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 A previous TechTip introduced the eBook reader, a powerful and portable device for reading electronic books. After reading that article, you might be wondering what devices are on the market. Once upon a time, pickings were quite slim. Not any more.
You now have a range of choices. Different manufacturers, different models, different capabilities. There's an eBook reader for every gadget lover – from the person who wants every feature to someone who wants a simple but functional gadget. This time around we'll be looking at some of those choices.
 Amazon Kindle
If there's a poster child for the new generation of eBook readers, it's definitely the Amazon Kindle. Since it's release in November, 2007 the Kindle has not only become a best seller (it's consistently sold out), but has also set the standard by which other eBook readers are judged.
What makes the Kindle special? Besides being backed by online retailer Amazon.com, the Kindle stands out because of its wireless capabilities. The Kindle uses the high-speed EVDO mobile phone network. You can quickly download books directly to the Kindle (well, only if you live in the U.S.). That means you don't have to fiddle with USB cables or worry about having to download the books to your PC and then syncing the Kindle.
One of the other main strengths of the Kindle is the Kindle bookstore. You get access to over 200,000 newspapers, magazines, books, and even blogs. Retailing for $359, the price isn't too bad.
The Kindle's specification's aren't too shabby, either. It packs a six inch screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, 64 MB of memory, and 265 MB of internal storage (which can hold about 200 books). You can expand that storage with an SD card. It's not spectacular, but it's not bad.
Drawbacks? One is the limited number of eBook formats that the Kindle supports – including one that supports the much-maligned DRM. Some people have complained about the ergonomics of the device. The keyboard, they claim, is hard to use.
BeBook
 I've got a soft spot in my heart for the BeBook. It's the eBook reader that I've been using for the last few months. So much so that I've rarely picked up an actual paper book in that time.
The BeBook isn't an original device. It's a rebranded version of a device called the Hanlin eReader. The main difference is that the BeBook uses custom firmware which expands the capabilities of the device.
When you look at the specs of the BeBook, you'll notice that they're a little better than those of a lot of the competition. It packs 512 MB of internal storage (enough for anywhere from 500 to 1,000 books), a six inch screen, and the ability to expand the storage with an SD card. On top of that, it supports a wide range of eBook formats – more than most readers on the market. It's also a little cheaper than the competition, costing $349.99 (U.S.) plus shipping (the company is in the Netherlands).
The BeBook has something else going for it: a passionate and active user community. The BeBook forum is filled with tips, tricks, and advice from users as well as technical support information. I've always thought that a measure of a good product is the passion of its user community. And the BeBook definitely has that.
On the downside, the BeBook can be a bit slow when turning pages and sometimes hangs. The built-in readers occasionally don't play well with certain files. I've had trouble with a few PDFs and one or two eBooks in Mobipocket format.
 iLiad
Ever watch Star Trek: The Next Generation or its spinoffs? Remember those little devices called PADDs that everyone did their reading on? Well, the iLiad from iRex Technologies is a lot like that.
In many ways, the iLiad comes close to being what many enthusiasts would consider to be the ideal eBook reader. It has one of the biggest screens of any eBook reader out there (eight inches) and has wireless capabilities. But what really sets the iLiad apart from the competition is its touch screen. It has a built-in Wacom graphics tablet. Yes, similar to the ones that graphic artists use. With the stylus that comes with the device, you can write and draw on the screen, or just use the iLiad's menus.
The rest of the iLiad's specs are pretty much par for the course for an eBook reader. These include 256 MB of internal memory (which you can expand using a USB flash drive, an SD card, or an MMC card), 64 MB of cialis generica target=”_blank” title=”http://www.geeks.com/products.asp?cat=RAM&cm_mmc=geekmail-_-techtips-_-18JAN09_techtips-_-storylink”>memory, and a 400 MHz processor.
The main drawback? Price, of course. It's one of the more expensive devices out there, costing about $699 (U.S.) or $899 for the tablet-like Digital Reader.
Sony Reader
 The Sony Reader is the latest in electronics giant Sony's line of eBook devices. The latest one lies somewhere between the BeBook and the iLiad and Kindle. It's packed with a number of features, but lacks certain bells and whistles.
The Sony Reader (also called the PRS-700) isn't too bad a device overall. It has a six inch touch screen – which you can use as a virtual keyboard a la the iPhone, to take notes, or to turn pages – an LED light for reading in low light, 512 MB of internal storage, and the ability to expand the device's storage up to 32 GB using a Sony Memory Stick or an SD card.
It also has a decent range of supported eBook, image, and audio formats. Surprisingly, given Sony's checkered past in this area, the reader only supports three Digital Rights Management-enabled eBook formats. On top of that, it's overly expensive at $399 (U.S.). And Sony has its own eBook store with a strong selection of titles.
A big disappointment with the Sony Reader is that it lacks wireless capabilities. In the past, the refresh rate of Sony eBook reader screens (the number of times that the screen needs to draw the screen to render a page) left something to be desired. This has gotten better with the PRS-700, but it's not on par with some of the device's competitors.
On the horizon
Like any other area of technology, there's always something new on the horizon for eBooks. Most of the upcoming eBook readers aren't that compelling. But I found two very intriguing devices that are poised to hit the market.
 First off is the Foxit eSlick. It's a light, thin, and very simple little device from a company that's better known for its PDF software than for putting out hardware. The eSlick packs a six inch screen, can display PDF and text files, and has one of the simplest interfaces around – a couple of buttons and that's about it. With a pre-order price of $229.99 (U.S.), it's the least expensive eBook reader that I've seen.
The Readius, on the other hand, is one of the more innovative gadgets that I've seen in a long time. It's billed as the first pocket eReader. From the photos at the product's Web site, it certainly looks that way. The Readius fits in the palm of your hand. But that's not where the innovation lies. The Readius has what's called a rollable display. You literally pull the screen out of the device. On top of that, it will support wireless and Bluetooth. It will also pack an email client, an image viewer, and an RSS reader.
Finding out more
This TechTip only touched the surface of what's available on the eBook reader market. If you want to learn about the other devices out there, then check out the eBook reader matrix at the Mobileread wiki, or take a peek at this article at Wikipedia.
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