- A pioneer in the world of digital e-readers in 2003, the French Bookeen returns with its Diva HD e-reader.
- Faced with the reading lights of Kobo and Amazon, Bookeen puts forward a high-performance model, albeit with a slightly offbeat design.
- The adoption of the open source LCP format for sharing the books we buy should allow Bookeen to turn a new page in its history.
New chapter: Bookeen announces his return. With its Diva HD *, the French brand of digital reading lights turns a page in its history started in 2003.
The manufacturer now poses as an alternative to the giants of readers, the American Amazon and its Kindle, as well as the Canadian Kobo and its reading lights Clara, Libra and Forma.
Outdated design but redesigned ergonomics
Admittedly, its large borders give it a slightly outdated look, far from the modern and streamlined design of its rivals. Still: the Diva HD is very pleasantly ergonomic. Its plastic shell absorbs small shocks. This material offers a grip on warm and silky contact. Nothing to do with the freezing feel of the Kindle Oasis metal shell reader.
Counterpart: dust has the annoying tendency to want to hold onto this coating which, white in color, offers them a beautiful platform! Regular cleaning with a damp cloth is required. We appreciate its magnetic protective shell (25 euros, optional) which makes it look like a notebook.
The 6 '' screen of the Diva HD has a resolution of 300 ppi (pixels per inch), which offers a quality of reading perfectly in the standard, with a sharpness of characters with notable comfort. The reader interface has been completely redesigned and you navigate through its functions using an intuitive and easy to access carousel.
Durability rather than waterproofing
The backlight of the device can be adjusted to twenty levels at the touch of a button. A night mode is proposed, with a backlight in warm tones avoiding having to undergo the pangs of blue light. You can either activate it manually or define its time range.
The downside: the Diva HD is not waterproof, a feature that very many e-readers have now adopted. "We especially thought of it so that people could keep it for a long time," explains Michaël Dahan, president and founder of Bookeen, to 20 Minutes . Maybe, but knowing that its reading light resists water is still reassuring when you read outside…
Ebooks that you can lend and exchange
Failing to revolutionize the genre, the Diva HD has however an asset of its own. It is the first reader compatible with the LCP system. LCP? Behind these three letters ( Licensed Content Protection ), a new open source format which nonetheless respects copyright. "A password is associated with the file. If someone has it, they can open the file, ”summarizes Michaël Dahan. Does this mean that an e-book bought on the Bookeen Store can go from hand to hand indefinitely? “No, we think that the use will remain reasonable, in the family setting. However, after a dozen exchanges (according to the publishers), this will no longer be possible ”, decrypts the president of Bookeen.
How will it work? Your LCP digital book can be moved from your e-reader to a computer by simple copy / paste, sent by email, housed in a USB key, duplicated, which is currently lacking in the world of digital books ... Nothing to do with the closed worlds of Amazon, Kobo or Apple (for iPads) to books you can't lend.
In a few weeks, some 450,000 first LCP books in French will reach the shelves of the Bookeen Store. "Gallimard, Hachette and Editiss (which includes 50 publishing houses) adopt the LCP format, there will be no great absentee," rejoices Michaël Dahan. It remains to be seen which titles will be exactly concerned, but especially if the literary novelties will respond to the call of the LCP…
Meanwhile, the Bookeen Diva HD advances to 139 euros. It's 10 euros more than its main competitors, the Clara HD from Kobo and Kindle Paperwhite from Amazon. Unlike its rivals, it does not have 8 GB of memory, but 16 GB, the equivalent of 10,000 books. But it is not waterproof. A simple Diva version (without blue light filter, with a resolution of 212 dpi) is also offered at 109 euros.
* Until then the standard standards ePub, PDF, HTML, TXT and FB2 are taken into account.
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Bookeen turns the page on the past
The French brand of digital readers had disappeared from radar screens after its setbacks with Carrefour. Bookeen had jointly launched with the hypermarket chain a range of reading lights under the Noleen brand in 2016, but Carrefour, in the midst of restructuring, had chosen to affix the word “End” to history in 2018. Even disappointed with the Brazilian Saraiva which weighed for 45% in Bookeen's revenues and who also chose to turn the page at the same time, requiring Bookeen to restructure.
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