I have both liseuses now. (Got the Bebook a couple of days ago.) Here's my short comparison. -
First, neither of them meet my Gold Standard for ebook readers, which is mu-book on Win CE. It reads lots of formats and reads them
well. I'm giving the list of the warts for each.
Navigation.
Bebook - Folders! loaded 1 GB of e-books onto a SD chip. Could scan thru list of folders, the go into folder to andother folder and another folder to start reading my book. No extra slowdown for large library.
Cybook - No folders. Twenty titles a screen. Not so good for a 1000+ title library.
Fonts - Cybook has more size flexibility than Bebook. Both allow adding new fonts.
Case - Cybook has the best case of any liseuse I've seen. However, the Bebook's case is not bad.
Ergonomics - Bebook is a better design for lefties. (I'm a righty myself)
Firmware -
Bebook - checked out my standard formats, which are HTML, RTF, unencrypted MOBI, and TXT.
HTML - 1. No internal hyperlink support. In other words, you can't use the TOC links. No so bad if your reading a novel, but a real pain for a collection of short stories. Can't jump to the one you want.
2. Paragraph support. Call me a old reactionary, but all p-book are printed with a next line/indent style. Most HTML e-books are stored in a skip line/no indent format. My Gold Standard software automatically converted the skip/no indent to no skip/indent. The Bebook does not. It rather spoils the reading experience for me.
RTF - 1. No picture support. This is not just for covers. Some books use images as plot items - maps, ect. It spoils the reading process not to be able to see what the charaters are talking about a crucial times. (A workaround for this it to convert back to .doc (Microsoft Word) files. I don't want to go from a less propriatary format to a more propriatary format. But
Orwell2k)
2. Hyphenation. The justification/hypenation is bothersome. The justification does not follow the English rules for hyphenation, and will also hyphenate the last word on a page, which is a real pain while waiting for the page turn to complete. I'd rather have a ragged edge than bad hyphenation.
TXT - Has the same hard line break problem that every other liseuse has.
Mobi - No title jump (like HTML). No external style overrides. If you want paragraph indents, they must be embedded in the e-book. (Some do, some don't) Lousy text justification, sometimes spread all over the screen, sometimes the text overlaps. (This is with the most recent firmware.)
Cybook -
HTML - No external file calls. Must be a single file HTML. (I've never bothered to test a file internal hypertext jump.) Sometime get lost in shifting in and out of italics. Very rudimentry.
RTF - No support.
TXT - Same limits as Bebook.
Mobi - Handles very well. (MOBI is the main supported format of the reader.) Handles hyperlink jumps easily. provide external paragraph, font size, and other overrides. Exceeds my Gold Standard for format. Drawback - propriatary format.
There's my quickie comparison. Neither one gives me the experience I want. Both have provided a series of firmware fixes, but not to the level I want. The first one to get there gets my recommendation. So far, no recommedation for either.