Hanlin V2 eReader Introduction

The Chinese office electronics manufacture Jinke is little-known, so how it has been toiling away to perfect their Hanlin line escapes many. But Jinke has been steadily boasting of bright and stable devices, and the Hanlin V2 is no exception. Yet it wasn't until the V2 model that Jinke stepped up to a touch screen capability. The Hanlin eReader V2's price tag of $349 leaves it on the higher end of the Hanlin line, but it's gaining quite a following for its ultra-portability, longer-lasting battery, and touch screen facility.

Features - Hardware and Software

The Hanlin eReader V2 has all the makings of a Hanlin: a 6-inch screen display, super convenient directory management, user-friendly interface, and multilingual capability, which has made Jinke's ereader line quite popular with international readers. It also boasts of the same brightness and performance stability Hanlin products are known for, but Jinke put a step forward with the V2 by adding touch screen capability.

The Hanlin V2's design is another jump in the ereader line. The gadget comes in a more stylish white or black casing and leather jacket to add extra protection from scratches and accidental drops. Gone are the clumsy-looking numeric keypads. Replacing them for menu and in-book navigation is a mini touchscreen slave display located below the screen display.

With more energy-efficient operations, the Hanlin eReader V2 has a provision for 9000 page turns - 2000 pages more than than the V3 and the V5.

Pros

With its stylish-looking outfit, it's quite a pleasure to bring the Hanlin eReader V2 around. Though heavier than the Hanlin V3 at 300g, it's still light enough to be carried anywhere, whether at your workplace, on vacation, or during travels. There's still the mp3 playback capability found in other Hanlin ereaders, which lets users listen to audiobooks or music, as well as support for multiple digital formats. Classifying and managing books is easy with the V2's multi-level folders system.

Cons

Jinke didn't add quite much to the Hanlin eReader V2. With no improvement in the grayscale level (4) or resolution (600 x 800 pixels), screen display looks ancient compared to the second and third generation models of rival ebook readers. Storage is still 512 MB, which is good for a thousand ebooks only, although it can support 20,000 additional ebook, photos, and music files via a 4GB external storage. Jinke hasn't addressed page turn issues as well, and with only 200 MHz processor, page turns are quite sluggish compared to rival devices boasting of 400 MHz processor or more. Figuring out how to perform certain functions, such as the built-in dictionary, can be difficult, and command menus are often replete with grammatical errors.

The Bottom Line

Jinke has added needed improvements to the Hanlin eReader V2. If you are looking for a unique, stylish-looking electronic book reader that is not as fancy as a touch screen or a full keyboard, the Hanlin eReader V2 is intuitive and gets the job done.

What's in the box:

o Hanlin eReader V2 with leather jacket
o Stylus
o 512 MB SD card
o Headphone
o User Manual

Main Features

o supports a wide range of formats
o battery life for 9000 page turns
o supports up to 4GB SD cards
o 4 grayscale levels
o USB interface

Key Features:

o Touch screen slave display
o readable indoors or outdoors
o low power mobile device

Bonus Features:

o Built-in dictionary
o plays music
o multi-level folders system