well. It wasn’t a long wait for the upgrade, and the ability to buy mobipocket books skyrocketed the devices value to me. It’s plastic, yes, but it’s well made and I’ve never had any fear of breaking it. Common sense, people! Don’t toss it about or use it as a wheel stop and you’ll be fine. It’s a piece of tech, treat it as such. PDF files are a problem with ALL readers unless they are formatted correctly. Bebook reads properly formatted pdf files beautifully. I have never had a single problem with computer connectivity. I’ve used bebook with Microsoft Windows and Linux and had no problems. Very rarely the bebook will reboot itself for no apparent reason. This is quite annoying, but again, very rare. Upgrades are posted on the main site and are simple to install. I’m always anxious to see what improvements, new features and hopefully new drm formats will become available. Bebook doesn’t have wireless capabilities, but that wasn’t important to me and most other readers lack it as well. The one feature that I wish bebook had is a full keyboard of some kind, even a software keyboard that you had to scroll through the letters would be better than nothing. This isn’t a huge problem, but it would add versatility and allow better use of dictionaries, encyclopedias and text searches.. So, no keyboard is my only real gripe, and it’s a small gripe. I have never regretted my purchase. Buy from the mybebook site for $279. Comes with a very nice protective cover as well. You can also buy a luxury case, but the one that comes with it looks better to me that the “luxury” case.

Update: Silly me. There IS a software keyboard, sort of. I think it only works with certain mobipocket books. Anyhow, I read that it worked, so I bought a dictionary and an encyclopedia. It not only worked, but it’s very easy and intuitive to use to search for articles or definitions. I’m just tickled to death!! After writing the first part of this review I decided to go searching around to see if there were any plans for a software keyboard, or some kind of search function to be included in a future update. One forum post said that the function already existed. And, so it did. Even after a year I’m still finding neat new stuff I can do with my bebook. I load up the dictionary or encyclopedia, hit the ok button and choose #5 for “go to index,” then hit the ok button again and choose #1 for “search index.” This brings up a neat little search window, with the keypad numbers and the letters that correspond to that number. You just hit the number keys to spell out your word, then hit ok. Viola! The search box is easy to use and attractive, not some sloppily thrown together piece of programing. I lusted after the Kindle because it had free wikipedia access. I didn’t know I could search an encyclopedia on the bebook. I no longer lust after the Kindle at all. No SD card expansion on the new model, and no user changeable battery. WHat were they thinking? The bebook uses a common cell phone battery and it’s a snap to get to. Mine is still doing great, but should I need to change it, I can. It also has an SD card slot right on top of the device. Sorry, Amazon, but apart from wireless connectivity the Bebook has the Kindle beat.