Wink eBook Reader vs Infibeam Pi: Which is better?

The Wink XTS eBook Reader is slated to hit Croma stores around the country by September 1. But how does it stack up to India’s first ebook reader -- the Infibeam Pi?

Display
The Wink XTS ebook reader has a 6-inch display -- same as the Infibeam Pi ebook reader. Both the Wink XTS and Infibeam Pi support a maximum screen resolution of 800x600 pixels and e-ink technology. The Wink XTS ebook reader supports 16-level grayscale display, better than Infibeam Pi’s 8-level black and white grayscale screen.

Processor, Dimensions
The Wink XTS has a 400MHz ARM9 processor, while the Infibeam Pi has a similar ARM9 series S3C2440 processor with undisclosed clock speed. The Wink XTS ebook reader weighs 260g -- slightly more heavier than the Infibeam Pi’s weight of 180g. Overall, the Wink XTS ebook’s thicker and wider (185mm x 124.6mm x 10.9mm) than the Infibeam Pi e-reader (118mm x 118mm x 9.5mm) which is longer in length.

Features
The Wink XTS ebook reader has 2GB built-in storage which is expandable to 16GB. It has a QWERTY keyboard, memo pad, SD card slot, 3.5mm audio jack, built-in MP3 player and a USB 2.0 port. The Infibeam Pi ebook reader by comparison has four-way navigation button, SD card slot, built-in MP3 player -- but it doesn’t have a QWERTY keyboard, a mini-USB port instead of Wink XTS ebook reader’s standard USB 2.0 port, and a non-conventional 3-mm audio jack. The Wink XTS ebook reader also has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g support, something the Infibeam Pi lacks.

The Wink XTS ebook reader supports more text formats (TXT, RTF, PDF, DOC, HTML, WOLF, CHM, FB2, DJVU, EPUB) compared to the Infibeam Pi ereader (PDF, EPUB, HTML, TXT, MOBI, DOC). Where the Infibeam Pi ebook reader supports only MP3 audio files, the Wink XTS ebook reader plays both MP3 and AAC files. The Infibeam Pi can read image files in JPG, BMP, PNG formats, while the Wink XTS ebook reader supports BMP, JPG, TIF, PNG, GIF image files.

The Infibeam Pi e-reader has local Indian language support -- Hindi, Sanskrit, Kannada scripts which we tested in our review. The Wink XTS ebook reader also claims to support books in 15 Indian languages.

Battery Life
The Wink XTS ebook reader claims a battery life of 10,000 page-flips or 10 hours of audio playback on a single charge. The Infibeam Pi ebook reader has a claimed battery life of 7 days in standby mode.

Final Thoughts...
There is no denying the Wink XTS ebook reader offers a lot more features than the Infibeam Pi, but it sells for a higher price. There’s also another version of the Wink ebook reader called Wink 3G which has 3G support and a SIM card slot. If you want a barebone ebook reader and can’t afford to spend a dime more than Rs. 9,999, the Infibeam Pi is available. But if you want more than just an ebook reader, you should check out the Wink XTS ebook reader for Rs. 11,490 at your nearest Croma store this September.

Further reading...

Wink eBook Reader Launched in India

Infibeam Introduces Pi E-Reader

REVIEW: Infibeam Pi