LAS VEGAS — After months of offering tantalizing bits of information, Plastic Logic has finally launched its new e-reader Que.
The Que proReader has an 8.5 x 11-inch touchscreen display and the ability to handle a range of documents such as Microsoft Word files, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, digital books, PDFs, magazines and newspapers.
It can also synchronize with Microsoft Outlook to display e-mails and calendar.
“E-readers today are reading devices for the casual reader,” says Richard Archuleta, chief executive of Plastic Logic. “What about folks who need it for business and reading lots of different documents? We are trying to create a paperless briefcase for them.”
The Que will be the latest entrant into what’s become of the hottest consumer electronics product categories. Last year alone, about 5 million e-readers were sold. Amazon, one of the largest book retailers, has said for the first time on Christmas day more e-books were sold than physical books.
Beautiful, Pricey Hardware
The Que e-reader designed by industrial design firm IDEO is the best-looking device in its category. It is extremely thin, lightweight (weighs less than a pound) and has a large shatterproof display that’s feels better than its rivals, such as Amazon’s Kindle DX.
The Que is driven by its touchscreen so it does not not have any buttons on it, except for a discreet home button at the upper right corner. The effect is similar to that of Apple’s iPhone.
The result is a sleek and rather sophisticated-looking gadget. But in the brief hands-on time that we spent with it, we noticed smudge marks and fingerprints all over the device.
Still from a design perspective, Plastic Logic’s Que is undoubtedly a beauty.
But open your wallets wide for it.
The 4-GB version of the Que with Wi-Fi and storage for about 35,000 documents will retail for $650. An $800 8-GB version that can store 75,000 documents and includes both Wi-Fi and 3G capability — powered by AT&T– will also be available.
The Que will start shipping mid-April but the company is taking pre-orders now.
Versatile and Format-Agnotisic
Unlike the Sony Reader or the Barnes & Noble Nook, the Que is targeted at business users. So the device offers a number of features that are missing in its counterparts.
The e-reader syncs with your Microsoft Outlook account to display e-mails and the day’s appointments. It also pulls in attachments so you can click on and view them on the e-reader.
The top half of the screen features different documents, while the lower half shows those marked as favorites.
Plastic Logic inked partnerships with major content publishers so users can read magazines such as Fast Company and newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and USA Today on the device.
Que’s biggest asset is that it can handle an e-book in the ePUB format with the same ease as a document from the Microsoft Office suite. It’s a feature that is likely to endear it to users who don’t want to carry multiple devices and pull up a laptop just to look at an Excel spreadsheet.
“The Que is not committed to a specific format,” says Archuleta.
Other features include search that looks through both your e-mail and documents, ability to create notes and annotate documents.
Plastic Logic will also have an app for BlackBerry phones so users can wirelessly sync content from their phones with the Que.
Photos: Priya Ganapati
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