Viewsonic have introduced their VEB 620 and VEB 625 devices into the ever-expanding e-reader market. Although the monochrome screens offer a good-looking E-ink appearance, the prices seem slightly in excess of what would be expected of a relatively basic machine. However, battery life is excellent, looks are good and the size is just right for many people seeking a truly portable device.
The e-reader market has been expanding at an enormous rate over the past two years, not only in terms of units purchased and companies entering the market, but also in terms of versatility and facilities offer with the units. Some are dedicated e-readers while others are predominantly cell phones, pad computers or other devices with eBook reading capability added.
Features have developed beyond E-ink and E-paper to other technologies, and color is now available. However, many businesses are still offering new monochrome products to the market that are fairly basic in their functionality. While many gadget lovers will snap up the models with the larger color roll-up screens, others, for whom an e-reader is nothing more than a convenient means of reading a book when traveling, will still prefer the attractive E-ink and E-paper that offers a look as close to a real book as you can get, and that is just as readable in bright or dull lighting conditions.
Many companies still provide basic e-readers, and Viewsonic is one of those, having introduced their latest offerings to the e-reader market with the VEB 620 and VEB 625: two no-frills machines that nevertheless will be popular with many due to their nice-looking monochrome 6.3 inch E-Ink screen that looks and feels like real paper and is very easy to read in direct sunlight. Although it is 2mm thicker than the latest Kindle (11mm vs 9mm) it is nevertheless slighter lighter at 240g vs 290g.
Their price is not the cheapest, with the VEB 620 coming in at £175 and the wireless version, the VEB 625, priced at £205. This might prove to be a disadvantage, and these e-readers are currently available only in Europe with no announcements on immediate intentions for an American release. The price might come down when it reaches the States, but we shall wait and see how such a high figure for a basic black and white reader affects sales.
Both models offer an SD card slot, 2GB internal storage, with 1.5GB available for you to use, and an accelerometer. The 800 x 600 resolution screen contents automatically rotate and both models offer MP3 playability. The only difference between them, other than price, is in the Wi-Fi capability of the VEB 625. To make a comparison: another popular European e-reader Neo from Endless Ideas includes a 512mb basic memory, a micro SD card slot and, according to the article "A Quick Look At The Bebook Neo", there is also 3.5mm headset jack because the system has a Text2Speech feature (Digital Book Readers).
Although the MP3 player will significantly reduce battery life, the Li-ion battery offers the power to support that, and when used as an e-reader the 620 offers 8,000 page turns, enough for more than twenty books, while the 625 is restricted to 6500: so you sacrifice battery life for Wi-Fi connectivity. Viewsonic will win fans with the versatility of VEB series, reading Epub, FB2, txt, rtf, html, htm and PDF file formats. You can read your favorite books in any of these formats, and not only can the e-readers be held comfortably in one hand, but, since it smaller than the average paperback, it can also be carried in a jacket pocket.
A possible confusion lies in the 3G capability that many believe it to have, but for which there is no mention other than the 3G inscribed on the bottom edge of the device in its promotional pictures. Whatever this means, neither model appears to support 3G connectivity and there has been no indication that it is planned for the future. In fact, the value of 3G to a monochrome device is debatable.
In conclusion, then, the Viewsonic VEB 620 and VEB 625 are fairly basic devices, though are versatile in the range of file formats offered. Nevertheless, the price tag for each appears a bit high for e-readers offering such a limited number of features, although this might change when it reaches the other side of the Atlantic. At the current prices, Viewsonic will find it very difficult to compete with the Kindle or most of the other similarly priced e-readers by offering such basic features, since most are now looking for color and internet connectivity.
The e-reader scene has become extremely competitive and it makes sense to believe that in order to compete significantly, a new product must offer either advantages in features, looks and functionality over the rest of the competition or present a compelling price advantage. So far as the Viewsonic VEB 620 and VEB 625 are concerned, the jury is out on whether or not they offer either of these.
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