Hasta La Gadget!

LAS VEGAS — The Amazon Kindle’s E Ink screen is easy on the eyes for reading, but the software’s really laggy. The iPhone’s touchscreen is slick and fast, but you’ll wear your eyes out reading off it for several hours. What if you combined the benefits of both these products into one?

That’s the idea behind SpringDesign’s Alex e-book reader, which features a 6-inch E Ink display on top and a 3.5-inch touchscreen at the bottom. Most interestingly, the device is running Google’s Android OS, specially modified for e-book reading. Using the touchscreen you can select tools for creating annotations and highlights for a book, and you can also switch between books from your library. Two large physical arrow buttons on the sides of the device allow you to “flip” pages.

Tim White, chief systems architect of SpringDesign, said it was important for an e-book reader to run on an open platform such as Android.

“We’re trying to be an open reader,” White told Wired.com. “The world is an open place, and early manufacturers [such as Amazon] are controlling the environment. That’s not the way we’re used to reading and sharing information, especially in the age of the internet.”

Running the Google OS doesn’t mean Alex owners will be able to freely swap books. SpringDesign formed a partnership with Borders for e-book content, and of course, its e-books are DRM-protected — tied to one device each. Alex owners will, however, be able to exchange annotations and highlights, a feature designed for university students.

Also, only smartphones can be certified Android OS devices with access to Google’s Android Market app store. So, while the Alex has the core functions of Android — such as video playback, an e-mail app and access to a digital photo album — it won’t have the full powers (i.e. third-party apps) of an Android smartphone. However, SpringDesign is inviting Android developers to code apps and content for the Alex, which will be called the Alex Marketplace.

The design of the Alex is downright funky and not ideal, but I do like the idea. I had some hands-on time with the device, and I especially enjoyed being able to quickly access the Alex’s e-book library using the touchscreen. With dedicated e-book devices such as the Amazon Kindle, the process of switching between books has always been a major drag thanks to the sluggish refresh rate of E Ink screens; it was a lot easier selecting titles on the Alex.

However, the Alex’s Android OS was pretty rough around the edges. Some of the UI was hardly intuitive. The icons for making notes for annotations and highlights were signified by vague graphics of boxes, for example. It’ll take a bit of time to memorize what every button does in the Alex — a far cry from the iPhone experience.

SpringDesign does not disclose the processor used for the touchscreen, and it didn’t seem very fast. A video played on the device looked laggy compared to videos I’ve seen on other smartphones.

In short, my first impressions are the Alex has a lot of potential with its innovative design and independent app store, but it’ll face some challenges in the fiercely competitive reader market. Its price tag won’t help — $360, which costs $100 more than the Barnes & Noble Nook, which is also an Android-based device with a 3.5-inch touchscreen display. SpringDesign better hope it wins its lawsuit against Barnes.

See Also:

• ‘Alex’, An Android-Powered, Dual Screen E-Book Reader
• Ode to Books, or Why E-Book Readers Will Never Replace Them …
• Amazon Set to Rekindle Its E-Book Reader
• Barnes & Noble Unveils Kindle-Killing, Dual-Screen ‘Nook’ E-Reader …

Product Page [SpringDesign]

Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

LG made the bold leap to Android 2.0 with the low-to midrange GT540 it’s showing this week, turning up the style dial a couple notches in a handful of colors (white, pink, dark gray, and black) with stylized wavy backs, chrome accents, and rounded edges. The UI’s very standard with only minor tweaks, including a few custom LG apps; we couldn’t get much information on it since it’s a Euro-only release and the booth’s being staffed primarily by the company’s US team, but we can see that it’s got a 3 megapixel cam, a 3.5mm jack, and a mix of touch-sensitive and physical buttons down below. We couldn’t verify what kind of processor this thing has on board, but the UI speed certainly didn’t blow us away — if we had to guess, it’s probably the same core that you’ll find in the GW620 Eve. Follow the break for a quick hands-on video.

Continue reading LG’s GT540 mixes Android 2.0, pretty, and low-end

LG’s GT540 mixes Android 2.0, pretty, and low-end originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Cydle’s M7 isn’t the best tablet we’ve seen this year. In fact, it’s hardly even a tablet — it has a built-in stand that allows it to stand at attention in either landscape or portrait mode. When not in use, the stand actually flips around and acts as a screen cover — which is a little comforting when thinking about this soft 7-inch resistive touchscreen bumping against sundry objects in a laptop bag. The Android software on the device right now is ultra beta, so we weren’t able to see the internal ATSC TV tuner in action, but it does set the $199 device apart from some of its slate brethren, though our favorite feature might actually be the simple ability to use this device as an extra PC monitor. You know… it’s the little things in life. Under the hood there’s an ARM11 processor at 800MHz. The M7 should be launching in the Spring, and you can check out some video of the unit after the break if you’re into that sort of thing.

Continue reading Cydle M7 Android tablet has TV tuner, external monitor capabilities

Cydle M7 Android tablet has TV tuner, external monitor capabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Liliputing  |   | Email this | Comments

Tablet-ed out yet? We didn’t think so. MSI has a 10-inch Android tablet on display at CES here. There aren’t many details (like price, release date and internals), but we do know it’s running one of those new Tegra 2 chips. Up front there’s a pretty nice 10-inch capacitive display, which is plenty responsive. Like other tablets we’ve been seeing, the device is a bit thicker and heavier than we’d like, but hopefully that paves the way for some substantial battery life. We might still not know the “why,” but the “how” is certainly coming together.

MSI shows off 10-inch Android tablet running new Tegra chipset originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

LAS VEGAS –Motorola launched its third Android smartphone, an attractive, compact device with some surprising hardware innovations and a user interface that aggregates social networking feeds, email and contacts.

The phone called Backflip has a 3.1-inch touchscreen, a QWERTY physical keyboard that opens up in an unexpected way, a touch sensitive navigation panel on the back and a nifty mode that allows it to be postioned on the table top to act like an alarm clock.

The device is expected to hit the market in the first quarter of the year  but the company did not disclose pricing or a telecom partner for the device.

“This is a phone with a great keyboard, a big screen and integration with social networking,” says Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha.

Since Google debuted the open source Android operating system in October 2008, Android devices have flooded the market. More than ten Android handsets are currently available with more waiting to burst into the spotlight. AT&T announced Wednesday that it will offer  five new Android smartphones this year. On Tuesday, Google introduced its own Android handset, the HTC designed Nexus One running the latest version of the Android OS, Android 2.0

Motorola is trying to stay a step ahead, says Ross Rubin, an analyst with The NPD Group.  ”We have seen a lot of Android models appear quickly on the market,” he says. “So it’s starting to become more important for manufacturers to differentiate themselves.”

An eye-catching phone

Like the Motorola Droid, the Backflip has a physical keyboard and a touchscreen. But Motorola seems to have listened to complaints about the Droid’s difficult to use keypad.

The Backflip’s keypad feels solid and has generously spaced buttons that ensure you don’t end up hitting the wrong keys. The keyboard also opens up differently.

“Most people are used to a forward flipping keyboard or an upward slider,” says Paul Nicholson, global marketing director for Motorola. “The Backflip’s keyboard opens up in the reverse direction.”

That allows the phone to fold up and sit on a table top like a horizontally placed picture frame. In that mode, the Backflip displays a clock, turning it into a bedside timepiece.

Another interesting innovation is a one-inch touch sensitive swatch on the back of the phone. That trackpad supports gestures such as swipe and double-tap. So users can browse the internet or flip through the device’s seven home screens by touching the back of the phone.

The idea works well enough and it won’t be long before other handset manufacturers offer the feature.

Beyond that, the Backflip has all the usual features–Wi-Fi connectivity, 3G, a 5-megapixel camera and a video recorder.

Motorola did not disclose what kind of processor is powering the phone. With the 1 GHz Snapdragon processor–included in the Google Nexus One–setting the standard for speed, much will depend on how powerful the innards of the Backflip turn out to be.

Chaneling the Cliq

When it comes to the user interface, the Backflip is identical to Motorola’s first Android phone, the Cliq. The Backflip has Motorola’s custom skin called MotoBlur that combines information from social networking feeds such as Twitter, and Facebook with email contacts and the phone address book. It also offers free online backup of the data on the device and a find-my-phone service for lost devices.

Models of the Backflip at the Motorola  event were running Android 1.6 but the company says it hasn’t decided which version it will ultimately ship with.

Overall, the Backflip is a gorgeous piece of hardware and cements Motorola’s position as a handset manufacturer that can create phones strong enough to stand out from the clutter.

Though Motorola hasn’t announced the pricing for the Backflip, NPD’s Rubin says it could cost about the same as a Cliq–$100 with a two-year contract. And being a GSM phone, it is likely this device could end up on AT&T.

See Also:

• Review: Motorola Cliq
• Motorola’s First Android Phone Takes Aim at Social Networks
• Review: Motorola Droid
• Hands On: Motorola’s New Android Phone Nails Design