Archive for the ‘Plastic Logic eBook Reader’ Category
CES 2010 no comments
I was able to spend about a day at CES this year. If you are a gadget boy/girl
then going to CES is kind of like being a kid again in a mega toy store with a large candy department on the side. If ereaders are one of your most favorite gadgets, then being at this year’s CES was kind of like being Willy Wonka and getting a ticket to a chocolate factory.
One problem though, is that many of the gadgets one sees and gets to hopefully try out are prototypes and are not always fully functional as well as being subject to change (or cancellation). In some cases this seemed to be very true for ereaders this year. Many of the ereader demos only had a few public domain titles loaded, and a few had dead batteries from all of the handling.
I managed to break my camera while at CES (Spirit Guide: fortunately grasshopper could fix it when he was back home & had access to his mini tools), so some of the pics are taken with my cell phone – sorry!
Some of the booth designs are pretty amazing. The cell phone picture at the top, which is of Samsung’s walls of flat panel screens does not do it justice.
The picture at the left is of a large touch screen at Intel’s booth with 500 slowly spinning cubes, each of which represents a live website. If you touch one of the cubes a small detail window opens for a few seconds. All powered by a thumbnail-sized Intel chip. Have we left Kansas yet Toto?
eReaders at CES 2010
Plastic Logic Que
Plastic Logic’s Que was probably one of the most eagerly anticipated ereaders
at this year’s CES.
The display is quite good; newspapers look good on the Que. As you probably know by now, the Que display utilizes plastic rather than glass to create a shatterproof screen. Overall, the Que felt a bit too plastic to me. The bezel is a shiny acrylic or similar material, and I expect it to be very scratch prone. I think Plastic Logic would have done better to use a matte material.
The announced price of the Que ereader is somewhat stratospheric; $649 for a 4GB model with WiFi, and $799 for an 8GB model with both WiFi and 3G. At these prices it will probably be in pretty direct competition with the Apple iSlate.
Notion Ink Adam
Notion Ink’s Adam tablet is Android powered and is the first announced device to use Pixel Qi display technology. I really wanted to have a look at this, but the closest I could get was a non-powered demo in a glass case at the Nvidia booth. 
According to an Nvidia booth-boy, the only working unit at CES was in the hands of Notion Ink Director Rohan Shravan, who was booked up giving private demonstrations with it. Liliputing.com was the happy recipient of one of these sessions and you can see their video and reviews.
Pixel Qi looks very promising. Engadget said in a post yesterday that they have been told that a manufacturer that “everyone is familiar with” will be announcing a Pixel Qi equipped device in 2010. Hmmm…wonder if the manufacturer alluded to has a name starting with the first letter of the alphabet and is named after a fruit or a river?
Irex
Also at the Nvidia booth was an unpowered (or maybe just the batteries were dead) Irex DR800SG ereader. I couldn’t do much with it as it had no power, but I still think that the design has promise; an 8-inch screen in a package that is the same overall size as a Kindle with 6-inch screen.
Still no idea when this will be released. There were some rumors of a mid-January release, but Irex seems to have a history of setting release dates that don’t materialize. There is still nothing on Best Buy’s website about the DR800SG.
Liquavista
Liquavista is one of the color display technologies that should be making its way into
future ereaders. Liquavista is based on existing LCD manufacturing infrastructure. This display tech is capable of displaying color video while using very low power. It looks as though it won’t be integrated into an actual ereader that you can buy until possibly the end of 2010 or more likely early next year. Qualcomm has said that its Mirasol color display technology is on track to enter production in the fall of 2010, so it may be able to beat Liquavista to market by a few months, but of course we will have to wait and see.
The colors and video playback in the Liquavista reference designs displayed at CES were quite impressive. The display does look very paper-like.
iRiver Story
The Story ereader by iRiver has been selling in Asia and Europe, and is supposed to make it to the US this month. 
iRiver is a Korean company best known for its portable music and video players. The Story is iRiver’s first foray into ereaders.
The Story has a chiclet style keyboard similar to the Kindle ereader. The display is a 6-inch e-ink screen. There is 2GB of internal memory plus an SD card slot. There should be an MS Office doc viewer as well as some sort of comics viewer. Adobe Digital Editions as well as non-DRM’ed epub should be among the supported file formats.
The Story ereader seemed to be solidly built, but other than the features noted above, there wasn’t anything that seemed to really differentiate it from the other ereaders out there. Refresh times and navigation seemed to be pretty much on par with other current ereaders. The price and availability has not been announced yet, but the Story was selling for about $290 in Korea. I don’t see this ereader being really competitive unless it is priced less than the Kindle or nook.
Dual-Screen “eReaders”
Both MSI and Asus have their dual LCD screened ereader concepts on display at CES, but these really seem like netbooks with two screens rather than ereaders. Perhaps if the screens were to use Pixel Qi they would be more viable as ereaders. As laptop/netbooks, however, both could be quite good. The two screens can work separately or together as one larger screen, or one screen can serve up a virtual keyboard.
enTourage eDGe
After Plastic Logic’s booth the enTourage Systems booth was probably the busiest ereader show at CES.
The Kindle Chronicles has a good CES interview and video of the eDGe in action.
My take is that while the eDGe with all of its study tools and bells and whistles would be good for students and their etextbooks or perhaps as a netbook replacement, it is obviously overkill for someone looking for just an ereader. It is rather bulky for reading in your bed or armchair. Also it appears that the eDGe ereader will be tied to enTourage’s ebook store for DRM’ed ebooks. Currently enTourage claims to have 200,000 ebooks in addition to the usual Google public domain suspects.
At a price of almost $500 the eDGe is more expensive than most netbooks as well. Still, it is the most interesting multipurpose “ereader” that I’ve seen yet. A lot of thought obviously went into its development, and the eDGe is capable of doing just about anything you would ask of it.
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Barnes and Noble nook eReader Shipping Date Slips; Still No News of IRex’s DR800SG 2 comments
While previously placed preorders for the nook ereader should still ship at the end of November, purchasers who have preordered Barnes and Noble’s new ebook reader over the past few days are being advised by the company that their expected shipping date will be December 11.
This may be bad news for potential purchasers who planned on looking at and 
playing with a nook demo at the end of the month at a Barnes and Noble store before placing their orders. If the shipping date slips again, the end of November may be too late to place an order and have your ereader arrive in time for Christmas. This perhaps wouldn’t be such a problem if B & N had a friendlier return policy; if you preorder a nook and then don’t like it and return it within 14 days you will be charged a 10% restocking fee.
While it is always possible that this is a tactic Barnes and Noble is using in an attempt to create a rush to buy, it seems unlikely. The delayed nook shipping date is not mentioned on the site, rather you seem to find out about it after you place your order. More likely they didn’t anticipate the demand for the nook ereader.
Barnes and Noble also seems to have at least partially heard the many complaints about their pricing. They are advertising reduced prices on books for the holidays (for orders placed through Nov. 30) and free 3 day shipping for orders over $25, or over $10 if you are a member. However, the reduced prices don’t seem to apply to ebooks, which are still higher priced than elsewhere in many cases. Members do not receive any discounts on ebooks either.
Besides the nook ereader, Barnes and Noble will also support Plastic Logic’s Que ebook reader, which is due out early next year and which they have said will be available for purchase in all of their stores. They are also the ebook store of choice for Irex’s DR800SG ereader, which was supposed to be out by now, but has been delayed. When in place these three ebook readers will give B & N a very strong hardware presence; with a pretty wide range of feature sets, screen sizes and price points. Unless they fix their ebook store (it presently has fewer titles at higher prices) however, their challenge to Amazon for dominance of the ereader market is somewhat crippled. By the way, speaking of things nook vs Kindle; the nook is not the same price as the Kindle if you consider sales tax. Where I live that is about enough to pay for a Kindle cover.
And Speaking of the Irex DR800SG eReader
Meanwhile, back at the Irex camp, there is still nothing official on the missing DR800SG ereader. There are a couple of comments on the Irex blog by an Irex rep to the effect that Irex’s new ebook reader has suffered delays due to circumstances beyond Irex’s control, but may be on the shelves by the middle of this month; and she notes that all of this is is not official. She also says that the initial version of the DR800SG will be a special edition that includes “a ton of free content to get your reading started” and will be priced at $449. This probably explains (or is an attempt to explain) why the ebook reader was priced higher than MSRP when listed on Best Buy’s site.
Perhaps the DR800SG ereader is the victim of production delays, distribution problems (perhaps the container fell off the back of a ship?) or even a last minute bug reared its ugly head and had to be squashed by a firmware update. New gadgets are often plagued by delays and shortages, especially around the holidays. However, the way in which Best Buy displayed the DR800SG ereader very briefly on their website before disappearing it seems a bit suspect. If the ereader was just delayed why didn’t they just leave it up and list it as backordered? Perhaps the bug is in the Irex – Best Buy relationship? If the companies are still negotiating this might explain all of the silence.
At any rate, the silent treatment seems a path not very well chosen for instilling confidence in the minds of potential purchasers of Irex’s new ereader.
Photo courtesy Barnes and Noble
Clichés courtesy Clichés-R-Us 
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Faster and Cheaper eReaders on the Way no comments
Several days ago chip maker Marvell announced that in collaboration with E-Ink it has developed an integrated system-on-a-chip that is not only faster than present solutions, but should bring us lower ereader prices. Marvell’s new Armada 166E chip is said to as much as triple the screen refresh rates of present ereaders and is also designed to enable ultra-fast PDF rendering.
Some of the already announced ereaders that are due out by the first quarter of 2010 and use the Armada 166E include Plastic Logic’s Que, the enTourage eDGe and Spring Design’s Alex.
Speaking of the Alex, Maximum PC has some new photos of this ereader and
it definitely looks more impressive than it did in the first picture that was released by Spring Design. Unlike Barnes and Noble’s nook, which also has a small LCD screen under the e-ink screen for navigation, the Alex’s larger LCD screen also is used for web browsing. You can select a web page or sections of it and reflow it to the e-ink screen for reading. The LCD is also used for navigation.
Photo: Maximum PC
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Lots of Press Releases Today, Timed to Steal Thunder from Amazon’s Launch of Kindle International no comments
Today there were several press releases, some of which did not contain a lot of new information and seemed timed more to distract from Amazon’s launch of the International version of the Kindle rather than to provide us with much new material.
Plastic Logic announced that its upcoming ereader will be named the Que and will debut at the CES this coming January 7th in Las Vegas. They released more photos, but nothing really new: only side views, no views of the actual display. In fact we see more of the hand model in the photo than we do of the Que.
The Que will have a screen size of 8.5 x 11 inches and will be mainly aimed at business users. It will have an e-ink based touchscreen that will be shatterproof. Supported formats include PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. AT&T will provide 3G connectivity, and Barnes and Noble will provide books for Plastic Logic’s upcoming ereader. Wi-Fi is also indicated.
Irex also put out another press release about their upcoming DR800SG, which was supposed to become available at Best Buy Stores later this month. The press release now says “later this fall”, so not sure if it will still be this month or not.
The DR800SG will also have a larger 8” screen and will be priced at $399. AT&T will also provide the 3G connection for this ereader, and Barnes and Noble is providing the ebookstore.
A new ereader from Spring Design named Alex was also introduced today. 
This ebook reader also sports a smaller LCD screen below the e-ink display similar to that shown in leaked photos of Barnes and Noble’s Athena which is expected to be unveiled at B & N’s press conference tomorrow. There is some speculation in fact that this is B & N’s new ereader, although the pictures look different.
Spring Design’s new ereader will feature a 6” e-ink screen and a 3.5” color LCD display. Not exactly pocket-sized. There is an SD card slot for added storage. Spring Design says that the Alex will release to “selected strategic partners” by the end of this year.
The Alex is based on Google’s Android and will have full browser capabilities, so this ereader should work well with Google Editions. It is more of a multimedia device though than current ereaders like the Kindle or Sony. I can imagine it being very easy to get distracted from reading with this device.
“This is the start of a whole new experience of reading content on e-books, potentially igniting a whole new industry in multimedia e-book publishing for secondary authors to create supplementary content that is hyper linked to the text. We are bringing life to books with audio, video, and annotations,” said Dr. Priscilla Lu, CEO of Spring Design. “This gives readers the ability to fully leverage the resources on the Web, and the tools available in search engines to augment the reading experience.”
Meanwhile, back at the launching of the Amazon Kindle with US and International Wireless, it seems like more of a tempest in a teapot with little enough thunder to go around. Looking at Amazon’s websites outside of the US it would be hard to know that something “groundbreaking” was taking place. The Kindle is not displayed on Amazon UK’s homepage, nor can it be found on the electronics or books category main pages. It was also MIA at other Amazon international sites I looked at until I finally found it in Japan. I guess if you are big in Japan……
It is increasingly looking as though the launch of Kindle International is aimed primarily at Americans travelling abroad. It also seems as though the international release was a rushed job because of the competition from all of the recently announced new ereaders which will be coming to market soon.
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Irex’s New eReader Will Feature Barnes & Noble eBookstore no comments
In a press release dated Aug. 24 Irex announced that their upcoming ebook reader will include the Barnes and Noble eBook Store. The new Irex eReader is expected out later this year and will have a touch screen a little over 8″ in size and 3G wireless.
“We will change the dynamics of the consumer market – users want to easily purchase content from a variety of sources and we allow them to read it on an IREX eReader as well as other devices,” said Kevin Hamilton, North American CEO of IREX Technologies. “Signing this deal with Barnes & Noble positions IREX well in terms of content, and we’ll team with other industry leaders to provide the network infrastructure and retail presence.”
Barnes & Noble’s eBookstore has previously announced support for the Plastic Logic ebook reader due out by early next year. You can read the press release in its entirety here.
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Barnes & Noble and Plastic Logic’s New eBook Reader vs. Amazon’s Kindles no comments
From the information leaked so far about Sony’s new ebook readers, I think we can safely say that they will not pose a serious threat to the Kindle 2
not actually hit the street yet (they should be out by the end of August), so it is always possible that Sony’s new devices will have more features than we know about now. So unless something comes out of left field or if Amazon should shoot themselves in the foot again (highly unlikely), it looks like the next major challenger to the Kindle family will be the Plastic Logic ereader due out early 2010.
What we think we know so far about Plastic Logic’s ebook reader:
- Reportedly will cost around $300 (this is apparently incorrect – see the update at end of article)
- It will have wireless connectivity powered by AT&T (oh dear); unclear if there will be an additional charge for this, no internet
- E ink Active Matrix Display
- Unbreakable screen, touchscreen
- Screen size is said to be larger than Kindle DX. Device size 8.5″ x 11″.
- Document support for: PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, JPEG, PNG, TEXT, HTML, BMP, RTF, ePub; not clear yet which DRM’ed formats will be supported
- Operating system is a version of Microsoft’s Win CE
- It will be supported by Barnes & Noble’s ebook store
In preparation, the Barnes and Noble eBook Store is now open, so I decided to have a look-see. Until the new ereader comes out, you need to install their eReader software on your computer or supported device to access their books. There are versions so far for PC and Mac, iPhone and iPod Touch, and Blackberry. All versions support bookmarks, note taking & highlighting, and have customizable fonts.
Whichever version you choose, you will get a few free ebooks to start with. Unfortunately, you don’t get to choose which books: the included titles are Dracula, Last of the Mohicans, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. Since Barnes and Noble made a big deal of having a half million free books from Google, I had hoped that I could at least choose my titles. There doesn’t appear to be a “Free eBooks” link on their site, so to access the selection of free titles you have to choose a category and then sort by price. When you do this, there are many duplicate titles in the free price range, presumably digitized from different issues of the same book.
Compared to shopping on Amazon’s website, the Barne’s and Noble site is less finished and a little clunky. Curiously, when I clicked on the Sci Fi & Fantasy ebook category, I was told there were no results for my search; though when I typed in an author’s name and tried again some titles were found. I compared prices for a double handful of titles with Amazon’s Kindle store, and in almost all cases the Kindle books were a little to significantly less.
Purchased ebooks are tied to the credit card that B&N has on file for your account, so gifting ebooks through their system will be difficult (although this is an area that is problematic for Kindle and other ebook readers as well).
Of course we will have to wait until the Plastic Logic reader comes out to see if buying books wirelessly is the painless experience it is on a Kindle, but at this point Barnes & Noble seems to have more work to do to make shopping for ebooks at their site as easy as it is at Amazon.
Update (08/09): Plastic Logic has denied the $300 price for their upcoming ebook reader. In an email reported at ireaderreview.com, they say that ” we plan to be competitive in the eReader category, where prices now range from $199 to $800. But we won’t be at the low end of the market.”
