Ectaco JetBook Lite eReader aims to be the cheapest eReader on the market

Ectaco showed off their new jetBook Lite eBook at the Frankfurt Book Fair. As you can see from the above video it looks to be a very simple eReader with a five inch TFT monochromatic screen. It’s chock full of menu and selector buttons and instead of charging with a traditional internal battery, the jetBook Lite takes four AA batteries. Normally this would add some much-hated bulk to an eReader but Ectaco engineered it so that the added width for the battery compartment acts as a nice handhold for your left hand. In fact it looks like it’d be much more comfortable to hold than most slab tablet eReaders on the market.

Ectaco says they’re going to introduce the jetBook Lite to the American market shortly for a retail price of $149 which would make it the most affordable eBook on the market (beating out Sony’s Pocket Edition Reader and BeBook Mini). While it doesn’t use the traditional E-Ink screens of most eReaders, the TFT LCD means that page switching will be much faster and have none of the E-Ink’s notorious flashes between pages. Ectaco also says that four AA batteries will allow 23 hours of use.

Look for it to be sold on Newegg like Ectaco’s other jetBook eReader (currently for $179). Read the rest of the tip at Teleread.org or see the original scoop (in German) at Lesen.net.