Hasta La Gadget!

We caught the LumiRead set up and ready for some serious page-turning action as Acer set up its booth at IFA today (yes, it’s true, the show still hasn’t technically started), which marks the first time we’ve actually been able to hold the upcoming e-reader — previously, the closest we’d gotten was the impersonal touch of a glass enclosure back at Computex. The verdict? After having touched one of those newfangled Kindles, we’ve got to say that pretty much every other e-reader out there feels like a ridiculously overweight beast, and the LumiRead gets swept up into that classification. The barcode scanner is still there (you can see it in our gallery below) and it’s still as awesome of a concept as ever, but Acer has replaced the smooth plastic back with a ridged, patterned one on this newer prototype — and considering that the launch is scheduled for October, we imagine this is nearly final or final spec. The thumbstick feels decent, but we don’t really think it’s the best way to navigate… which is a lesson Amazon already learned with the last version of the Kindle, by the bye. So here’s your recipe for success, Acer: soft-touch back, cut the thickness by a third, eliminate the wasted space above the keyboard, and keep the barcode reader. Boom.

Acer LumiRead makes pit stop at IFA prior to launch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What a time to be alive! Not so much for the political contention or the artistic, technological, or scientific breakthrough. No friends, when you speak to your grandchildren about what it was like to be alive in the early 21st century, the conversational will almost certainly revolve around that fact that you survived the eBook pricing wars.

Borders today announced that it has dropped the price of its Kobo and Libre e-readers to $129 and $99, down from $149 and $119, respectively.The drops are the latest in what has been a rather hot summer for eBook reader pricing.

Back in June, Barnes & Noble dropped the price of its 3G Nook from $259 to $199. Amazon then marked the Kindle down from $259 to $189. That same week, Borders announced that it would be including $10 in Borders Bucks and a $20 gift card with the purchase of a Kobo, later insisting that its decision was unrelated to drops on the Kindle and Nook.

Amazon, of course, introduced a brand new Kindle in July, pricing the 3G version at $189 and the Wi-Fi-only model at $139.

Given how fast the new Kindle’s been selling, we doubt many of you were keenly holding out for Acer’s alternative — but if you were, the wait is apparently nearing an end. An Acer spokesperson has confirmed that the barcode scanning-LumiRead will be shipping out to retail channels (in Germany, at least) this October, and early speculation on its price places it at around €250 ($316). That’s an unconfirmed number, so don’t freak out just yet, and Acer points to the fact it’ll pack one of the widest German-language e-libraries on any e-reading device. Maybe prices will be somewhat more competitive in other territories, where the major attractions will be WiFi and 3G wireless capabilities, a 6-inch, 800 x 600 E Ink display, and a Barnes and Noble content partnership. And hey, maybe when we hit IFA in a couple of days they might finally let us take it out of the box as well, eh? We can only dream.

Continue reading Acer LumiRead set for an IFA showing, October launch in Germany

Acer LumiRead set for an IFA showing, October launch in Germany originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 03:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp is going to launch its brand new e-reader in Japan this fall with US retail availability to follow by the end of the year. Riveting stuff, isn’t it? Well, the company’s President Mikio Katayama does his best to spice things up by proposing this device will aim “to rival the iPad,” and it may well sport a color LCD if earlier indications still hold true, but what’s really got us hot under the collar is the potential for 3D down the line. Katayama claims to have witnessed great enthusiasm for 3D — particularly when it comes to games — and posits it as a likely future direction for this new ebook reader. Multifunctional devices are what people want, he says, and since Sharp already has a 3D smartphone in the pipeline and a glasses-free 3D tablet display in the lab, we can’t see many technical hurdles to the realization of his vision. Let’s just hope his depth perception is accurate when it comes to measuring the interest in three-dee.

Sharp’s e-reader ready to ‘rival the iPad’ by year’s end, may have a 3D future originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Surrounded by giants jockeying for the e-reader crown, what can a newcomer do to stand out? Copia, a DMC Worldwide subsidiary, is betting on social networking for books.

The Copia experience combines e-readers with an online community to suggest books, trade notes, and chat with other like-minded readers. Each person has a profile page with “books read” and “planning to read” lists. Social networking site Goodreads already does this, but Copia took the idea one step further by including the ability to tell a good friend about a good book right on its devices.

Pricing is still a little unclear, but the two maritime-themed-lines, Ocean and Tidal, are expected to range from $99 to $299. While the basic Ocean model will have a 6-inch ePaper display, the other two Ocean models will have 9-inch screens. The Tidal line boasts a curvier design, a simpler set of specs, and a 6-inch ePaper display.
Copia’s e-book store will offer over 250,000 books from over 1,500 publishers, as well as 1,400 newspapers and over 750,000 free books from Google Books. The e-reader itself can hold up to 1,500 books and has the ability to access your friends’ comments, suggestions, and any other book-related thoughts. If you have an e-textbook, imagine sharing your notes with your classmates and studying together virtually!

The Ocean and Tidal come with many features I tend to think are standard e-reader specs: lightweight and easy to carry, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, a high-quality ePaper display, and a QWERTY keyboard. There are some caveats for the basic models, though, as the Ocean 6 will not have 3G or a touchscreen and the Tidal (basic) doesn’t have Wi-Fi, 3G, or a touchscreen .

Except for the Tidal (basic), they all have expandable memory, 4GB of internal memory, tilt sensors, and USB connectivity.

The social network platform is currently in public beta. Users can search for books, discuss and compare books, and plan what books to try next. The e-readers were originally slated to ship in April, but the latest word on the street seems to be fall – just in time for the holiday season. “Fall” is a wide window, but if the idea of a portable book club appeals to you, keep an eye on the Copia site for details.