Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon’s third generation Kindle will reportedly be joined by a new 7-inch tablet later this fall.

That rumored Amazon tablet we’ve been hearing about for months and months? It’s real, and at least one non-Amazon employee has gotten a firsthand look at it.

“Not only have I heard about the device,” TechCrunch’s MG Siegler says. “I’ve seen it and used it. And I’m happy to report that it’s going to be a big deal. Huge, potentially.”

The tablet Siegler saw has a 7-inch full-color back-lit LCD touchscreen. From the outside, it looks a bit PlayBook-like: black, no buttons and a rubberized back.

According to Siegler’s source, Amazon will sell it at $250 (the same price point as the Nook Color) beginning in mid-to-late November; if the smaller tablet does well, the company may release a 10-inch version next year.

The operating system is based on Android, as was previously surmised. But Amazon has completely overhauled and customized the interface.

The custom build “looks nothing like the Android you’re used to seeing,” Siegler says. The color scheme is decidedly Amazon, with theme colors of black, dark blue and orange. The OS supports gestures, but appears to use two-finger multi-touch, as opposed to the iPad’s 10-finger multi-touch. Without a physical home button, you access a navigation menu to return to the home screen by tapping the lower left-hand corner of the display.

Finally, Amazon’s services, from Kindle, Instant Video and Cloud Player to its Android Appstore, are completely integrated and immediately accessible within the OS. It has a Kindle-skinned, tabbed web browser with Google set as the default search engine, but otherwise there’s no Google branding anywhere, which is highly unusual for a device said to be running Android.

Amazon has long been pegged as the most credible threat to Apple’s position at the top of the tablet market. Amazon makes the hugely successful Kindle e-reader, but for the past year or so, rumors have repeatedly sprung up that the company would be branching out into the growing tablet space, whether with Android or some other OS.

After the introduction of its Appstore, it was clear that Amazon wasn’t afraid to embrace Android. An anonymous source tipped off the world that Amazon was prepping both dual and quad-core tablets, and additional reports pegged their official release for this fall.

The version Siegler got to check out was a Design Verification Testing (DVT) unit that’s begun to float around Amazon headquarters for final testing. He believes it’s a single-core device, with just 6 GB of internal storage. (The assumption is that it doesn’t need tons of on-board storage; that’s what Amazon’s Cloud services are for.) The ten-inch version, if released, will have a dual-core processor. There’s no camera built-in to the tablet. It’ll start out as a Wi-Fi only device, but Amazon is working with carriers on developing a 3G model.

What about the current E Ink Kindle? Aren’t tablets and e-readers mortal enemies? Recent studies say absolutely not; many customers own both. Amazon’s plan, according to Siegler’s source, is to continue to make and sell E Ink Kindles as an inexpensive reading device, with no current plans for adding a touchscreen. The new Kindle tablet or tablets will be the premium, touch-driven, multimedia versions.

Oh, and another bonus: An Amazon Prime subscription, normally $79 annually, will reportedly be bundled in with the purchase price. Drool.

Finally, a new tablet I can’t wait to get my hands on.

If the Amazon Kindle’s passage-sharing Twitter integration wasn’t social enough for you, the outfit just unleashed a new option: @author. The new feature uses Twitter as a springboard to connect writers to their fans, giving users a chance to nitpick their favorite authors line-by-line. If you’ve ever shared a quote using the Kindle, you know the drill: highlight some text and type out your tweet — just make sure you preface it with the @author marker. This limited beta is launching with only a handful of writers, but between Robert “Rich Dad” Kiyosaki and Brad “Identity Crisis” Meltzer, we’re sure you can find something to ask.

Amazon’s @author lets you tweet, pester your favorite writers via Kindle originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Sep 2011 09:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Hands-on with the Sony Reader Wi-Fi (video)

Hands-on with the Sony Reader Wi-Fi (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mobile devices aren’t just catering to the under-35 set now. Image: Nielsen

If you thought tablets were being used only by Angry Birds-flinging youngsters or guys between 25 and 34, think again. Turns out tablets are all the rage with women and seniors.

There hasn’t been much change in who’s using smartphones — they’re still most popular among the 20- and 30-something set — tablet and ereader ownership shows tablet ownership among those older than 55 climbed from 10 to 19 percent between last fall and this summer. As for e-readers, the number of women buying them climbed from 47 percent to 61 in the second quarter of this year.

“Early adopters tend to be younger and male. As consumer technology products gain wider acceptance, more women and more older consumers join the mix,” says Don Kellogg, director of telecom research & insights at Nielsen.

Although e-readers have been around for a while, tablets are a relatively new phenomenon marked by the arrival of the Apple iPad in 2010.

The tablet has followed a similar trajectory as the microwave oven, creating a new niche in the market based on its convenient, portable form factor — despite the fact it has less computing power than its PC counterparts. Depending upon which study you’re looking at, some reports show tablet ownership is eating into the e-reader market, while others disagree. Regardless, both devices appear to be permeating all age groups.

So what’s making tablets and e-readers so successful with the older crowd?

“Tablets and e-readers are relatively easy to use. Couple that with light weight and the ability to increase the text size (not to be underestimated with older owners), and you have a very appealing product for older demographics,” Kellogg said.

Not to mention, Apple products, like the iPad, are beginning to permeate the enterprise business environment, so many users who may not have seen value in the tablet before can use it for meetings and presentations.

As you might expect, e-readers continue to be popular with those who read a lot. Although tablet apps like Kindle and Instapaper make tablet reading easy as pie, e-readers’ black and white E-Ink or electronic paper displays make the activity easier on the eyes. And when you’re traveling, bringing a 1 to 2-pound e-reader is a whole lot easier than lugging around a couple of novels.

Nielsen is still studying if these trends apply outside the United States, and how mobile device usage differs among the different age groups they surveyed.

Have your parents or grandparents adopted mobile devices? Did they do it willingly, or was it originally a gift that you lovingly thrust upon them? Share your experiences in the comments.

It’s nigh on a month since we caught the WiFi-toting Sony PRS-T1 flitting its way through the FCC. Now the unannounced e-reader has popped up again — this time on a Dutch seller’s webpage with some pics, specs and a price of €165 (or $240 after a straight currency conversion). If accurate, most of the new features merit a nod rather than a yelp: a six-inch 800×600 e-ink screen that allows dual-touch gestures like pinch-to-zoom; a plastic body that brings the weight down to 168g (six ounces, versus the 7.6-ounce PRS-650); plus, the inclusion of Wikipedia and Google search. Speaking of which, don’t those look rather like Android buttons? Could it be that Sony is founding its latest Reader upon the omnipresent OS (as various rivals have done) and even permitting some of that green robot goodness to bubble to the surface? Perhaps it’s better to wait than to speculate — after all, recent rumors suggest that the official launch for this device is imminent.

Sony PRS-T1 e-reader spotted on Dutch retail site for 165 euros originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Aug 2011 11:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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