Hasta La Gadget!

We have all ideas that the 70b will look mighty weak after next year’s spate of slates, tablets and readers hit the public view at CES, but with a price tag as diminutive as €99.99 ($130), who cares about bells and / or whistles? Spotted first in the FCC’s lairs a few weeks ago, the Archos 70b e-reader is now up for pre-order in Europe, boasting a 7-inch WVGA touchpanel, 4GB of storage, 802.11b/g WiFi and an SD expansion slot. We’re told that the battery will keep things humming for around ten hours (or up to 18 if using it strictly as a music player with the screen flipped off), and if we had to guess, we’d say it’ll probably make the trip through the Panama Canal in Q1 2011. Question is: will you care?

Archos’ Android-based 70b e-reader up for pre-order in Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 19:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rollable electrical displays are the holy grail of display technology…well they were until a University of Cincinnati Electrical Engineering Professor raised the possibility of paper-based, disposable flexible displays.

According to a report on Physorg.com, Professor Andrew Steckl has effectively demonstrated that actual paper can be used as an “electrowetting” (EW) device. Essentially this means the paper can hold electrified droplets that can be controlled to mimic print on paper and, more impressively, color video. In the research paper, published this month in Applied Materials & Interfaces, Steckl reports working with a variety of paper types, with “coating, roughness, thickness, and water uptake, among the most important properties” for effectively supporting EW.

Companies like Qualcomm are already working on color electronic ink displays and some, like Skiff, have even showed off flexible black-and-white e-ink displays. However, none of them have made it to market and the so-called flexible displays still end up under some-kind of rigid screen (plastic or glass) .

For now, all e-ink readers use a glass substrate–as do most backlit display readers like the iPad and Nook. They’re designed to last for years. E-readers based on Steckl’s new technology could be used for a day or week and disposed as safely as a piece of paper.

Don’t get excited about rolling up your favorite paper-based e-reader and stuffing it into your back pocket just yet. Steckl’s electrowetting paper still needs funding and is at least five years away from commercial delivery. In the meantime, I’m contemplating the possibility of a stack of digital papers sitting in the corner of my home–waiting for recycling. This is progress?

Image Credit: ACS Publications

It’s hard to believe we’re already writing a review of the Nook Color, considering Barnes & Noble’s first foray into the e-reader world was revealed just over a year ago. In that time, the company has gone from no presence in e-books to owning 20 percent of the marketshare, and now has moved from a somewhat sluggish hybrid E-Ink / LCD device to a full color, tablet-like product. The Nook Color is definitely a major step forward, boasting a completely revamped, Android-based OS, and a big push into the children’s book and periodical market (particularly full color magazines). Both of these spaces have yet to be mined successfully by players like Apple and Amazon — and it’s clear Barnes & Noble is aware of the stakes. Beyond book reading, the Nook Color potentially offers a tablet alternative that can (or will be able to) do much of what is possible on an iPad or Galaxy Tab. In fact, the company plans to launch its own Android tablet app store in the first quarter of 2011, providing a consistent, compatible application experience that could get the jump on other Android tablet-makers’ plans (hello Samsung). Of course, this is a fierce market, and with a $249 price tag, Barnes & Noble has to play to win on every front. So, is the Nook Color the next logical step in e-readers? Is it a healthy alternative to more expensive tablets? And can it cement the prominent bookseller’s place in a hotly contested new space? Read on for all those answers in the full Engadget review!

Continue reading Nook Color review

Nook Color review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While Amazon and Sony are still hemming and hawing about taking their ebook-reading adventure into the color E Ink realm, China’s Hanvon is plunging straight in. The New York Times is reporting that the company intends to grace this year’s FPD International trade show with the news that a 10-inch touchscreen e-reader, equipped with the first color-displaying panels from E Ink Holdings, will be arriving in the Chinese market in March. That’s a little later than the originally promised “by the end of 2010,” but it’s not like anyone else is beating Hanvon to the market. Pricing in China is expected at around $440, and though there are no plans to bring it Stateside just yet, we imagine Hanvon would do so quite willingly if it can reach the volume necessary to offer up a more palatable price. And we’d be very happy if it does, the Nook Color‘s been looking a little lonely in the color ebook reader room.

Hanvon to be first with color E Ink reader, sizes it at 10 inches, makes it a touchscreen originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Nov 2010 02:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Energy Sistem debuts colorful Color Book Series color e-reader originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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