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

LAS VEGAS — Dell is poised to flood the market with a whole range of tablets, from tiny iPhone-sized handsets to big media players. At CES this morning, Dell’s marketing boss Michael Tatelman gave us a teasing sneak peek.

The handset he showed us, seen above, is a skinny sliver with a 5-inch screen and runs the Android operating system. It will probably never make it into stores, but Tatelman said that there are plenty of tablets, of all shapes, sizes and operating systems living in the Dell labs and aimed at going on sale as soon as possible.

What really surprised us, though, is how Tatelman referred to it. He introduced the handset and said “I believe they are known as slates.” He’s not the only one. At Microsoft’s CES keynote yesterday, CEO Steve Ballmer also called his company’s new line of tablets* “slates”.

John Gruber of Daring Fireball has one take on this. “I honestly think Microsoft renamed these things on the basis on a rumored name for Apple’s tablet, just to try to fuck with them” he writes.

What is extraordinary is that, whatever their reasons, both Dell and Microsoft are naming devices based on rumors that Apple has the trademark and domain name for “iSlate.” The mythical tech-unicorn that Apple may or may not announce later this month is has already created an entire new product category based on nothing but speculation. How’s that for influence?

*Which are exactly the same as the failed tablets of yesteryear, only running Windows 7 instead of XP, both of which are designed for desktop computers.

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

See Also:

• Plastic Logic E-Reader Is Slimmer Than Kindle DX
• New Barnes & Noble E-Book Store to Power Plastic Logic Reader
• Plastic Logic E-Book Reader to Use AT&T Wireless
• Barnes & Noble Unveils Kindle-Killing, Dual-Screen ‘Nook’ E-Reader
• Nook E-Reader Gets Hacked to Run Apps, Browser

E-readers are likely to get hotter with the next generation of devices sporting color screens and large displays expected to launch through the year.

One of the first products to announce its arrival is the Skiff e-reader, a lightweight device with a 11.5-inch full flexible touchscreen that makes it the largest e-reader on the market, beating the 9.7-inch display Kindle DX.

Unlike other e-readers designed for reading mainly books and PDF files, the Skiff is optimized for newspaper and magazine content and will use Sprint’s 3G network to offer wireless connectivity. The device will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas later this week. The company hasn’t announced availability and pricing for it yet.

Electronic book readers are a emerging yet fast growing category of devices. Since the launch of Amazon’s Kindle in 2007, a slew of new devices have entered the market. About five million e-readers were sold last year, estimates research firm iSuppli. Though the Kindle DX is the only e-reader with a screen size larger than the standard 6-inch available in the U.S. currently, more plus sized e-readers are set to hit the market. For instance, Plastic Logic’s Que will have a 8.5-inch by 11-inch screen.

At over a quarter-inch in overall height, Skiff’s display will have a resolution of 1200 x 1600 pixels.  It weighs just over one pound and offers a week of average use between charges, says the company. The device will have both 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Like all other e-readers, Skiff uses the black-and-white display technology developed by E Ink. But the underlying electronics that power the display has been developed by LG. LG has used a sheet of stainless-steel foil for the back of the display, instead of the glass layer that is the the foundation of most e-paper displays available currently. The result is a thinner device that is less likely to break.

Skiff’s touchscreen will help users navigate newspapers, magazines, books and other digital content they purchase through the Skiff Store–its own e-reading service. Readers can expect to see visually appealing layouts, high-resolution graphics and other design qualities that would enrich the reading experience, says the company. After all, Skiff has strong roots in the print media. It’s parent company is Hearst, which publishes magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Popular Mechanics and Smart Money.

See Also:

• Barnes & Noble Unveils Kindle-Killing, Dual-Screen ‘Nook’ E-Reader …
• Nook E-Reader Gets Hacked to Run Apps, Browser
• Roundup: E-Reader Gift Guide
• Dual-Screen Device Combines E-Reader, Netbook
• Stanza v2.0: The iPhone’s Best E-Reader Just Got Better

Our friends at Macworld have a simple list of uses for a dead iPod. The suggestions include using the iPod as a car stereo (if the battery no longer charges), turning the iPod into a storage drive, or tethering the iPod to a computer as an always-plugged-in iTunes player.

Decent suggestions, but I had to chime in with my favorite use of an old iPod: Turning it into a bootable Mac OS X drive. Lifehacker posted a great guide on installing Mac OS X Leopard on your iPod. (The same steps work for Mac OS X Snow Leopard.) The process is really easy: You erase the iPod’s hard drive and then restore it with an OS X disc image.

An iPod containing Mac OS X will come useful for troubleshooting (booting up on the iPod and performing disc repair on your Mac hard drive) or performing a fresh installation if needed. I prefer the iPod method because I tend to get careless with discs; they end up scratched up within a few months. Also, installing from a hard drive is way faster than installing from a disc. (That’s assuming, of course, that the problem with your iPod is a broken screen or a depleted battery — not a dead drive.)

Got any better suggestions for using a dead iPod? Add them in the comments below.

See Also:

• IPod vs AK-47: IPod takes a Bullet and wins
• How To Turn an iPhone into a Moleskine Book

Photo: Elron6900/Flickr