May 28

Pandigital Novel e-reader / handheld hits the FCC

Posted in: Android, e reader, e-book, e-book reader, E-bookReader, e-books, e-readers, Today's Chili
Pandigital’s already manage to at least pique our interest with its Android-based Novel e-reader / handheld, and it looks like the device has now reached one more milestone on the road to availability — it’s just turned up at the FCC. As you can see, the particular device undergoing testing is black (not white as the final version will apparently be), and the FCC unfortunately doesn’t give us much of a look of that bright 7-inch LCD in the on position. It has, however, given us a glimpse of the device’s insides, subjected it to the usual battery of tests, and kindly provided us with the device’s user manual — though there’s not too many surprises in there at this point. Hit up the link below for all that and more.

Pandigital Novel e-reader / handheld hits the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 May 2010 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 25

Bezos: Kindle Color Display Not Coming Soon

Posted in: amazon, e-book reader, ipad, kindle, Today's Chili

Jeff Bezos.jpgHolding out for a full-color Amazon Kindle? Don’t hold your breath. In spite of competitive pressure from the Apple iPad and Pandigital’s recently announced Novel eReader, Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos admitted to a meeting of shareholders that color Kindles are “still a long way out.”

According to Bezos, Amazon is indeed looking into a color screen update. The company has prototypes “in the laboratory that are ‘not ready for prime-time production.'” Bezos chalks up the dependence on black and white to the limitations of electronic ink, a technology that Amazon is seemingly not ready to abandon any time soon.

The Apple iPad, of course, relies on an LCD display. While the company has managed to give the iPad an estimated 10 hours of battery life (which, admittedly is nowhere near the several days the Kindle can get on a single charge), the iPad’s display makes for poor reading in natural lighting.

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May 24

Pandigital Releases $199 Full-Color Touchscreen Novel eReader

Posted in: barnes noble, e-book reader, Today's Chili

pandigitalnovelreader.jpg The era of the color e-book reader is upon us. Granted, it was rather forcefully nudged along by the Apple iPad, but the Pandigital e-reader seems likely to be yet another nail in the coffin of the current crop of black-and-white readers, such as the Amazon Kindle in its various iterations.

Pandigital today announced that it has extended beyond its digital photo-frame roots with the release of the Novel eReader, a $199 e-book reader with a 7-inch TFT LCD color touchscreen display. The device features access to Barnes & Noble’s eBookstore and the company’s LendMe technology, which lets users share e-books with friends.

The Novel has 800-by-600 resolution, Wi-Fi, a mini-USB port, a SD/MMC slot, and 1GB of built-in memory. It can read a number of file formats, including PDF, ePub, and HTML.

The Novel eReader ships in June.

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May 14

BeBook Neo e-reader deemed solid, well designed, expensive

Posted in: e reader, e-book, e-book reader, E-bookReader, reader, Today's Chili, wifi
Hey kids: Sick of e-readers yet? If not, the kids at trusted reviews just got their hands on what they consider one of the nicest thus far. This 6-inch display-sportin’ bad boy has some heft to it — the reviewers felt that at .66 pounds it might be too much e-reader for some people. Still, it seems well-built and designed for holding for long periods of time. All in all, it’s not earth-shattering, as much as “a well thought out refinement” of devices the reviewer has seen before. On the other hand, there is no finger input, MP3 playback is still not supported (an issue to be dealt with on a future firmware release, apparently), the much-ballyhooed Wacom pen notations, while nice, are only available on certain docs, and the UI (which relies on a jogwheel) is counter-intuitive, at first. So, it’s pretty damn nice… but is it £238.29 (about $350) nice? Hit the source link to decide for yourself.

BeBook Neo e-reader deemed solid, well designed, expensive originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 21

LiSeng Vbook cuts the Entourage Edge down to size

Posted in: Android, e reader, e-book, e-book reader, E-bookReader, e-books, e-readers, Today's Chili, video
The Entourage Edge may be many things, but pocketable it is not. LiSeng looks set to address that shortcoming with its own Vbook, however, which packs a pair of 5-inch screens into a foldable form factor that should at least fit in a large coat pocket. That, naturally, includes one E-Ink screen and one LCD touchscreen (800 x 600), the latter of which handles all of the device’s Android duties. While it’s still in the prototype stage, the device will apparently run Android 1.6 when it’s released, and pack a 624MHz Marvell PXA310 processor, 128MB of RAM, 2GB of Flash storage, and built-in WiFi, along with the usual features on the e-book side of the equation. Still no indication of a price or release date, but you can check out a quick video of the device after the break, and some additional hands-on pictures from our pals at Engadget Chinese at the link below.

Continue reading LiSeng Vbook cuts the Entourage Edge down to size

LiSeng Vbook cuts the Entourage Edge down to size originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 18:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 21

Paradigm Shift debuts $130 EER-051D e-reader

Posted in: e reader, e-book reader, E-bookReader, ebooks, Today's Chili
They may not quite have dipped into impulse buy territory just yet, but e-readers are definitely getting cheaper, as evidenced by Sony’s $169 Pocket Reader, Kobo’s $149 eReader and, now, Paradigm Shift’s $130 EER-051D. Despite appearances above, this one supposedly has a 5-inch color screen, and packs an FM tuner along with the usual MP3 support, plus a photo viewer, 2GB of internal memory, an SD card slot for expansion, and support for most popular e-book formats (including DRM-enabled ePub books). As you might have surmised from its nondescript appearance and model name, Paradigm Shift is also pitching these at OEMs looking to do a quick rebadge job, but it will apparently be available in the US in its current form through Delstar Wholesale Electronics as soon as next month. Press release is after the break.

Continue reading Paradigm Shift debuts $130 EER-051D e-reader

Paradigm Shift debuts $130 EER-051D e-reader originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 11

Kobo’s $149 eReader gets reviewed

Posted in: e reader, e-book reader, E-bookReader, review, Today's Chili

So, how much e-book reader can $149 get you? Well, Kobo’s eReader might not be heavy on the feature set, but based on the general impressions from Electronista’s review, we’d say quite a bit. In exchange for dropping the 3G, WiFi, color screen and audio playback frills of the Kindle and Nook, Kobo’s barebones device puts a pretty and intuitive face on simple book reading for a pretty lovable price. The biggest complaint hinges around some slow performance when closing and opening books, but with 100 pre-loaded titles and a fairly budget friendly online library, it seems like the device has you covered when it comes to actually reading things. We also covered Kobo in our iPad book and comics roundup, if more hardware isn’t your thing.

Kobo’s $149 eReader gets reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Apr 2010 06:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 22

Spring Design Alex review

Posted in: Android, e reader, e-book, e-book reader, E-bookReader, e-books, e-readers, ebooks, feature, Features, Google, reader, review, Today's Chili

We realize that the e-reader market is about as crowded (not to mention overwhelming) as a Walmart on Black Friday, but ever since the dual-screen Spring Design Alex surfaced and we mistook it as the Barnes & Noble Nook, we’ve been incredibly intrigued by it. Though its 6-inch E-Ink display and 3.5-inch Android LCD form factor may seem like a riff on the Nook, the Alex has quite a few more tricks up its sleeve, including a full Android browser and the ability to extend what appears on the LCD to the E-Ink screen. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the unorthodox extras baked into the $399 Alex. Still, games and gimmicks only get you so far, and you’re probably wondering if it has what it takes to pull up next to the majors like the Kindle or Nook and knock them from the top. We’ve got that answer and lots more details on what it’s like to use two screens rather than one just after the break in our full review. Join us, won’t you?

Gallery: Spring Design Alex review

Continue reading Spring Design Alex review

Spring Design Alex review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 22

Kindle for iPad and tablets makes the scene

Posted in: amazon, Apple, breaking news, BreakingNews, e reader, e-book reader, E-bookReader, ipad, kindle, Software, tablet, Today's Chili

It must be getting close to April 3rd because the iPad news is hotting up. Today we get our first glimpse at Amazon’s free Kindle app for the iPad. We’ve also got a Barnes & Noble iPad app on the way, courtesy of a report in the New York Times, that has been completely redesigned by a team of 14 developers working since January to allow for custom fonts in multiple colors and quick page turns with finger swipes. The Kindle app, meanwhile, features a redefined core screen and reading experience, slow page turns, and new ways to view your eBook library. One view, pictured above, presents your books as large icons against a silhouetted figure under a tree — the sun changes position in accordance to the time of day. Of course, the app also gives you access to the Kindle bookstore (assuming Apple approves) and saves your reading position so that you can pick up any Kindle app (or device) and continue reading right where you left off.

Fortunately, Amazon’s Kindle App will be targeting tablets beyond the iPad. We’re also hearing that Skiff is almost certainly headed to Apple’s tablet, and we suspect as many competitors as possible given the plethora of devices demonstrated to us at CES. So seriously, we ask you, in an age where content is king, are you really going to buy an eReader dedicated to a single store?

Update: The Barnes & Noble app, not the Kindle app, is being worked on by a team of 14 developers.

Gallery: Kindle for iPad and tablets makes the scene

[Thanks, Jason D.]

Kindle for iPad and tablets makes the scene originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 16

Spring Design Alex finally up for pre-order, Borders eBook store launching in June

Posted in: Android, e reader, e-book, e-book reader, E-bookReader, e-books, e-readers, GoogleAndroid, Today's Chili, unboxing

Well it’s about time, Spring Design! After missing its February ship date, the company is finally ready for you to whip out the plastic and pre-order its Alex — that dual-screen, Android-based ereader we liked so much at CES. While you can shell out the $399 today, you’ll still have to wait until mid-April for the mailman to drop off the package. We’d like to say the wait stops there, but we’ve also learned that early buyers won’t have access to the promised Borders eBook store until June. When we chatted with Spring Design CEO Priscilla Lu last week she confirmed that Borders will officially launch its store in the “June time frame,” which will be around the very same time that the 3G version of the Alex will be ready to hit the market — at least there’s access to Google Books and an micro-SD card slot for sideloading in the meantime. With so much coming down the pike it may be worth waiting a bit more time for this one, but our own Alex arrived just last night so no matter what it’d behoove you to wait a few days for our review before you hit the source link to pre-order.

Update: Well, this is odd. Even though this news hit the wires today, the shop page on Spring Design’s website is definitely non-functional right now. Instead, you’ll see a message to check back soon. We’ll keep doing just that until we see signs of life… or hear otherwise.

Update 2: And we’re back…the pre-order page is finally up!

Gallery: Spring Design Alex unboxing

Spring Design Alex finally up for pre-order, Borders eBook store launching in June originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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