Hasta La Gadget!

Sharp has a pair of new e-readers coming to stores this December. At the same time, the company will be launching its own book-store, called Galapagos. But all is not quite what it seems.

The e-readers come in two sizes, a 5.5-inch 1024×600 resolution model and a 10.8-inch 1366×800. They both have Wi-Fi, but lack 3G, and they will connect to the new Galapagos store for books and periodicals (magazines and newspapers will be delivered automatically). But here’s the twist: both these machines run Android as an OS, making them essentially tablet-computers. The version of Android that they use is “heavily modified”, and it won’t connect to the Android Market (mostly because the screen is to high-res), but it is still an Android tablet, and you should therefore be able to install any version of Google’s open-source OS on there.

Sharp has yet to let on how much it will charge for the machines, but if it has any hope of selling in the e-reader market, it’s going to have to be cheap. Sell the ten-incher for anything over $350 and you’re going to lose sales to the iPad. The other competitor is the Kindle, and that’s almost cheap enough to give away in cereal-boxes.

We’ll keep an eye on this. Who know that Sharp, of all companies, would be sneaking an Android tablet into stores?

Galapagos product page [Sharp]

Sharp Introduces Galapagos E-Book Readers and Platform [Akihabara News]

Galapagos press release [Sharp / Scribd]

See Also:

• Velocity Cruz Android Tablet: 7-Inch Display, $300
• Chinese Counterfeiters Release First Android Tablet
• $250 Korean Android Tablet Looks Strangely Familiar
• India's New Android Tablet Looks Pretty Great
• Your Froyo Tablet Probably Won't Support Android Market

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You won’t find this trio hitting US shores anytime soon, but those situated in Japan have a new gaggle of Sharp BD decks to ogle. The BD-HDW65 and BD-HDW63 both include a pair of TV tuners, BDXL support and compatibility with Blu-ray 3D titles, with the only difference being the hard drive — there’s a 500 gigger in the former and a 320GB drive in the latter. The BD-HDS65 goes with a single digital tuner, a single analog tuner and a 500GB hard drive, which might prove useful for storing copious amounts of drama from Sky TV. You’ll also find WiFi integrated throughout, not to mention an Ethernet jack, HDMI output, component jacks and DLNA support. We’re told that the first two should ship in around a month, with the last fellow going on sale in Japan this November; as for pricing, we’re hearing a range from ¥90,000 ($1,066) to ¥120,000 ($1,422), which ain’t cheap no matter how you slice it.

Sharp intros HDD-equipped AQUOS Blu-ray 3D players, complete with BDXL support originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 25 Sep 2010 14:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What self respecting consumer electronics manufacturer doesn’t offer a 3D Blu-ray player? None we can think of. So obviously it was only a matter of time before Sharp joined in. The BD-HP80U and BD-HP90U will both be available in September and offer a slew of streaming features like DivX, AVCHD, Netflix, Pandora and VUDU, in addition to their 3D Blu-ray playback abilities. Both are wall-mountable using VESA-standard mounts, but the BD-HP90U brings more — it can operate horizontally or vertically with its included stand and adds RS232. Look for them on store shelves for $429 and $499 respectively.

Continue reading Sharp adds two 3D Blu-ray players to its lineup

Sharp adds two 3D Blu-ray players to its lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that the Nintendo 3DS is announced using a parallax barrier display, we bet that many of you were hoping to see a 10-inch 3D tablet or laptop with a similar glasses-less display. Hell, we were… until we actually saw Sharp’s prototype 10.6-inch parallax barrier display here at IFA in Berlin. Unfortunately, the panel at this larger size suffers from some very serious vertical shadows (check the video) unless you’re right in the sweet spot and alligned with the barrier’s precision slits at a distance of about 20 inches. Even then, it’s very hard to maintain your position, and the 3D effect isn’t all that dazzling. Fortunately, this 3D (640 x 768) panel also functions in 2D (1280 x 728) mode. Guess a 3D tablet that requires glasses isn’t so crazy after all. Wait, yes it is.

Continue reading Sharp’s 10.6-inch parallax barrier display makes us love our 3D glasses (video)

Sharp’s 10.6-inch parallax barrier display makes us love our 3D glasses (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen enough home theater 3D already to be well and sick of it, but mobile 3D is still an upcoming sector, one which Sharp seems to be making a bid for. It’s showing off a mobile device prototype (it looks like it could be your friendly neighborhood carrier’s next Android handset) with a glasses-free 3D parallax screen (akin to the tech used in the Nintendo 3DS), a 3D camera around back, and 3D output over HDMI. The result isn’t stellar — just because a mobile device is shooting grainy, color-bleeding footage in 3D doesn’t make the footage stop being grainy and color-bleeding — but it most certainly works, as we witnessed both on the device’s own screen and on a regular glasses-required 3D TV the prototype was outputting to over HDMI. The 3.7-inch LCD rocks a 800 x 480 resolution in 2D mode, which gets halved to 400 x 480 in 3D, and Sharp is also showing of a 10-inch glasses free LCD that didn’t come off as so impressive somehow.

Sharp shows off mobile prototype with 3D screen, 3D camera, and 3D output originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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