Biblio Leaf: Japan's KDDI Specs, Prices And Rolls Out Its Kindle Competitor

When Japan’s second biggest mobile carrier KDDI announced its winter and spring line-up back in October, the company also showed a very Kindle-like e-reader. Dubbed Biblio Leaf SP02, the e-ink device was introduced with an open price model, no exact release date and just a few specs – until today.

Here are the final specs:

• 6-inch monochrome screen with 16 shades and 800×600 resolution
• built-in mini solar panel
• 3G module
• Wi-Fi connectivity
• bundled with stylus
• microSD card slot, microUSB port
• 2GB of internal memory (enough for around 3,000 books)
• XMDF/PDF/EPUB file support
• battery life enough for 13,000 consecutive page turns
• size: 198×130×9.8mm, weight: 295.8g.

KDDI plans to start selling the Biblio Leaf, which is being manufactured by Taiwanese firm Hon Hai Precision Industry, this Saturday in selected cities in Japan. The company says the device itself will be priced at $180 and that users will need to pay a $6.30 monthly fee to download books via its 3G network.