In March last year, we covered the SV-100, a monochrome, A4-sized “document reader” made by Brother that never found its way outside Japan. Mainly targeting business users, the device went on sale in this country in June 2009 for $1,450. And next week, Brother is going to roll out the SV-70 [JP], a new version, which is again Japan-only (at this point, at least).

This new version is weaker than the first one. We still have a 9.7-inch LCD screen (A4 size) with 1,200×825 resolution and 150 dpi density that’s 15.5mm thin. But in order to push down the price, Brother dropped not only the SV-100′s Bluetooth module, but also the 2GB microSD card, the AC adapter and the soft case that came with the previous device.

But there’s 100MB of internal memory, enough to store around 500 pages, according to Brother. And it’s still to possible to upgrade memory via the microSD card slot. Once charged, the SV-70′s lithium-ion battery powers the device for 83 hours (based on one page-turn a minute).

The SV-70 will go on sale in Japan on Saturday next week for $1,100. Don’t expect it to become available outside Japan anytime soon.