Hasta La Gadget!

Elonex has been dabbling in small screen wares for quite some time now, so it’s not a huge surprise to finally see it join the likes of BeBook, Sony and Amazon by introducing its very own eBook reader. Design wise, the 6-inch reader looks an awful lot like that played-out OEM model that everyone seems to start with, but hey, you won’t find us kvetching about competition. The device is launching exclusively at Borders UK, and with that comes the new Borders eBook Download Store. With a 4GB expansion card, there’s room for some 8,000 ebooks, and the 9 millimeter-thin frame ensures that this one won’t bog you down too much. Interested consumers over in the UK can snap this one up right now for £189 ($311), and that price nets you 100 free ebooks, a charger, data cable and a great sense of pride.

[Thanks, Sam]

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Elonex launches £189 6-inch eBook reader through Borders UK originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We can’t say they look a whole heck of a lot different than the EB-300 and EB-100, but Netronix’s EB-600 and EB-500 are still a push in the right direction. Seen at Computex, these e-readers pack a battery good for 8,000 page turns as well as a 6-inch (EB-600) / 5-inch (EB-500) e-ink display. We were even told that the EB-500 may end up with a slide-out keyboard, but as of now, all we can do is sit Indian style, meditate on the hands-on shots down in the read link and dream of what may some day be.

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Netronix EB-600 and EB-500 e-readers spotted at Computex originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Details are not totally clear at this point, but Bookeen recently teased its newest e-book reader offering — the Cybook Opus — during a presentation. At 200 DPI, the teensy 5.3-ouncer will have one of the higher resolutions we’ve seen on a reader, and it will supposedly be controllable by just one hand. We hear that It’ll also have 1GB of onboard storage, and boast PDF support, but that’s all we know spec-wise for now. There’s no word on pricing or availability for this miniscule paper-slayer, but we’ll let you know as soon as we do. [Warning: read link is a PDF]

[Via Electronista]

Filed under: Handhelds

Bookeen outs pocket-sized Cybook Opus e-book reader originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 May 2009 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Upstart company Interead is looking to jump into the ever-expanding library of e-book readers with its debut, the COOL-ER. Company founder Neil Jones describes it as the “iPod moment that e-readers have been waiting for,” calling the device the first of its kind to be designed specifically for the non-technologically inclined reader in mind. Indeed, the aesthetics seems to borrow liberally from the iPod nano, and features eight different color options. It weighs in at 6.3 ounces, or a little less than half of the Kindle 2, with the same 6-inch e-ink screen, and is small enough to fit comfortably in your jacket pocket, he says. It’s got 1GB internal memory and a SD card slot, as well as a 2.5mm headphone jack with a 3.5mm converter bundled with every device. The feature set is pretty barebones, with no keyboard, text-to-speech, WiFi, or Whispernet equivalent — all files have to be loaded via USB or SD card — but in its place is a more attractive $250 MSRP, and Jones assures us at that price the company’ll be making a profit on each unit sold. Format support includes EPUB, TXT, JPEG, any kind of PDF, MP3 for audio, and eight languages including Russian and traditional / simplified Chinese. The company’s also launching an e-book store and offering an extra discount for customers who register their COOL-ER. It’ll go on sale May 29th for US and Europe via its website, with retail distribution partner expected to be announced closer to the launch date. We’re gonna wait until we get a few chapters into Alice in Wonderland before giving a final verdict, but in the meantime, check out our initial hands-on in the gallery below.

Read – Product page
Read – Online store

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Interead’s COOL-ER claims to be the ‘iPod moment’ for e-readers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 May 2009 09:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not the BeBook 2, unfortunately, but Endless Ideas’ official Twitter has released an image of a smaller variant of its current e-book reader, dubbed the BeBook mini. It’s got a 5-inch e-ink display and reportedly all the same features as its older brother. Manufacturer Tianjin Jinke Electronics also happens to sell products under the Hanlin brand, and this looks to be the same device as the upcoming Hanlin v5, which according to Chinese site mobread would indicate SD card support and a May release window locally. As for elsewhere in the world, there’s no indication of a release date, but BeBook Twitter feed did tease about staying under the $200 / €200 price barrier.

[Via Wired]

Read – Hanlin v5
Read – BeBook mini Image
Read – Teaser about sub-$200 / €200 price tag

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

BeBook mini e-reader with 5-inch display makes pictorial debut originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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