Hasta La Gadget!

Have you been enviously eyeing the self-illuminating screen on the Nook SimpleTouch with GlowLight, but didn’t want to give up your digital library of Kindle wares? Dear reader, today is your lucky day, with Amazon announcing the Kindle Paperwhite. No, not paperweight, Paperwhite. It has a new, front-lit display that will let you read in the dark, and a capacitive touchscreen that goes away from the IR based systems we’ve seen in the past.

Jeff Bezos tells us that it has 25 percent more contrast than the Pearl screens in the current Kindles and, with 212ppi, it has a 62 percent higher resolution. It relies on a fiber optic like system to direct light down onto the display, not unlike the Nook but, from what we can see, the color is much whiter. It’s just 9.1mm thick, the battery is said to last for eight weeks and there are no physical buttons for control. You’re entirely dependent on that touchscreen to flip those pages — which, by the way, are said to turn 15 percent faster.

The interface has seen some tweaks too. The fonts are more detailed now, as they should be with that higher resolution, and you can tweak the brightness of the display with a slider. The software will calculate your reading speed and estimate how long it will take you to finish a given chapter or book and there are now author bios.

Price is $119 for the WiFi version and it ships October 1st! If you’d like a little 3G connectivity with your Kindle, you’re looking at $179.

Follow the Amazon liveblog here!

Filed under: Tablets

Amazon announces $119 Kindle Paperwhite with illuminated, capacitive touch display originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here in the states, at least, the e-reader market is ruled by two bookstore giants: Amazon and Barnes & Noble. And while it’s not likely to come barreling into the top two any time soon, Sony has made a fairly strong case for number three, particularly with last year’s Reader WiFi. That model defied Sony’s reputation for overpriced gear, while offering various features unavailable in the Nooks and Kindles of the market (think: pinch-to-zoom and handwriting capabilities). The new Reader PRS-T2 maintains many of the features that made the Reader WiFi a solid choice, though it adds Evernote integration, smoother page turns and a generally more streamlined design. So is the refreshed Reader worth recommending over competitors like the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight and Amazon Kindle Touch? Find out after the break.

Continue reading Sony Reader PRS-T2 review: same old e-reader, new and (mostly) improved design

Sony Reader PRS-T2 review: same old e-reader, new and (mostly) improved design originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We can always count on the good ole Federal Communications Commission for a sneak peek at the latest wireless-communicating gadgets ahead of launch. Sometimes our probes are met with full-on spec sheets and user manuals to peruse, while often we’re greeted with a simple model name and number, and perhaps a hint of said wireless capabilities in a test report. That’s what we have today — most of the information available is listed in that product label above, including confirmation that we’re looking at a Sony Reader with the model number PRS-T2. Additionally, the report reveals that the device will sport 802.11b/g/n WiFi (but not 3G), along with a microSD slot for external storage. For now, that’s all we have to share, but you’re welcome to do some digging of your own at the FCC link below.

Sony PRS-T2 Reader drops by the FCC, teases e-book lovers ahead of launch originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 08:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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