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Thalia OYO – Der eReader Für Alle

Richard — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 19:26:36 +0000

The OYO is another ereader that surfaced at IFA 2010. From Thalia, Germany’s second largest bookseller, the OYO should be available in October for €139.

Some of the specs of the OYO:

6-inch SiPix capacitive touchscreen; 800 x 600 pixels; 16 grayscales.
Formats supported: TXT, ePub, PDF, HTML image viewer, JPEG, PNG, BMP, MP3.
Micro USB port.
Dimensions: 154 x 124 x 11mm (6 x 4.9 x .43 inches); weighs 240g (8.5 ounces).
5 fonts; 6 font sizes.
Wi-Fi connection.
2GB internal memory; MicroSD slot (up to 32GB).
Battery life 8,000 pages.
Compatible with both PC and Mac.

Medion is Thalia’s hardware partner for the OYO ereader.

The OYO will be supported by Thalia’s ebook store. An ereader with a touchscreen with a price tag in the Kindle 3’s ballpark — looks interesting. One feature that is notably missing is a dictionary. A 3G version is said to be in the works.

Lessen.net has uploaded a video of the OYO from IFA. It is in German.

(via lessen.net via ereaders.nl)

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IFA 2010 Videos

IFA 2010 Videos

Richard — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 03:05:13 +0000

A roundup of a few of the video reviews from IFA 2010 in Berlin.

Sony PRS-650 Touch Edition eReader

Charbax from ARMdevices.net has done an excellent video of the Sony PRS-650 ereader. The IR-based touchscreen is a major improvement from Sony, though they really should have included Wi-Fi.

Samsung Galaxy Tab

The Samsung Galaxy Tab looks like one of the nicest 7-inch tablets out there. It’s quite fast and responsive. This video is from CNETTV.

Toshiba Folio 100 Tablet

Toshiba’s Folio 100 tablet comes with a 10.1 inch touchscreen. It is powered by Android 2.2 and comes with Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chipset. This video is from Netbooknews.com.

ViewSonic Viewpad 7

Viewsonic’s 7-inch tablet runs on Android 2.2. The Viewpad 7 has cameras both front and back, and with its 3G connection could be used for video conferencing. The display resolution is 800 x 480, which is lower than the Samsung Galaxy Tab. This video is from Shinymedia. ViewSonic’s booth at IFA is very noisy.

iRiver Cover Story eReader

Another video from Charbax, this one of iRiver’s Cover Story ereader, which has a touchscreen. Not sure how well this one is going to do against the Kindle and the new Sony ereaders.

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Sharper Image Branded Literati eReader

Richard — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:50:15 +0000

There is word of yet another lower priced LCD ereader. This one is called the Literati and carries The Sharper Image branding while being supplied by MerchSource.

MerchSource is a California-based company that specializes in the design, development, and production of consumer products to companies such as The Sharper Image, JCPenney, CVS, Rite Aid and others. A lot of the company’s prior efforts seem to have been directed at toys and games, but there are a wide range of products in the MerchSource bag of tricks. Yes, MerchSource also has a few digital picture frames to its credit.

The Literati has a 7-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 480 x 800 and is limited to reading books and other printed content. There is no web browser, no games or video. Input is via the keyboard at the bottom of the device – no touchscreen here. The ereading software is by Kobo, and you can use the Wi-Fi connection to buy books from Kobo.

The Literati comes with a cover and will cost $159. There will be two colors – white or a black model with silver keyboard. The Literati comes preloaded with 25 public domain titles and a coupon that will let you download another 125 pre-selected public domain titles free.

Beginning in October the new ereader will be sold in the usual places: Bed, Bath and Beyond, Kohl’s, Best Buy, etc. The press release says that the Literati will be available in 7,000 stores, so this one should be pretty easy to find.

"The majority of eReaders available today are either too expensive with too many features, or the manufacturer has slashed key functionality and overall device quality to lower the price," said Kirk McLean, co-founder of MerchSource, the company that designed and distributes the Literati under trademark license from The Sharper Image. "We designed the Literati from the inside out — starting with the bookstore — to give booklovers exactly what they wanted: a simple, dedicated device that lets them get right to the book."

I would say that the Literati is going to have a hard time at this price. It is being presented as an inexpensive and simple ereader that “bypasses high prices and feature bloat, offering instead an affordable, stylish and simple device for those who just want to read.” Yet it is more expensive than the Kindle 3 Wi-Fi, which has way more features and with its e-ink screen will be much better for those “who just want to read.”

Well, you say, but it has a color display. True, true – it does have a color screen. That should come in really handy for reading all of those color ebooks over at Kobo.

There are a number of other color LCD ereaders available at around the same price range; some for more, some for less. Most of them have at least a semblance of multifunctionality.

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Nuance Vocalizer – Helping Blio to Find its Voice

Richard — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:05:56 +0000

Nuance Communications and K-NFB Reading Technology Inc. announced today that the Nuance Vocalizer text-to-speech (TTS) technology will be available as a downloadable accessory to the Blio eReader Software when it launches next month.

Readers will be able to choose from Nuance’s “Samantha” and “Tom” voices. Nuance’s TTS technology will also be available to manufacturers who are equipping their devices with the Blio software.

“We designed Blio to offer the eBook market a device that fully maintains the integrity of printed media by offering a rich and visually-compelling experience to consumers. However, we wanted to ensure that these visual elements could be enhanced through the power of today’s sophisticated speech technology,” said Ray Kurzweil, voice-recognition inventor and founder of K-NFB. “With Nuance’s speech technology, Blio can now bring words and characters to life in a way that makes the eReader experience even more enjoyable and accessible for book and magazine aficionados everywhere.”

Nuance Vocalizer supports more than 30 languages and is optimized for integration with a wide variety of platforms, creating an exciting potential for fully speech-enabled consumer electronics. Nuance’s speech technology is featured in the market’s most popular consumer devices, including personal navigation devices, smartphones, mp3 players and a variety of PC software applications, including Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and the “voice” behind the popular Ford SYNC. Nuance’s broad mobile portfolio of speech and predictive input solutions are changing the way consumers interact with their mobile devices, and ship on more than four billion devices – a result of its extensive relationships with every major mobile OEM and carriers around the world.

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Samsung Launches E60 eReader at WHSmith

Richard — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 15:39:21 +0000

Samsung has launched its E60 ereader in the UK where it is currently being sold by WHSmith. The E60 is priced at £199.99 and for a limited time comes with 10 free ebooks (not public domain).

While the E60 does have a lot of features, including handwriting recognition and an organizer feature, it will be hard competing at that price with the Kindle 3 with 3G which is £149. The iRiver Story with Wi-Fi is also priced at £199 at WHSmith or at Amazon. Amazon also already has a number of iRiver Story covers and cases.

Techradar has a hands on review of the Samsung E60 ereader and finds it well built and serviceable, but also questions whether it can fly at that price.

Almost six months ago Samsung announced plans to sell the E60 in the US in partnership with Barnes & Noble. Samsung (probably wisely) backed out of the US ereader market just before the recent price cuts on the Kindle and NOOK ereaders.

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PocketBook to Introduce Five New eReaders at IFA 2010

Richard — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:50:27 +0000

Pocketbook has announced that it will be introducing five new ereaders at the IFA 2010, which takes place in Berlin September 3 to 8.

The PocketBook Pro 602 and Pro 902 share the same specs, with the exception of the 602 having a 6-inch screen and the 902 having a 10-inch screen. Both models have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G; are Linux-based and have 2GB of internal memory.

The PocketBook Pro 603 and Pro 903 ereaders will add a Wacom-based touch screen. Battery life on all four of the above e-ink ereaders is said to be 7,000 page turns.

PocketBook will also release a 7-inch color LCD ereader/tablet dubbed the PocketBook IQ. This Android-based device will have a touchscreen, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and will be available in three colors.

Pictured below from left to right: Pro 602, Pro 903 and IQ.

Additional common features:

PocketBook offers ebooks through its own Bookland.net store. A number of languages are supported.
TTS is supported in 28 different languages. Four languages come preinstalled on the new PocketBooks.
16 formats are supported; DRM by Adobe.
Integrated dictionaries in 20 languages.
2-year warranty.

The new models should be available in November.

Nate at The Digital Reader says that he has heard from sources that PocketBook is to be one of the initial Mirasol partners. I hope this is true and that we could actually see Mirasol displays in products on store shelves soon. I really don’t want to be a Mirasol skeptic as it is very cool technology and would be far more capable than first generation color displays from E Ink. Mirasol has been sending mixed signals lately about when its displays would actually be in production.

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Kindle DX Sold Out; Laser EB101 eReader Gets a Review

Richard — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 06:24:39 +0000

Apparently the Kindle 3 is not the only member of Amazon’s ereader family that is selling well. The graphite Kindle DX is currently being shown at Amazon as expected to ship in two to three weeks.

* * *

A few days ago I wrote about the Laser EB101 ereader which is a new device being launched in Australia. The Laser has been reviewed at Oz-E-Books (via iTWire) and seems to follow in the footsteps of the less than fully functional lower priced LCD ereaders that we have seen released lately in the US.

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Wink – A New eReader for India

Richard — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:46:54 +0000

Wink is a new ereader for the Indian market presented by Bangalore-based EC Media International. There are four different models planned, with the first set to begin shipping next month.

Three of the new ereaders have 6-inch screens; the difference is in the connectivity options. The Wink XTR connects by USB, the XTS adds Wi-Fi, and the X3G adds 3G. The XTS ereader will ship first – at the beginning of September, while the X3G will ship a couple of weeks later.

There is also a model planned with a 9-inch screen dubbed the X3G+, which will have a multi-touch screen.

Some of the tech specs:

400 MHz ARM9 processor. Linux-based.
Internal memory 2GB.
All models except the XTR have an SD card slot.
All models except the XTR support TTS.
Supported formats: TXT, RTF, PDF, DOC, HTML, EPUB, WOLF, CHM, FB2, DJVU. DRM by Adobe.
Battery life is said to be up to 8,000 page turns with the wireless turned off; the XTR , which only connects via USB is good for 10,000 page turns.
Device size, 6-inch ereaders: 7.29 x 4.9 x .43 inches. The 9-inch model: 10.32 x 6.69 x .47 inches.

The Wink ereader is capable of supporting more than 15 Indian languages as well as English, though at launch there will only be support for four Indian languages and English.

Wink also has an online ebook store to support the device. Currently there are just under 200,000 titles at the store. Besides the online ebook store, EC Media has plans to put ebook vending kiosks in major book stores.

EC Media also indicates that there are plans for future ereaders with color displays.

(via ZDNet)

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Pandigital Black Novel Shipping

Richard — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:57:40 +0000

Pandigital has announced that it has begun shipping the black version of its Novel ereader.

The black Novel has 2GB of internal memory vs the 1GB of the white model. The body of the black Novel is slightly smaller at 5.2 x 7.2 inches (vs 5.5 x 7.5 for the white), and weighs much less – 11.8 ounces vs 19 ounces for the white Novel. Mention is also made of a stylus, so there is probably one included with the new model.

The list price for the black Novel ereader is $199. Bed Bath & Beyond is currently selling the white model for $169 less any coupons you might come with.

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Laser EB101 Color LCD eReader Hints at Ability to Read Kindle Books

Richard — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 06:03:53 +0000

Laser is an Australian consumer electronics company based in New South Wales. They are offering a color LCD ereader dubbed the Laser EB101. There is not much special here except for some of the ad copy on the site that seems to suggest that the EB101 will work with ebooks from Amazon. I bet that’s news to Amazon!

The Laser is described as working with all formats including DRMed content “which is legitamately (sic) purchased from on line stores such as Amazon.” The site then goes on to add “if you’re considering an E-Book reader, you should check the licensing and compatibility with DRM fies (sic). The EB101 is fully licensed and fully compatible meaning more books, more videos, more music, more pictures and more use.”

Some buyers who don’t know better could purchase this ereader thinking they could then use it to read ebooks from the Kindle Store. Not good. Hopefully Laser will rewrite the description as this seems a bit deceptive – hopefully unintentionally so.

As for the ereader itself, it comes in either black or white, has a 5-inch LCD screen, 2GB internal memory, SD card slot and plays music and videos. The battery life is said to be up to six hours.

(via Gizmodo)