Tag: eink

Acer Iconia dual screen computer

Posted by ts On 25.11.2010

Check out this incredible hands on from engadget. I think is the future of personal computers, but only if they start making them with e-ink color displays!

source – engadget.com/ By Ross Miller

Acer’s dual-screen Iconia laptop is bold, for sure — eschewing a physical keyboard for another display — but its LCD panels are also mighty glossy. If you’ve got a light in the vicinity above you, there’s gonna be glare — we saw it on stage, and we just saw it now in person. That said, the screen is clear and the touch functionality is pretty clever (five fingers open up a widget where you can scroll through other touch-friendly apps). The keyboard, on the other hand, is pretty hard to use — even the rep admitted there’s a learning curve. You can’t rest your fingers down without hitting something, of course. We managed to browse to Engadget, but it took several tries. Check out the photos below!

Update: Now with video! It’s after the break.

Acer Iconia first hands-on!

Kobo eReader available for 149$

Posted by ts On 10.05.2010

source – engadget.com by Sean Hollister

Looking for a no-frills alternative to the Kindle or Nook? For $150, you’ll probably find it in the Kobo eReader — now available for purchase at Borders, and shipping June 17th. Engadget went hands-on with Kobo in March and rather enjoyed the barebones aesthetic; though an early review cited long load times, we thought the 6-inch E Ink slate got the basics just about right. That’s just us, though — if you get it for Father’s Day as Borders clearly suggests, we’re not sure your picky old man will agree.

Seiko’s active matrix E-Ink watch

Posted by ts On 06.04.2010

source – engadget.com/ by Darren Murph

Seiko’s been doing the whole E-Ink wristwatch thing for years now, but the vast majority of ’em could really only be viewed when looking directly down onto the so-called dial. The appropriately named “Future Now” EPD watch aims to change all that, with an “active matrix” E-Ink display that allows for the same 180 degrees of visibility that you’ve come to expect in the average LCD panel. The all-black watch made its debut at Basel World 2010, boasting a grand total of 80,000 pixels, each of which are capable of displaying four shades of grey. Seiko’s also trumpeting the achievements in power reduction, though we aren’t informed of exactly how long this thing can shuffle minutes away before needing a recharge. Either way, we couldn’t be more anxious to see this gem hit store shelves — hop on past the break for a quick look at exactly what we mean.
See more video at our hub!

Aluratek eBook Reader Pro

Posted by ts On 30.03.2010

source – techcrunch.com/ by John Biggs

It’s no Kindle, but at $149 the Aluratek eBook Reader Pro is a pretty interesting device. It comes with a 2GB card and includes 100 public domain books including Wuthering Heights and The Bible. It works with PDFs, ePubs, and Mobi files along with standard text files. The whole thing works quite well and it’s a nice, small size, especially for an inexpensive e-reader. It’s definitely a no-frills ereader solution but it may be good for folks who find ebooks online and not through the Kindle store.

PVI shows off color and video e-paper in China

Posted by ts On 29.03.2010

source – engadget.com by Laura June

Prime View International — the company responsible for pumping e-ink screens into Amazon’s Kindles — has recently shown off some color and video screens at a trade show in Shenzhen, China. The company has been showing off the displays in 6 and 9.7-inch varieties, one of which could fit perfectly into the 6-inch Kindle, of course. While there’s been no real indication that Amazon is interested in transitioning to color or video-boasting readers, but it’s not completely inconceivable considering the recent competition it’s facing. Hit the source link to check out a video featuring the color displays that were on show.

Kobo eReader at $149

Posted by ts On 24.03.2010

source – engadget.com/ By Paul Miller

We’ve seen so many e-book readers of late that it’s difficult to get excited about another, but Kobo’s angle here might just make the Kobo eReader worth a look. Kobo’s game is ecosystem, and in fact it doesn’t plan on making a big splash in the actual e-reader market, since it’s primarily about building branded software and delivering branded e-book stores for others, including manufacturers (like Plastic Logic), and booksellers (like Borders). Still, the 6-inch E Ink reader is fine hardware in its own right, with quality plastics throughout, a nice patterned rubber back, and a big friendly d-pad for paging through books. The device is actually laid out to mitigate accidental button presses — even the menu buttons labelled on the front are actually located on the side of the device. As far as software and capabilities, the device is utterly barebones, but at least it keeps its aesthetics throughout, and everything seems responsive and intuitive. There’s no 3G onboard (you sync your e-pub titles with a desktop app over USB), no specific word on storage (our guess is in the 1GB to 4GB range), and there don’t seem to be any other activities available to reading books. Hopefully you’re into that sort of thing, and Kobo at least pre-loaded 100 public domain titles to get you started. The unit will be sold at Borders this summer for $149, preceded by Indigo Books & Music in Canada in May.

Meanwhile, Kobo isn’t neglecting its devices strategy. It already has BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, Mac, and PC (and some others we’re likely forgetting), but it’s also showing an iPad app that looks all ready to go. There aren’t many details about it, but like all things Kobo it looks pretty single purpose and slick — check out the screenshots below.

Editor’s note: due to the horrible lighting conditions at the CTIA event we were attending, we had to photograph the device under the warm lights of a meat-cutting station, hence the incongruous backdrop of these hands-on photos.

Kobo eReader hands-on
Kobo eReader press shots
Kobo iPad app screenshots

Sony drops Pocket Reader price to $169… are e-readers about to get super cheap?

Posted by ts On 24.03.2010

source – engadget.com/ by Laura June

The Wall Street Journal noted this morning that Sony’s rather quietly dropped the price of its Pocket Reader about $30 to $169. Now, it’s actually what amounts to a sale — the price cut lasts only through April 4th — but that date, just two days after the iPad is made available, could give us a little insight into the timing of the drop. The Wall Street Journal also posits that this could be the first in a series of price war moves in the single purpose e-reader market which are now facing competition from multi-purpose devices such as the aforementioned iPad and the recently announced Kindle app for tablets.

PVI’s color E-Ink displays for Kindles

Posted by ts On 19.03.2010

source – engadget.com/ by Thomas Ricker

You know who makes the E-Ink displays on the Kindle? PVI. The Taiwanese company is also the EPD provider for several other tier-1 eReader device makers including Sony. So take a good look at that color E-Ink prototype display currently sitting in a PVI booth at a Shenzhen tradeshow ’cause that’s what you’ll see packed in color eReaders near the end of the year and into 2011. PVI is showing off both 6- and 9.7-inch color prototypes set to hit the manufacturing lines in Q4 (and sampling now), just right for the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX should Amazon choose to keep things simple and just swap out the display (and a minimum of componentry) within its existing device lineup. It’s worth noting that the extra layer of color filtering glass will impact battery life a bit, but certainly not enough to lose its edge on LCDs. And while PVI was demonstrating a color animation running on its new displays, they can’t do video worth a damn due to the slow frame refresh. And don’t expect to see the color EPDs sporting a contrast or color vibrancy anywhere close to what you’ll get from a traditional LCD either. Regardless, people seem smitten by the USA Today’s use of color so we’re sure these color E-Ink displays will find their niche as well.

Entourage eDGe tested by CNET

Posted by ts On 19.03.2010

source – alltouchtablet.com/ by John Pope

Entourage eDGe: the first of its kind

We’ve wrote quite a few posts about the Entourage eDGe dual screen eReader + Android tablet combo. It seems that more and more samples are getting to pressfor review. Now it’s time for CNET to get their hands on video treatment on the Entourage eDGe.

After watching that video I can positively say that the eDGe is a nice concept, especially for educational purposes, there’s a lot to be improved here, but that’s always the case with the first generation of innovative new products. The eDGe sells for 499$ in 5 color versions, so plenty of choice here for consumers, has 4 GB of built-in memory, just like the Kindle, but is way more heavy, around 3 lbs (5-6 time heavier) thus handling it is not that easy after prolonged periods of holding in hand.

CNET really liked the massive 9.7 inch eInk screen with annotations capabilities, making it ideal for memorizing your ideas while reading an eBook, then print them on paper or share them with your friends. A special journal mode allows taking notes, like you on a blank sheet of paper.

The eReader part of the Entourage eDGe works with PDF files and other formats but not the one used in Kindle. You can copy your own ebooks from an USB flash disk or buy them online from the included shop, or get free Google eBooks (also included in the installed ‘library’). About the Android screen on the right we’ve found out it’s a stripped out version which features things like eMail, Browser, Office suite and eBook store plus some default installed apps without any option to install others from the Android Market. There’s even the option to get it work like a word processor by attaching a keyboard and folding down the eInk screen like a support base for the tablet.

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