Hasta La Gadget!

Man, are people into reading, or what? Hot on the heels of the BeBook Mini launch in the US and news that Barnes & Noble could be introducing an e-reader of its own as early as next week, Endless Ideas is now rumored to have its BeBook 2 on deck for an October 14th release. And considering that it has a booth at the Frankfurt Book Fair this week, we’d say there’s at least a decent chance that the rumors are true. If you’ll recall, we snagged the first look at the company’s first-ever 3G / WiFi-equipped e-book reader back at CeBIT in March (pictured above), and considering that there can really never be enough competition in the space, we’ll take the promised touchscreen and free RSS support any way we can get it. We’ll be cautiously watching the action tomorrow for a full reveal, and we’d recommend you do as well — besides, it’s not like that International Kindle is shipping before next week anyway.

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

3G / WiFi-equipped BeBook 2 launching tomorrow? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had a sneaking suspicion that it was too good to be true, and now Plastic Logic has stepped forward to officially kill our pipe dreams. Just days ago, the web was set ablaze when a Barnes & Noble representative mistakenly (or deliberately, for all we know) stated that a Plastic Logic-sourced color e-reader was on track for a Spring 2010 release. Today, the aforesaid outfit has stated that the video report was “inaccurate and the individual (who was apparently filmed while attending a trade show was not an authorized Barnes & Noble spokesperson) was misinformed.” Continuing on, we’re told that while “color is on Plastic Logic’s roadmap, it is not on the map for the Spring of 2010.” Welp, that settles that… unfortunately.

[Thanks, Charlie]

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Plastic Logic deflates dreams, denies Spring 2010 release for color e-reader originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Funny thing going on in the marketplace right now: reading for pleasure is on a rapid decline yet the choice of e-reader devices grows weekly. That’s good news for those of us not spending our down-time in front of a television, mouth agape — awkward for manufacturers testing the waters of this unproven niche. LG’s showing off its Solar Cell e-Book reader anyway, in a bid to flex its thin-film solar muscle. The prototype features an energy conversion efficiency of about 9.6 percent giving it an extra day’s worth of power for that 6-inch TFT-LCD after about four to five hours in the sun. LG is working towards boosting its thin-film solar cell energy conversion efficiency rate to 12% by 2010 on up to 14% by 2012. We say bring it LG, if you can.

[Via OLED-Display]

Filed under: Handhelds

LG’s Solar Cell e-Book goes an extra day for every 5 hours of sunlight originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s yet another e-book reader in the market and this time it is likely to be from retail book giant Barnes & Noble. The company is expected to announce its own e-book reader in time for holiday season sales next month, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Barnes & Noble hasn’t yet commented about the device. But an announcement from the company would confirm months of speculation about it. Like most of its peers, the Barnes & Noble e-reader is expected to have a black-and-white 6-inch display from E-Ink. It will also reportedly have a touchscreen and run on AT&T’s wireless network.

Barnes & Noble’s e-reader will join a crowded market. Since Amazon’s launch of the Kindle in 2007, the e-reader market has exploded with new devices. In the past six months alone, companies such as Sony and iRex have announced newer models. E-book readers are expected to be a hot gadget this holiday season and electronics retailer Best Buy has said it will dedicate a section for these devices. A few weeks ago, Barnes & Noble said it will partner with iRex, a spin-off from Royal Phillips Electronics, to integrate the former’s e-book store into the latter’s e-readers.

So far, Barnes & Noble hasn’t disclosed pricing for its upcoming reader. Sony’s touchscreen reader is priced at $300.

Separately, a Barnes & Noble representative said in a video (above) that the company will  have a color touchscreen reader, developed jointly with Plastic Logic, available next spring.

See Also:

• Bookstores Aim at Amazon With E-Readers of Their Own
• Sony’s E-Book Reader Adds Touchscreen, Wireless Downloads
• Plastic Logic E-Reader is Slimmer than Kindle DX
• Sony to Introduce $200 E-reader
• New Barnes & Noble E-book Store to Power Plastic Logic Reader

In no uncertain terms, a Barnes & Noble representative at what looks like the CTIA show says that a color (color!) Plastic Logic e-book reader will launch in Spring 2010. Now, we’re not sure if Daniel Joresson is authorized to make announcements about its Plastic Logic partner but he did so nonetheless. The Plastic Logic e-reader will feature a color screen about the size of a paperback and runs the “Barnes & Noble e-book reader application.” It’s not clear, but it sounds like the B&N application will also be available for cellphones including the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android devices. Right, similar to the Kindle app. So how does this jibe with rumors about a 6-inch Barnes & Noble e-reader from Plastic Logic launching as early as next month? Easy, the first version will be grayscale while a new model featuring a color display will launch in Spring. In fact, Plastic Logic’s own web site says that its color reader is “around the corner” and expects to be “first to market with a large, flexible color display” — take that Sony and Amazon with your PVI built E Ink-based displays. Watch the flirtatious B&N reveal after the break.

[Thanks, Tom]

Read — Plastic Logic FAQ (color reader)
Read — Video

Continue reading Barnes and Noble ‘confirms’ color Plastic Logic e-book reader for Spring 2010 (video)

Filed under: Handhelds

Barnes and Noble ‘confirms’ color Plastic Logic e-book reader for Spring 2010 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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