We’ve all heard of the Sony Reader, the still yet to be released in UK – Amazon Kindle, or perhaps some others, but that’s just because the big boys are making more noise in the market of ebook readers. When you did a bit deeper in your search for your first ebook reader you’ll discover some gems that should be considered. It’ll of course come down to personal preference but here’s a nifty little reader that is worth looking at. It’s the Ectaco Jetbook ebook reader.

Launched in the US, in 2008 and now available in the UK, the Ectaco Jetbook has an LCD screeen unlike like many of the others that use Eink. It doesn’t have a backlight though so it avoid the threat of glare and viewing fatigue. Instead, ambient light reflects off the screen which also means that you don’t get the delay and black out of the eink page turns. It’s much quicker.

The Ectaco Jetbook measures about 6 inches tall with a 5 inch diagnonal screen that goes close to the edge of the device’s front. The device is well built with solid and sturdy plastic. It’s not the lightest of ebook readers at 210 grams but it’s very easy to hold and comfortable over long periods of time. The buttons are solid and easy to handle. It sits in your hand easily and seems to stick to it with the rougher surface finish to the plastic.

The are 6 font sizes ranging from 12 to 32 point which is impressive but only 2 type of fonts – verdana and arial. Some would have preferred a serif font to be included too I bet but it’s not a big deal and it’s worth doing some exploration to see if more can be added.

Ectaco’s heritage is in translators and dictionaries, so the built in dictionary was expected and from what I can see is extensive and supports a range of translations too. One great feature of the Jetbook is the flexibility of the folder structure. You can create your own directories to organise your books into the genres or by favourites – actually, anyway you wish.

The screen can be rotated hy 90 degrees and documents can be viewed in both vertical and horiziontal landscape positions and page turning buttons accomodate both with ease. The Jetbook can handle most formats but due to the size some PDFs will struggle on the smaller 5 inch screen if the’ve been formatted for A4 size. There are tools available to optimize PDFs for ebook devices.

Syncing and adding files onto the Ectago Jetbook is easy. The device doesn’t requite a desktop client so it’s just a matter of plugging it in and dropping files onto the folder that appears as a removable drive.

The Jetbook retails at just under $250 so in the same ball park as the Sony Reader. We’re waiting to here more from Ectaco and then we’ll do a more in-depth review of the Jetbook but for now, you can see a video review below.

Ectaco Jetbook ebook reader Specifications

Size: 153 x 109 x 13mm, 6″ x 4.3 x 0.5″.  Fits inside jacket pockets easily

Weight: 7.4 oz / 210grms

Casing: Choice of Dark burgundy, Graphite, Gray, and White colored – non-disturbing, non-reflective, long lasting paint, does not get dirty

Screen: 5-INCH VGA MONOCHROME REFLECTIVE-TYPE TFT LCD, 5-inch VGA Monochrome reflective-type TFT LCD screen – high contrast with eye friendly background and 180 degree viewing area

Very good contrast between very light greenish background and black letters. Eyes do not get tired. Immediate page turn (screen update) without any flash or artifacts.

Screen size: 5 inch – 105mm x 79mm. Edge to edge reading field.

Screen rotation: 90 degrees

Power: 11,500 page turns in a single charge.

Charging: 4 hours on accessory double USB cable, 5 hours with in car adapter. 4 hours from supplied power adapter.

Languages: Supports and auto detects English, Danish, Dutch, Serbian, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Albanian, Croatian, Ukrainian, Italian, German, French, Portuguese, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, ,  Bulgarian and other European languages.

Interface: Large interface buttons in English, Russian or Polish. All messages, function support, and built-in manuals available in English, Polish and Russian. More languages to come soon

Fonts: 2 built in fonts (Arial and Verdana) in 6 available sizes from small 12 pt to huge 32 pt, page justification or left side alignment

Page turning: 8 different convenient settings for automatic page turning with Off function. 3 sets of keys for various settings

Find in text function: Language sensitive regular and T9 search plus numeric search

Bookmarking: Unlimited number of bookmarks for further reference. Page resume function for easy access of last read page, “Jump to page #” function and “Word search” function

Jetbook Memory: Internal – 128MB with 112MB available for up to 1,000 books. External - Up to 2GB SD card holds about 10,000 books, audio books and pictures.

Book titles: Unlimited. 30 popular WEB sites that we have located hold at least 500,000 FREE access books and audiobooks. You can also request a title from us which we will find and send to you right away. Ectaco claim that they will run a free search for you to find the book you are looking for for free.

Document formats: .TXT, .PDF, .FB2, ePub, Mobi, .PRC, .RTF .JPG, .GIF, .PNG, .BMP, .MP3, free format

Additional features: MP3 player, Picture viewer, built-in dictionaries

Warranty: 12 month international. Multi-lingual tech support available free Mon-Fri.

Optional accessories for the Ectaco Jetbook: Night reading light, Power USB cable, Car adapter, Travel kit with power plugs for different countries, External speaker for audiobooks, Safety strap, Silicone sleeve, Leather case, 1GB and 2GB SD cards with libraries,