Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon may not be rolling out its Kindle 2.5 update until later this month, but the folks at Ars Technica have already managed to get their hands on it, and they’ve kindly shared a few impressions. While the added social networking capabilities may be the most standout feature, Ars found the new “Collections” feature to be the most substantive part of the update, as it finally gives you a way to manage all your books into groups that are more easily browsed than one big list. Those social networking features do seem to welcome additions as well, however, albeit with a few limitations — while you can easily share a passage from a book with your Twitter or Facebook friends, it’s delivered in the form of a link rather than an actual quote. Other new features like password protection also work just as you’d expect, and there’s a number of more minor but pleasant surprises — like being able to pan and zoom in PDF files. Hit up the source link below for a closer look.

Kindle’s social networking-friendly 2.5 update gets an early preview originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 13:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Late to the touchscreen MID party, Chinese manufacturer SmartQ was determined not to miss another opportunity. That’s why it spent the month of April touting its new R7 e-reader as — you guessed it — the iPad killer. With the same ol’ 600MHz ARM11 and 256MB of RAM inside as its ho-hum MIDs, that claim’s quite a stretch, but our cohorts at Engadget Chinese actually found the Ubuntu-powered 7-inch SVGA touchscreen device moderately capable in a recent hands-on. Like fellow PMP / e-Reader the Onda VX560, the device supports 1080p in most every video format under the sun, reads e-books (PDF, EPUB and CHM), and has a built-in 3G modem for on-the-go capability. Ubuntu standbys Midori and Pidgin handle web browsing and IM, respectively, and it can even stream live video and purchase Chinese magazines through SmartQ’s services. Sluggish as it might be, for $1,680 RMB (about $250) we’d say that’s a pretty respectable featureset. Video after the break, specs and hands-on pics at our source links.

Continue reading SmartQ R7 e-reader boasts 3G, touchscreen LCD, magazine service and IPTV (video)

SmartQ R7 e-reader boasts 3G, touchscreen LCD, magazine service and IPTV (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon just announced a 2.5 software update for its Kindle and Kindle DX readers. At the moment, it’s rolling out the update to a “limited group” of Kindle users with a general release coming at the end of May. Enhancements include the ability to organize books and documents into “collections,” pan and zoom within PDFs, Kindle password protection, larger and sharper fonts, and just what you’ve always wanted: the ability to “share book passages with friends on Facebook and Twitter.” Somebody pinch us.

Kindle version 2.5 update gets Facebooked and Twitterized originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Given DigiTimes‘ spotty record when it comes to pushing rumors you might be inclined to read “Digitimes Research” as a kind of oxymoron. Unfortunately, as long as Amazon refuses to publish specifics with regard to units sold, these analyst estimates are as good as it gets. What’s interesting is that DigiTimes‘ checks at upstream suppliers reveal that Barnes & Noble’s Nook accounted for 53 percent of all e-book readers shipped to US vendors in March. Interesting since Kindle is Amazon’s bestselling product and an increasing share of the company’s revenue is based on sales of electronics and general merchandise. Still, it’s our guess that Amazon doesn’t care too much about selling its own hardware (it’s in the business of selling other people’s content and goods). Besides, the Kindle app is already available on a wide range of devices including Apple’s iPad and a wide variety of smartphones. One place you can’t install it, however, is on the steadily improving Nook.

Nook outsells Kindle in March? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Playing some Sudoku and reading Engadget on our Nook? Yeah, we are! Obviously, after hearing about the Nook 1.3 firmware update this morning, us bookworms nabbed the latest software to check out the added features. The over-the-air update took about a total of ten minutes from start to finish, and when the e-reader had restarted the new Games, Wi-Fi, Audio, and Web shortcuts were more than obvious on the main menu. The browsing experience, which is clearly marked beta, is very similar to that on the Spring Design Alex — you input the address on the touchscreen and an expanded view of whatever site you’re visiting appears on the E-Ink display. You can use the LCD to navigate the page, though the physical page turn buttons work as well, which is actually a nice trick. It isn’t the fastest browsing experience, but it’ll definitely be useful for quickly reading some news or checking the weather when you are near a WiFi network – we got a page not found message over 3G.

As for the Sudoku and chess games, it’s all pretty standard — the boards appear on the E-Ink screen and you use the touchscreen to input numbers or move pieces. We weren’t near a Barnes & Noble to check out the borrow-a-book feature, but the navigation seems to have gotten even snappier since the 1.2 update, and the lower screen is refreshing noticeably faster. Our early verdict? Those Best Buy shoppers are getting a heck of a much better Nook than we did a few months ago.

Barnes & Noble Nook gaming and web browsing impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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