I bought a new ebook reader. It is the Infibeam PI (www.infibeam.com/PI) . I have seen and used both the Amazon Kindle and Sony ebook reader. The main reason I selected the PI is because it was available in India. I did not have to wait for weeks to get my hands on it.
I will not go into detailed comparisons between the three readers I have used. The reason I bought the ebook is to read books. Although that sounds rather a stupid thing to say, I found some features on Kindle quite superfluous to book reading. Like the space consuming keyboard. I dont know of any book which comes with a keyboard, so why should an ebook come with one. If I have to surf the net, I will use my laptop to do it.
The whole buying process was easy and seamless. Delivery happened within 3 working days. The only regret I had was my father was not there to see this. He was pretty excited with the concept of an ebook reader and I had entrusted him with the duty of checking the condition of the parcel when it arrived to make sure it was not tampered with in any way.
PI is very easy and intuitive to use. The reading is very clear and my impression was that it has better contrast than both Kindle and Sony e-reader although I may be wrong and the "endowment effect" may be working here on me. The device is pretty light and is easy to carry around and also to read while lying down (the only way I read books).
I had ordered a cover for the reader and that is the only part I was not fully satisfied with. The cover cost me Rs. 299 (about $6.5) and is actually pretty poor. It looks cheap and the quality is also not up to the mark.
But luckily, the cover is NOT typical of the reader. The reader is pretty good and the only feature I think that would enhance it's attraction is to have a touchscreen. I know that it would bump up its price a bit, but maybe it would be worth it.
Overall, even without looking at the price (cost me Rs. 9999 - about $222), PI is a great product and I would suggest all Indian buyers of ebook readers to try it before opting for a Sony/Kindle as long the latter are not available in India.
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