Hasta La Gadget!

File under “awesome wish-ware.” The NoteSlate is a tablet that takes the name “slate” rather too literally. It’s an E Ink tablet which comes with a pop-out stylus to write on the screen, and while it also comes in white, the black version looks just like a real slate –- those stone chalkboards on which schoolkids worked in the dreary mists of the past.

A huge 13-inch display takes up most of the front panel of the device. The screen measures 190 x 270 mm [7.5 x 10.6 inches], and the body 210 x 310 x 6 mm [8.3 x 12.2 x 0.24 inches]. This makes it the same width as A4 or legal paper, and between the two in length (legal is 355mm [14 inches], A4 is 279mm [11 inches]). Resolution is 750 x 1080 pixels. Inputs and outputs are few: miniUSB, SD-slot, 3.5-mm jack and power (12 volts, which seems a little high).

The NoteSlate has a single purpose: to act like a piece of paper. You can sketch and write, and the three hardware buttons let you delete a whole page (with the pen acting as an eraser for localized corrections), store the current page, or flip to the previous page (no mention is made of skipping to the next page).

At $99, it looks like an awesome gadget, but has the distinct whiff of vaporware. The mockups on the site show a color version along with the black-and-white ones, and promise a “free Wi-Fi module on request with order”. The resolution (claimed as 100 ppi) seems low for E Ink, and the touting of no anti-aliasing as “one of our best features” is just plain weird.

The launch date is promised as June 2011, and I’d love to see something like this as a replacement to paper notebooks. I have a sneaking feeling, though, that this will just disappear and never be seen again. I have set myself a calendar reminder for the middle of June to check up on things.

NoteSlate product page [NoteSlate via Kottke]

See Also:

• Pixel Qi Hybrid E-Ink LCD Screens for Your Own Netbook
• Slates
• 7 Reasons You Won’t Want a Windows 7 Slate

Hanvon is aiming to fill the chasm between monochromatic e-readers and color LCD-based tablets at CES this year with its all-new color e-reader. It features the famed 9.7-inch color E Ink panel, the first of its kind, and offers the rather spectacular resolution of 1200 x 1600. We managed to spend a few precious moments with a prototype unit and were impressed by the solid and thin construction and the excellent viewing angles on offer. Sadly, there’s plenty of bad news here too: the E920’s colors are muted and not really on par with what you’d expect from even a mediocre LCD, refresh rates are pretty glacial, and the touchscreen functionality is of the resistive kind, meaning you’ll have to resort to using the integrated stylus for navigation. The biggest downer, however, is that China, the first market for this e-reader, won’t be getting it until May at the earliest. That’s a long time to wait for a $500-ish slate. Video after the break.

Update: There was some initial confusion about the device’s name and specs, which has since been rectified and the post updated accordingly. [Thanks, Michalis]

Continue reading Hanvon brings world’s first color E Ink reader to CES, we go hands-on (video)

Hanvon brings world’s first color E Ink reader to CES, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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E-readers are flooding the market these days, and KDDI has delivered its most recent offering just in time for the holiday season. Since the biblio Leaf SP02‘s specs were first released, battery life seems to have grown to 13,000 pages, with presumably a few extra thrown in courtesy of its solar array. The device utilizes KDDI’s LISMO Book Store and its 20,000 titles to obtain content, and if that isn’t enough reading material for you, the company claims that five times as many titles will be available by 2012. All this can be had on Christmas day for ¥525 up front and ¥1,575 (that’s about $19 US) per month on a two-year 3G contract — if you’re lucky enough to hail from the land of the rising sun, that is.

KDDI’s biblio Leaf SP02 priced, due out Christmas Day in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 04:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Months back, word on the street had it that HTC was looking to grab up emptied space in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park post-recession; huge outfits like Nortel bit the bullet in 2009, while Sony Ericsson shuttered its operations there and relocated to Atlanta. Naturally, the consolidation paved the way for other technology firms to slide in without overpaying for real estate. HTC has remained mum on the prospect of expansion, but it’s fairly obvious what’s in mind given the multiple job listings that have just emerged for a heretofore unannounced facility in RTP. Of particular importance is a plea for a Display and Camera Design Engineer — HTC is asking that whoever applies for the role have some level of “familiarity with 3D display and imaging technologies,” not to mention “familiarity with multiple display technologies (TFT-LCD, PMOLED, AMOLED, E-ink, etc.).” Of course, we’ve seen quite a few bullet points in our years that end up meaning nothing at all, but it definitely gets our gears turning. Could HTC be working on a reader / tablet that would at least partially rely on e-paper? Are we destined to see a 3D Android device from the outfit at Mobile World Congress 2011? Imaginations, here’s the part where you run wild.

HTC job listing hints at an E Ink / 3D-filled future, new North Carolina facility originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 01:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget giveaway: win one of four Phosphor World Time E Ink watches! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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