Are you looking for ebook readers in Singapore?

No, I don’t own iRiver Story Ebook, Hanlin or Amazon Kindle yet.

I was on the lookout for an ebook reader for all these while.  It’s mainly because of the emerging Amazon Kindle, I finally thought of getting an ebook reader.  It’s also because I have a lot of PDF files to read, and reading off from the laptop can be tiring to my eyes.  However, Amazon has discouraged me from buying when they are not supporting delivering the Kindle device as well as the Kindle contents to Singapore.  Although I have found a way to get the Kindle, it turned out that it may not be a good idea to get Kindle since it is not supported and it is really an expensive device.

Hence, I looked out for more choices.  Then, I found Hanlin at a blog after doing some google search around.  She gave a very detailed understanding of how the ebook device works.  I went ahead and look out for more ebook reader and found iRiver Story E-Book from the Challenger store at VivoCity.  I have mixed feelings about this, and even thought of buying it as I held it in my hands…

I will leave the technical details of iRiver with the HardwareZone website to explain to you.

My first impression of iRiver is with my experience using their MP3 players.  I could still remember how “fragile” it is even though it has so many functions all packed in one player.  It spoils quickly… And that was when I was still schooling… It’s quite disappointing at that time.

Hence, on my first day at the Challenger store, I played with this ebook reader for a very long time, and reading the contents within.  The screen feels like I am reading from paper… That’s because it is using e-ink technology.  According to my understanding in their press release, it looks like color version of e-ink version is just a matter of time as the technology giants are just playing with the market, pampering the color version only at a very later stage (so that they can continue to stay in business?).

In any case, I think black and white version is pretty good enough to last me for quite a while (if I ever had my hands on it…).  I went through the matrix comparison of different ebook readers.  After a couple of rounds, I have come to a conclusion that Hanlin is the best choice so far.  It supports the widest range of file formats, and even has wireless version.  The only unknown factor is whether it is supporting the reading of RSS feeds.  I had contacted Jinke and I am aiming to get my hands on their new A9 series…

Another reason why I am thinking of getting Hanlin A9 is that their ebook readers support APIs so I can develop or to get any additional applications out of the ebook reader!  In any case, I just wish I could get my hands on Hanlin as soon as I can!  (Possibly by my birthday? That’s only if Hanlin can fulfill that… But they will only do mass production in Q2 of 2010…)