Following the announcement last week of the new Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight, Bookeen can now reveal a few more details and technical specifications about its new e-reader and what makes it different to other devices which are currently available on the market.
More about the FrontLight by Bookeen
The light is guided to the surface of the display through a thin light layer. It illuminates the text and enhances the contrast. The FrontLight solution turns the eBook screen into a spectacular white page. The light is not emitted from the back or from above. It is a completely innovative technology which creates a layer of light. Therefore, FrontLight evenly illuminates the screen and makes reading much easier. Michaël Dahan, Bookeen CEO: “With the Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight we have designed a device for readers who want to enjoy their favorite books at any time of day wherever they are.”
The FrontLight is inbuilt with a great lighting system which is easy on the eyes, offering an amazing reading experience.
A new generation of E Ink HD display
The Cybook Odyssey HD display (758 x 1024 resolution) is the most advanced e-reader display. It has 62% more pixels than current e-readers and is extremely comfortable for your eyes.
Laurent Picard, Bookeen General Manager: “With so many dots per inch, text has never been so sharp and pictures have never been so crisp on an E Ink display: our algorithms which have been optimised over the years really show their true potential. With the FrontLight allowing people to read in all lighting conditions, we offer an unprecedented experience in terms of reading comfort.”
When and Where will the Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight be available?
In France this new Cybook will be released in November within Cultura, Virgin Megastore, Decitre, Le Furet du Nord… and other leading European retailers will be announced soon including in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain…
The pre-order campaign will start this Friday October 26th on Bookeen.com and soon with Bookeen’s partnering stores.
Based in Paris, France, selling Cybooks in more than 50 countries, the Bookeen team – experts in e-books since 1998 – have developed numerous e-reading solutions over the past 13 years (Hardware and software). Bookeen is proud to be bringing innovation to the market through this new FrontLight technology or HSIS, a technology featured for the first time in its Cybook Odyssey device.
Bookeen also offers its very own bookstore solution, featured on the Cybook Orizon & Odyssey devices and accessible online at BookeenStore.com
Jean-François Kitten, jf@licencek.com +33 6 11 29 30 28.
Imogen Bailey, i.bailey@licencek.com +33 1 83 64 77 06
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
| Display | 6 inch E Ink Pearl V220 |
| Touchscreen | Capacitive multi-touch |
| Resolution | 758 X 1024 (HD) |
| FrontLight | Invisible laminated light guide film
Anti-glare treatment |
| CPU | Cortex A8 Texas Instruments OMAP3611 (800MHz) |
| RAM | 128MB Low Power DDR |
| Size | 166 x 120 x 9,4 mm |
| Weight | 180 g / 6.35 oz |
| Memory | 2GB iNAND + MicroSDHC up to 32GB |
| OS | Linux 2.6 |
| Buttons | Dedicated buttons to turn pages + main Menu/ FrontLight button |
| Software features | PDF reflow/ notes/ bookmarks/ highlights/ dictionary/ 20 font sizes/ personalization screensaver mode |
| Web Browser | WebKit based |
| User interface | HSIS, ultra-reactive |
| Menus | Scrollable |
| Battery life | 1600mAh
Weeks of battery life, even with activated FrontLight |
| Content ebook formats | EPUB, PDF, Adobe DRM, HTML, TXT, FB2 |
| Content picture formats | JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, ICO, TIF, PSD |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) |
| Languages
Dictionaries |
User Interface available in 23 languages
French (Le Nouveau Littré) , Italian & German (Wiktionaries) |
| Firmware Upgrades | OTA (Over The Air), SD card, USB connection |
| Activation | OTA (Over The Air), USB connection |
| Shop interface | HD Mobile optimized webshop
|
| USB | Micro-USB 2.0 for transferring files and charging |
| Offered content | + 100 books included |
| Warranty | 1 year full service warranty |
Bookeen blog 
Is it possible to turn the light off? The main point with e-ink is that you don’t have to stare into a lamp like you do on a computer. Your new lighting may help, but being sensitive to artificial light I wouldn’t bet on it.
/John
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Hello John, thanks for your comment. The frontlight is off by default, you can turn it on whenever you are in low lighting conditions and need a little help to read. Also you can adjust the brightness, and the lowest level is very faint. This allows you to get the full benefits of a comfortable e-ink reading experience in all conditions, from bright sunlight to dark rooms. I’m also very sensitive to artificial light and can’t read on a computer or other backlit device but I’m not bothered by the Frontlight. I hope this answers your questions.
Best,
Bookeen Team
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Hello! Does the reader still support mp3-files?
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Hello Tim,
audio is no longer supported on the new models of the Cybook Odyssey.
Best regards,
Bookeen Team
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Thanks! Sounds promising.
/John
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What about Cyrillic fonts?
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Hello Yegor,
The Cybook can display texts written with Cyrillic fonts. You may need to install the necessary font files in the “fonts” folder of your Cybook’s internal memory.
Best regards,
Bookeen Team
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hi, i’m looking forward to this refresh of your e-readers.
both sony and amazon seem to have dropped audiobook support on their last models and i dont see any audio format in your specs. Did you do the same with this frontlight Hd? That would be sad for this otherwise promising product!
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Hello corloutre,
the Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight does not support audio playback.
Thanks for your message,
Bookeen Team
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Hi,
When will the reader become available for pre-order in Canada? Right now clicking the “pre-order” button goes to the store’s error page (http://www.bookeen.com/shop/canada/index.php/cybook/odyssey/cybook-odyssey-hd-frontlight.html).
Also, is it possible to hide the page number at the bottom of the screen? Some photos actually show the screen without it, but I want to make sure it is possible and the picture is not just a marketing stunt.
Thank you,
Alex
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Hello Alex,
I’ve passed along your message to our web team so they can correct the error on our site.
Concerning the display, you can choose whether to display the header and / or the footer on your Cybook. These options are available via the menu.
Best regards,
Bookeen Team
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Without using frontlight, how long will during the battery? Will be th e-redeare avaible in Italy?
Thanks.
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Hello Ryo,
the battery will last several weeks if you don’t use the frontlight, but the specific time will depend how much you use your Cybook, and how (internet use, lots of dictionary lookups, navigation…).
The Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight will be available in Italy either by ordering directly from our website, or via our local resellers.
Best regards,
Bookeen Team
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Is it possible listen an MP3 while reading an ebook??
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Hello Saro,
audio playback is not available on the Odyssey HD FrontLight.
Best regards,
Bookeen Team
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Hi,
When will the reader become available for pre-order in Canada? Right now clicking the “pre-order” button goes to the store’s error page (http://www.bookeen.com/shop/canada/index.php/cybook/odyssey/cybook-odyssey-hd-frontlight.html).
Also, is it possible to hide the page number at the bottom of the screen? Some photos actually show the screen without it, but I want to make sure it is possible and the picture is not just a marketing stunt.
Thank you,
Alex
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Hello Alex,
I’ve passed along your message to our web team so they can correct the error on our site.
Concerning the display, you can choose whether to display the header and / or the footer on your Cybook. These options are available via the menu.
I hope this answers your question.
Best regards,
Bookeen Team
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Will this ever be available in the states? I’ve been looking for an e-reader with a combination of a microSD slot, backlight, good resolution, and support of the EPUB format.
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Hello Ben, you can order directly from us on our site and we’ll be happy to ship to you anywhere in the world. 🙂 http://www.bookeen.com/en/
Best regards,
Bookeen Team
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Hi,
It’s still impossible to order the reader and ship it to Canada 😦
error message:
http://www.bookeen.com/shop/canada/index.php/cybook/odyssey/cybook-odyssey-hd-frontlight.html
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Hello Alex,
I’m very sorry, the Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight is not currently available in the US or Canada, pending approval by the FCC. We hope to be able to ship to North America soon however as this delay does not depend on us, I am unable to give you a firm date at this time.
Best regards,
Bookeen Team
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Why is there no english-to-english dictionary? There are many people in Europe who are not native French, German or Italian speakers and would only want to read e-books either in English or in their own language!! For them, the other three dictionaries are useless! This is a terrible omission on behalf of Bookeen, whereas the competition is way forward in this respect. At least for me, and for many other people I suppose, this is a deal-breaker. Is the new Odyssey targeted towards speakers of these 3 languages only???
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Hello Marlowe,
more dictionaries are available for your Cybook Odyssey, including english. Please see our blog here for more details: https://blog.bookeen.com/dictionary-beta-tests-go/ In addition, one of our users has kindly created a tool which will allow you to create your own dictionary, which you can find here: http://code.google.com/p/penelope-dictionary-converter/
Best regards,
Bookeen Team
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My 2 cents…
Overall the Frontlight is great, playing with it now for nearly a week.
But there are some cons.
No search function at all, why is that?
The “recent books” section does not work with books from the SD card (at least not with more than one book), which again makes it hard to read a few books at once.
And it is nice to be able to revert the page buttons, but why not a setting like “both buttons page forward”? This is qhat you need 99% of the time, and if you need to page back you still could “touch”.
I hop eto see soon a new firmware here http://www.bookeen.com/en/support_download?idPart=2 (which right now does not even know the frontlight reader!)
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Hello WS64,
thanks for your message. Please feel free to send your feedback directly to our tech team using the contact form on our site: http://www.bookeen.com/en/contactUs
Best regards,
Bookeen Team
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