AwesomePre turns a book page into a focused reading light

By Rebecca Stone

The AwesomePre concentrates a 183 × 107 mm (7.2 × 4.2 inch) reading window in a 4 mm (0.2 inch) panel that weighs 90 grams (3.2 ounces) and sells for $69 before shipping.

Seoul-based industrial-design firm Bebop designed the portable book light for client MemsLux, which developed its LED technology. According to the product description, that technology uses “light wavelengths most comfortable to the eyes.” This is the only stated promise about visual comfort; no numerical brightness, color-temperature, or eye-comfort data accompanies it.

Its central interface is positional. Instead of casting light toward a book from a distance, the AwesomePre resembles a small screen and rests directly on the page. The reader aligns the illuminated rectangle with the text rather than aiming a separate lamp, making placement part of every reading session.

What does the overlay change?

The clearest use is reading in bed without disturbing a sleeping partner. The page-mounted construction keeps the illuminated area close to the book instead of throwing a broad beam into the room. That arrangement addresses the stated use case, although the source provides no test measuring how much less light reaches the surrounding bed or room.

Air travel supplies a second scenario. The original reviewer finds airplane reading lights unpleasant because they create a glaring hotspot that fades around the edges. The AwesomePre offers an alternative geometry: place the light on the page, where the panel itself becomes the apparent light source. No measurement compares its uniformity with a cabin fixture.

Which settings does a reader get?

The device offers five brightness settings and three light temperatures. These controls separate two choices that readers usually make with a conventional lamp: how much light reaches the page and whether that light feels warmer or cooler. Instead of changing a lamp’s angle, the user chooses from a fixed set of output levels.

The counts are useful, but not measurable in themselves. The source does not state the brightness of each step, identify the three temperatures, or show how the five levels differ in output. It also offers no eye-strain or comfort test. For a device sold on a wavelength claim, those omissions leave the practical benefit uncertain.

Where does the page become a constraint?

The 183 × 107 mm reading window gives the panel a defined footprint. For larger books and magazines, the reviewer says the device must be turned sideways. The light may also stop short of a page’s full width, an arrangement the reviewer expects some readers to find annoying.

Physical portability remains a strength. A 4 mm-thick, 90-gram panel is easy to carry beside a book, and resting it on the page removes the need for a separate stand. The tradeoff is that alignment becomes a recurring action: move the device as the reading position changes, and rotate it for wide formats. Unlike a remote lamp, the interface cannot correct its own position.

What does $69 establish?

The $69 price, excluding shipping, defines the device as a compact accessory rather than a general-purpose fixture. Buyers receive the panel, its adjustable output, and a page-based way to read in low light. What the source does not establish is how the device is powered, how long it operates, or whether it can function while tethered.

The original reviewer presents the reaction as selective rather than universal: “if the reviews are to be believed,” a subset of book readers love the device. That is a useful market signal, but it is not evidence about lighting performance. The case for the overlay rests on a simple mechanism: put the light where the page is.

If Bebop and MemsLux want the AwesomePre to move beyond niche use, the next release needs measurements for output, color temperature, power, and coverage, followed by tests beside a bedside lamp and an airplane reading light. Until then, the proposition is geometric, not proven: a thin panel that sits with the book and places the light on the page.