New Ebook Reader from Netronix

Netronix have announced they will be producing 2 new ebook readers in the shape of the 6″ EB-100 and 9.7″ EB-300. Also promised are touchscreen, 802.11g wifi, sd card slot, pdf support as well as RTF, TXT, HTML, MP3 and AACThey are listings specifications as 5,000 and 8,000 page turns on a single charge respectively as well as all the usual benefits of an ebook reader. The product looks very similar to the Cybook Bookeen. More as we get it. Netronix EB-100

Amazon Kindle Review - Can the Kindle become the Ipod for ebooks?

Ebooks have never managed to grab the attention and admiration of the public in the same way as mp3’s and to some extent video downloads have. Could the Amazon Kindle be the killer device that puts ebooks mainstream? Obviously here at thinkeink we love all things using eink tech - especially ebook readers but so far they have failed to convince Joe Public that he needs a new device to carry around to take the place of the book. The smell and feel of a good book certainly seems to exert a strong hold on us but then again, some people still hold on to a love of vinyl dspite mp3 laying waste to CD. Electronic ink technology is certainly the ideal candidate to make the perfect ebook reader, high contrast, low power consumption etc but what does the Kindle offer that other ebook readers don’t?

First impressions, I have to say are not good. It does however look better in the flesh than in the pre release photos but this is not a thing of beauty. It certainly looks “clunkier” than the sony reader or Irex Iliad. The main reason for this is the full qwerty keyboard situated in the bottom half of the Kindle (something which sets it apart from other ebook readers on the market). This extra functionality provided by the keyboard could be critical in the success of the Kindle as Amazon has created a very different product from the others on the market. As the Kindle is meant for use on its own, all actions like buying a book, checking a word in the dictionary or searching wikipedia need to be done on the device itself hence the need for a full set of keys.

Perhaps the biggest selling point of the kindle is it’s wireless connectivity, called whispernet. With EV-DO from sprint built in the Kindle can go to the Kindle Amazon store wherever you are - in the garden on a sunny day or laying in bed at night. The kindle store has over 100,000 books already available and after choosing what you want to read its delivered to the kindle in around a minute and best sellers cost around $9.99. And books aren’t the only thing you can read, newspaper and magazine subscriptions are available as well.

The kindle also features a web browser to view websites and blogs and limited e-mail functionality (Amazon charges $0.10 to convert your e-mail to the kindle).  The web browsing is free however and although some sites won’t function (flash for instance) most text based sites are pretty readable especially if you use an rss client like the excellent google reader.

So how does the Kindle stack up?  Well it certainly brings a lot more features to the party than any other Ebook reader has to date, the wireless connectivity for buying books and browsing the web.  An A for effort then but what really lets this product down is the design.  I just don’t think it looks like a product people want to buy despite the good functionality.  So maybe it’s not the Ipod for Ebooks but it could well be the first step in that direction.

Lexar Mercury Jump Drive

The Jumpdrive Mercury from Lexar is one of the first usb flash drives to incorporate eink technology - the drive has a handy eink display to show capacity used and how much is remaining. Okay so it may not be the most interesting eink product ever but it is handy functionality to have.

The high contrast display has a 10 bar capacity meter that, like all eink products has high contrastand low power consumption. The capacity used and remaining is shown in percentages.

The Jumpdrive is available in 1GB and 2 GB formats and at only $10 more than an equivelant drive I’m sure it will prove a useful product.

Seiko Spectrum - watch with e-ink technology

w more details about that E Ink wristwatch from Seiko Epson are coming in from Japan. The watch will be called the “Seiko Spectrum,” and it’s set to be released on January 27, 2006 in Japan. Save your money for this one — pricing is set at 262,500 yen, or around $2,200 USD. Or just, you know, wait until they get cheaper. At least it’s a step in the right direction; there’s not really much room to argue against the advantages electronic ink provides over conventional displays for these kinds of applications. By the way, if you do want one of these watches, get moving: only 500 will be produced.

Motorola Motofone F3 e-ink handset

Spiritual successor to Motorola’s budget C113 handset, the new ‘Motofone’ F3 has clearly been designed with developing markets and the more technophobic among us in mind. All you get is a very basic phone that does nothing other than make and take calls and texts, and work as an alarm clock. That’s it. No, really, that is it.

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