Hasta La Gadget!

It’s fairly safe to say that DMC Worldwide’s Copia e-reader family won’t exactly make that estimated Spring 2010 ship date, but a new report over at The Wall Street Journal is cluing us in on a bit of a revised outlook. As of now, the first Copia suite of e-readers will “hit stores this fall in time for the holiday season,” a suite that’ll presumably include the 5-inch color (LCD) Wave 5 for $99, a 7-inch Wave 7 for $129, a 10-inch Ocean Color for $299 and a pair of E Ink-based options for $49 (Tidal) / $159 (Tidal WiFi). It doesn’t seem as if the two Waves will include any sort of wireless connectivity, and given the LCD display, we’re sure that battery life will be nowhere near as good as the marginally-more-expensive Kindle. That said, the user interface does look rather striking from afar, and if these manage to slip a bit further in price before that magical day in December, you could very well see a rush to stuff stockings with a member of this here family. Give those links below a poke if you’re on the prowl for more detailed specifications.

DMC’s 5-inch Copia color e-reader landing this fall for $99, others to follow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Following the launch of Amazon’s third-generation Kindle, company CEO Jeff Bezos sat down to discuss the e-reader business with USA Today. We’d recommend giving the whole piece a look-see if you just can’t get enough Kindle in your life, but a few choice quotes caught our attention. For starters, Bezos predicted that Kindle e-book sales will “surpass paperback sales sometime in the next 9 to 12 months,” and that “sometime after that, we’ll surpass the combination of paperback and hardcover.” Considering that the Kindle platform is but 33 months old, and that books are just a wee bit older, that’s pretty impressive. In a separate sit-down with Pocket-lint, Steve Kessel — Amazon’s senior vice president of Worldwide Digital Media — teased us all with regard to a color version of the company’s famed e-reader. ‘Course, we’ve known that Bezos and Company aren’t too hopeful about such a thing in the near-term, but we’ve yet to actually hear the company confess to having specific color alternatives in the lab. If you’ll recall, we found Qualcomm’s Mirasol demonstration worthy of laud back at CES, and according to Kessel, “that’s in the lab.” We’re also told that a slew of other color options are always in testing, though, so we’re doing our darnedest to not get those hopes too high. It ain’t working, but still…

Amazon sees e-book sales surpassing paper versions, has Mirasol technology in the Kindle labs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink All Things D  |  Pocket-lint, USA Today  | Email this | Comments

Let’s be honest — you saw this one coming, didn’t you? Today Amazon is introducing a new reading device for e-book aficionados dubbed simply… the Kindle. The new handheld — slated to be released on August 27th — is 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter than the previous model, has a 20 percent faster refresh rate on its E Ink (yep, still E Ink) screen, and will now come in two colors (graphite, like its big brother the DX, and the original white). In addition to the color changes, there will be two radio configurations available: a $139 WiFi only version, and a $189 3G version (utilizing AT&T’s network, just like the last model). The screen will remain the same 6-inch size as the last two Kindles, though the company claims page turns are faster and contrast is improved. The internal storage on the device has been cranked to 4GB, and the battery life is now rated at a month with no wireless, and 10 days with wireless switched on. The company also announced plans for a UK-localized version at £109 and £149, respectively, as well as a UK e-book store.

Along with the big changes, there have been minor tweaks as well — the keyboard and five-way controls have been streamlined and altered slightly. The rocker is now more compact and flush with the device, and the side buttons have been modified in length to emphasize the forward paddles, while the back buttons have been downsized. Software wise, there are some interesting new features, the most notable being the inclusion of an “experimental” Webkit-based browser. If you’re expecting future iterations to go even bolder with their multimedia capabilities, we kindly direct you to some choice quotes by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, care of WSJ: “For the vast majority of books, adding video and animation is not going to be helpful. It is distracting rather than enhancing. You are not going to improve Hemingway by adding video snippets,” adding later, “there are going to be 100 companies making LCD [screen] tablets… why would we want to be 101? I like building a purpose-built reading device. I think that is where we can make a real contribution.”

We had a chance to play with the device for a short while during a meeting with the company, and we can report that the Kindle is still very much the reading device you know and love (or hate, depending on your preferences). The build quality and materials used did seem slightly more polished than the previous version, and we really liked the new, more subtle rocker. We can also attest to screen refreshes and overall navigation feeling noticeably more responsive and snappy compared with the previous generation. Amazon was showing off a jacket accessory which will be made available at launch that includes a small, pull-out light for late-night reading sessions. We’re sure it will please a lot of folks eager to keep their partners undisturbed while they tear through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We’ll have a full review as soon as we can get our hands on the device, but for now, check out all the details in the video and PR after the break, and feast your eyes on the handful of press shots in the gallery below.

Continue reading New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only version and $189 3G model available August 27th in the US and UK

New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only version and $189 3G model available August 27th in the US and UK originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We can’t say we’ve heard of Augen before, but the company certainly sparked our interest (and that of Kmart circular readers) this weekend with its $149.99 7-inch Android tablet. Oh yes, you heard right shoppers — the small Florida-based shop is bringing an Android 2.1 tablet with WiFi, 2GB of storage and 256MB of RAM to a store near you for just 150 buckaroos. And according to an Augen spokesperson, it will have access to the Android “Market App Store.” That sounds pretty awesome for the pricetag, but we — along with a number of readers we’ve heard from — haven’t been able to locate the 7-inch tablet at any Kmart retail location just yet. (Yes, we even spent a lovely ten minutes on hold with our local store while they checked the inventory.) We’re told by Augen that the device should be hitting shelves later this week, though the company was unsure it would ever land on Kmart’s online store. In addition to the 7-inch tablet, Augen has also released its $89 TheBook e-reader with a similar 7-inch LCD. It doesn’t run Android, but you can check out an in-depth look at its Linux OS in The eReader’s video review after the break. We’ll be keeping an ear to the ground on the availability of the tablet and will be trying to get one in our hands to confirm the preloaded Market, but let us know in the comments if you’ve had any luck yourselves.

[Thanks, Matthew]

Update: We’ve been hearing from a bunch of readers that many Kmarts are giving out “rainchecks” and that they will be calling customers when the Augen tablet arrives later this week.

Continue reading Augen’s $150 Android tablet hits Kmart circular, coming to stores later this week

Augen’s $150 Android tablet hits Kmart circular, coming to stores later this week originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading ExoPC nabs improved screen and e-book app, still on track for a September release (video)

ExoPC nabs improved screen and e-book app, still on track for a September release (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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