Bookeen has announced two new e-readers today, the Cybook Muse Essential and FrontLight. These devices feature a capacitive touchscreen display and their screens are completely flush with the bezel, much akin to the Kobo Aura.
The Cybook Muse has a 6 inch screen allowing for easy reading in all conditions, while reducing the size of the e-reader by 17% in comparison to its predecessor, the Cybook Odyssey. The resolution is 1024 x 758, and has 213 DPI.
Underneath the hood is a 800 MHZ Freescale processor and 4 GB of internal storage. It does have support for an MicroSD card, so you can simply insert one in to store thousands of additional titles. Speaking of eBooks, there is a built in store loaded on the two e-readers, the press release said there is over 100,000 titles. I know with the Cybook Ocean, it did have an option in the settings menu, to allow users to connect up to any eBook store they want, as long as the titles are being sold in PDF or EPUB.
The one facet that Bookeen is really getting behind is eliminating most buttons on e-readers. They decided to go with a simple home button and physical page turn keys on the left and right hand side. If you don’t dig the tectonic feel of these keys, you can simply utilize the touchscreen.
Bookeen is borrowing a page out of Amazons playbook by bundling the font Caecilia. This is the same font that is the default on the new Kindle Basic Touch and Kindle Voyage. The thing I like about this font, is combined with the resolution it is sure to allow the text pop from the screen and take advantage of the higher DPI.
These e-readers will be available to pre-order on November 5th on the main Bookeen website and will start shipping on the 14th. The Cybook Muse Essential should cost 79€ or $99 USD and the Cybook Muse FrontLight should cost 99€ or $129 USD.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.