Design:

Elegant:

BeBook Neo is one of the most stylish ereaders we have tested; its white plastic exterior gives it an elegant and simple look that is easy on the eyes. It is true that the Sony PRS-600 most likely pips it to the post for absolute style, thanks to its all-metal framework, but the white plastic front and simple control bunch of the neo gives it a clean simplicity that the consumers will just fall in love with. In addition to this, the sandblasted aluminium flipside gives it a rock-hard feel nothing like the all plastic models like the ones in Bookeen CyBook and iRiver Story.

Love it or Hate it:

When it comes to rear, there is split opinion when comfort is considered. Unlike a soft aluminium finish that is liked by most consumers, the Neo’s finishing is quite rough, like1000 grit sanding paper. While some of you might consider this as a surface with an excellent grip, others might find it distinctly uncomfortable, like it is slowly smoothing your fingertips away. It may prove uncomfortable for people who prefer smooth exteriors like that of Apple products. It also appears to add some weight, because at 312g, which is about the weight of a small hardback novel, it is nearly double the weight of the all-plastic alternatives.

Display:

The all important display is as nice to read as with any other e-book reader we have seen. This latest BeBook gadget still makes use of the e-ink display, but it now comes out with touch panel technology from WACOM to add writing functionality to the gadget. Thanks to its e-ink technology, it suffers no ill effects from being viewed at an angle and it remains visible, indeed it becomes easier to read, the brighter your surroundings. The grayscale is 16, and this means that it possesses 16 unique shades of gray. If you are asking us how will it alter your experience of reading, well, when it is just text, you will not notice much change. The excellent range of sixteen gray shades have their effect over the images. This also means that you will receive a cover art that is more detailed for your books and also broadens the spectrum of what you can browse on the internet. Since it does not have the backlight feature, it is also easy on the eyes, making it comfortable to read from for hours on end. As we have seen with most e-book readers, the screen is a bit small and its total area is only about half that of a typical novel page. However, page turning speed is better than on some first generation devices so “flicking” through pages is not quite so much of a hassle. The stylus provided allows you to flip pages, as well add footnotes to, add notes, sketch, and highlight stuff. There is also an QWERTY keyboard onboard for entering texts.