Hasta La Gadget!

Offering a front-lit e-reader isn’t reserved just for the heaviest hitters. Bookeen is leaping into that still-exclusive club with the Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight. Its lengthily-named upgrade to the original Odyssey focuses on the read-anywhere light, and a lightweight body, as its standout aspects — at just under 6.4 ounces, it’s more featherlike than Amazon and Barnes & Noble counterparts with similarly legible screens. Claims of display superiority are a bit suspicious when Bookeen touts the same 62 percent jump in resolution that we saw in the Kindle Paperwhite, but we’ll appreciate the extra crispness alongside a tweaked interface and a new PDF reflow option. Readers who balk at going with the dominant device makers can pick up the Cybook HD FrontLight in November, when we’ll also learn whether or not Bookeen can offer a challenge on price.

Continue reading Bookeen Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight joins the lit e-reader fray

Bookeen Cybook Odyssey HD FrontLight joins the lit e-reader fray originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 16:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon’s Kindle series, as well as Barnes & Noble‘s own line of NOOK ereaders offer consumers a small and portable offering that makes it easy to read on the go. However, if you’re still looking for something even smaller, a company called txtr thinks they can deliver that to you with their new beagle 5-inch ereader.

The photo above gives you a good idea at just how small the device is, and look at those two ladies having a good time together. We’re not sure what they’re reading exactly, but from the looks of it, the books must be good reads. It also doesn’t hurt knowing that the beagle is claimed to be the smallest ereader in the world.

Measuring in at only 5mm thick, the txtr beagle comes with a 5-inch e-ink display. It also only weighs 4.5 ounces and takes up only around six cubic inches. However, one of the biggest features that separates the beagle from its competitors is that there’s no chargers or cables necessary. The beagle fits two AAA batteries at the bottom that can power the device for a whole year. Users can access txtr’s Android reading app to browse and download ebooks and can also connect via Bluetooth to a smartphone in order to transfer ebooks to and from the device.

txtr says the device may sell for as low as €9.90 (roughly $13) in Europe, which is an unheard of price in this day and age. However, we’re not sure how the company will plan to price the device in the US. Availability hasn’t been announced yet, but it looks like the beagle will release in Europe, Asia, and the US.

txtr beagle announced as world’s smallest ereader is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Now that you’ve been fully acquainted with Amazon’s new Kindle Paperwhite, perhaps it’s time to get to know it on a deeper level — and what better than a tear-down to do just that? The folks over at Powerbook Medic took their own unit apart piece by piece on video, highlighting what appears to be a simple process, mostly done by dealing with screws. The trickiest part seems to be pulling off the bezel, as it’s held in place with glue. Unfortunately, the repair shop doesn’t analyze the e-reader’s internal components in the iFixit fashion, but it has gone full-circle and provided a second video on how to put it all back together. Curious to see this Kindle’s e-ink-filled guts? You’ll find both videos after the break.

Continue reading Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite gets torn-down, promptly put back together (video)

Filed under: Amazon

Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite gets torn-down, promptly put back together (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 19:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Barnes & Noble and Microsoft’s mutual appreciation is getting a lot more real. The duo issued a joint announcement today, marking the completion of Nook Media LLC, a “strategic partnership” made up of the bookseller’s digital and college wings. The news comes after a $300 million investment in the pairing. Further plans for Nook Media are vague at the moment, as the companies note, “There can be no assurance that the review will result in a strategic separation or the creation of a stand-alone public company.” Until such key things are decided, B&N for one doesn’t plan on elaborating. You can find a bit more, however, in the press release after the break.

Continue reading Barnes & Noble and Microsoft complete Nook Media LLC partnership

Filed under: Tablets, Internet, Microsoft

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft complete Nook Media LLC partnership originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 11:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you had told us at roughly this time last year that the e-reader race would be heating up going into the 2012 holiday season, we would have disagreed. If anything, 2011 seemed like the beginning of the end. Spurred on by the tablet explosion, companies like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and even Kobo were looking toward that space for inspiration, introducing flagship devices on which reading was just one of many features. Heck, even the readers themselves started to look more tablet-like, with many abandoning of physical keyboards in favor of infrared touchscreens.

But here we are at the end of September, and this product category has never been more exciting. Back in May, Barnes & Noble captured our hearts and midnight reading marathons with the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, a wordy name for a great little device that made reading in bed at night a little easier. (A problem, according to Barnes & Noble, that was tearing the country’s families apart.) But don’t let it be said that Amazon doesn’t believe in the American family. Earlier this month, the company launched the Kindle Paperwhite, the latest addition to a product lineup that has more or less become synonymous with the term “e-reader.”

At that launch event, CEO Jeff Bezos described the four years of R&D that went into the front light technology powering that bright screen. It was clear from our hands-on time with the device that, although Amazon is placing extra emphasis on the Fire line these days, it still has a lot invested in the e-reader fight. The sharpened, illuminated text is impressive, and Amazon has gone so far as to describe this as the Kindle it’s always wanted to build. That’s all well and good, but how does it compare to similar offerings on the market? Is this worth the $119 asking price (with ads)? Let’s find out.

Continue reading Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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