Two new e-readers exclusive to France are announced: the Vivlio Light and the Vivlio Light HD.
There's a little-known French company in the USA called Vivlio. Vivlio distributes Pocketbook e-readers in France following a legal dispute between the French paperback brand "Pocket" and e-reader manufacturer Pocketbook.
In a nutshell: Pocketbook does not have the right to sell "Pocketbook" e-readers under this name in France.
This created an opportunity for Vivlio to develop a range of e-readers aimed primarily at France.
Vivlio uses Pocketbook e-readers, but modifies the interface and adds a French online bookshop, enabling French-language books to be downloaded directly onto the e-reader after purchase.
Vivlio has been around for a number of years, and has enjoyed considerable success in France, where the brand is appreciated locally as a good alternative to the Kindle and Kobo e-readers.
Since September, Vivlio has been releasing 3 new e-readers in France.
This began with the Vivlio InkPad 4, a French version of the Pocketbook InkPad 4.
And, in October 2023, the brand will release the Vivlio Light and Vivlio Light HD e-readers.
For these new readers, Vivlio has decided to completely change the name of the Pocketbook model. The Vivlio Light is a Pocketbook Verse, while the Vivlio Light HD is a Pocketbook Verse Pro.
The hardware used is identical, with only the brand name changing. The physical buttons under the screen are the same, as are the technical specifications of Pocketbook models.
On the software side, there may be slight differences between Vivlio and Pocketbook e-readers. In fact, Vivlio checks that all the reader's functions are properly translated and that everything works in French.
So we've seen some Vivlio e-readers that didn't activate the little video games found on some Pocketbook e-readers.
Apart from these details, Vivlio e-readers offer the same reading experience as Pocketbook readers.
Here's the Vivlio brand website: https://www.vivlio.com/
