Hasta La Gadget!

Get ready to add another big time e-reader partnership to the list: iRex is set to announce later today a deal that will bring its latest DR800SG E-Ink slab to Best Buy with unlimited Verizon 3G data on board. The $399 e-reader with 8.1-inch touchscreen arrives as rumored with the ability to wirelessly download digital books from Barnes & Noble’s e-bookstore in addition to over 1,100 newspapers from Newspapers Direct — it’ll also handle any books downloadable in the ePub format. The 3G goodness comes via a Gobi radio from Qualcomm — right, that means HSDPA data too, allowing owners to download data while traveling abroad. Take that Kindle. The DR800SG is expected to arrive in US Best Buy stores next month. We’ll be going hands-on with it later today where we’ll have plenty of pics and the full suite of specs.

Update: iRex has dropped a picture onto its home page. Is that stylus to scale?

[Thanks, Tom]

Filed under: Handhelds

iRex DR800SG e-reader brings global 3G downloads — Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and Verizon partnerships originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve just got to admire an outfit like Netronix. Hardly anyone this side of Asia has heard of ’em, and with outfits like Amazon, Sony, Hearst and ASUS doing their darnedest to corner to rapidly expanding e-reader market, you know it has an uphill climb just to get some respect. That said, we’re somewhat intrigued by what’s on deck for Q1 2010; just a few months after its EB-600 and EB-500 readers were spotted at Computex, the company itself has confessed to having an expansive EB900 in the works. As with the Kindle DX, this bugger is destined to boast a 9.7-inch e-ink display, and you’ll also find a 600MHz processor, WinCE 6.0-based operating system, touch support, a handwriting mode, built-in WiFi / Bluetooth / 3G WWAN and a USB socket for connecting to one’s PC. The minuscule snapshot you see there to the right is all we’ve got to go by as far as images are concerned, but you can rest assured we’ll be keeping an ear to the ground for more.

[Thanks, Tom]

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Netronix sneaking 9.7-inch display, hopes and dreams into forthcoming EB900 e-reader originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last we heard from Astak, it was quietly peddling some off-the-wall Mentor e-book reader based on a drab OEM model that every other no-name reader manufacturer uses. Now, however, it seems the company has a bit more pep in its step (though it’s still copying others, this time the BeBook), as it has proudly proclaimed that the new 5-inch EZ Reader Pocket PRO is primed to “give Amazon’s Kindle a run for its money.” With Adobe’s blessing, the device is able to support over 20 open file formats along with DRM-laced PDF files; also of note, a sure-to-be-controversial text-to-speech feature can read back documents aloud. The six-ounce device will be available in a half dozen hues, and within you’ll find a 400MHz processor, 512MB of memory, an SD expansion slot, 8-level grayscale E-ink screen, a replaceable battery good for 8,000 page turns per charge and an MP3 player that can operate in the background. Sadly, no wireless connectivity is baked in, but the $199 price point is definitely tantalizing. Anyone looking to get in on a pre-order before it ships later this month?

Filed under: Handhelds

Astak’s $199 EZ Reader Pocket PRO wants to give Kindle ‘a run for its money’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been sort of wondering when we’d see a solar e-ink display, and here we are — Neoluxiim is demoing this panel for use in point-of-sale advertising. What’s interesting here is that the background appears to be in color while the text is black, but we’re assuming that’s just a fixed image behind the e-ink layer. Everyone ready for impulse purchasing to go high-tech? Video after the break.

Continue reading Neoluxiim demos solar-powered e ink display

Filed under: Displays

Neoluxiim demos solar-powered e ink display originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn’t want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back — so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We’ll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we’ve got a curved E-Ink wristwatch from Phosphor up for grabs. Read the rules below (no skimming — we’re omniscient and can tell when you’ve skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff!

Special thanks to Phosphor Watches for providing the gear!

The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for “fixing” the world economy, that’d be sweet too.
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you’ll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you’ll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winner will be chosen randomly. One (1) winner will receive one (1) E-Ink Digital Hour Clock Watch with Black Leather Band. Approximate retail value is $185.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Tuesday, June 16h, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

Filed under: Wearables

Engadget’s recession antidote: win a Phosphor E-Ink watch! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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