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Infibeam Pi

At my workplace are doing some work with Infibeam for their new ereader Pi.

A quick rundown on the specs
(from the Infibeam site)

Height     188 mm
Width     118 mm
Thickness     9.5 mm
Weight     180 gm
Screen / Display

    * 6" E Ink® Vizplex
    * 600x800 pixels
    * No backlight. Daylight readable.

Battery Life     7 days

File Formats Supported
Books / Text     PDF, EPUB, HTML, TXT, MOBI, DOC
Images     JPG, BMP, PNG
Audio     MP3

Control & Connectors

    * 3 mm Audio Earphone Connector
    * SD Card Slot
    * Mini USB Slot
    * Button for 4-Way Navigation & Selection.
    * Buttons back, home, plus / minus for size changes etc.

Internal Memory     512 MB
SD Card Slot upto 4GB

    * Screen Rotate for landscape / portrait views
    * Search inside a book or document
    * Game Play by Function Key & Navigation for Soduku

How does it feel
It is light. Much lighter than the Kindle. However, somehow you don't get the same intuitive feel as when you hold the Kindle. The Kindle UI can be used either handed, especially when you hold it for long periods and one hand gets tired

The first iteration of putting our India Today on it shows that the Infibeam team has put in a lot more thought into the presenting the magazine.

In the Kindle edition of India Today, the magazine runs like one solid block of text, without any formatting, indentation, tables etc. as if it were a book.

The Infibeam guys on the other hand have put in some effort in making the content presentable. It actually nicer to read, because of all the formatting elements introduced.

So to answer the eternal question. Is it worth it? At 10K a pop it is definitely worth a look as an alternative to the Kindle whose landed cost in India is Rs 18000 (Rs. 16000 is you got a customs refund).

This coupled with the fact that the Kindle does not do Indian languages and the Pi does, is a huge leg up for the Pi. Those reading books in Indian languages should definitely be looking at the Pi. Find out more about the Pi here.

The Kindle remains an attractive option for whoever is travelling and finds it necessary use the Internet to get his books. Also if you are subscribing to a few magazines and newspapers and rely on automatic wireless delivery. Then the Kindle is currently unbeatable. You can read about or get your Kindle here.

For a detailed thoughts on using the Kindle in India, see the post "Kindle in India" and a mini-faq on Kindle see this post "Kindle on the Delhi Metro"
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Comments

  1. InfiBeam5:18 PM

    Dear Chirag,

    We are glad that you are liking the Pi!

    At Infibeam, we always take pride in serving the customers to the best of our ability. We appreciate that you have enjoyed using the Pi and hope for a long and fruitive association with you in the future.

    Regards,
    InfiBeam

    ReplyDelete
  2. RollerCoaster1:28 PM

    hey Chirag, nice post

    I love the fact that there is an indian book reader coming up.

    I still like the kindle simply for the wireless but I if anyone non-tech asks then I would definitely recommend Pi as it naively supports all Indian languages.

    Do you know if one can buy ebooks from infibeam without buying a Pi? It would be great if they can offer the latest and greatest indian books in ebook format.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chirag1:58 PM

    Yes you can. But I believe all their books are encrypted PDF. So presumably they won't work on the Kindle.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Manish9:21 PM

    The infibeam just re branded the reader, here is there supplier http://www.ctaindia.asia/index_files/Page1168.htm

    I am buying a different better model from this Indian Supplier itself.. have a look http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EGriverIDEO.JPG

    Do comment.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chirag11:17 AM

    The supplier is charging more (12K+) than the end retailer(10K)? Wow!

    Get your facts straight. The supplier is not CTAIndia. This is a common design also in use for sometime by Bookeen. http://www.bookeen.com/shop/productdetails.aspx?ProductID=417. The supplier is actually http://www.netronixinc.com/

    Even if it is a rebranded device. So what? Without content, book readers are useless. I don't think CTA India is in any position to provide it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dipankar12:14 PM

    Dear Chirag,

    Thanks for the nice review on Infibeam Pi...very helpfull !!

    I just purchased the product - and had a query pls. Since you have been using this product for some time, could you help me with this pls..

    My query is - How to know when charging is complete and the battery is fully charged. Someone at Infibeam said the top indicator with turn green - but even after charging for 5 hours, its still showing green.

    Would appreciate your comments on this pls..

    Best Regards.

    Dipankar

    ReplyDelete
  7. Aman11:34 AM

    hey chirag...nice reviews..

    i want to know whether pdf viewing is good on infibeam pi...can u zoom in on pdf files??

    from what ive heard n read pdf viewing is pretty useless on kindle becoz there is no zoom in function...

    Aman

    ReplyDelete
  8. Chirag3:42 PM

    @Dipankar. It is supposed to turn green. But I haven't noticed it.

    @Aman
    Pdf viewing is avaoidable here. Even on the Kindle you can zoom (after a fashion by flipping orientation). But it is very cumbersome.

    Nothing beats a larger screen for PDF's Kindle DX is the way to go for that.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous7:17 PM

    hi chirag, nice article there. I have got couple question can u please clear?
    1. Is there a library/category facility in the pi to store variety of books?
    2. can u shift books from ur PC?
    Please answer the questions. I'm desperately in need of it.
    Praveen

    ReplyDelete

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