Announced today, the Alex E-book Reader is an interesting take on electronic books. The upper third of the device features a standard 6-inch electronic ink screen similar to Amazon’s Kindle and then the bottom part sports a 3.5-inch color touchscreen running Android (1.6). The two screens can be harmonized by taking a web page you’ve loaded up on the Android browser and shooting it to the electronic ink screen up above. So surf the web, find an article you want to read, and – boom – you’ve got a larger-screen version that’s easy on the eyes.
Content is available via Google Books and a partnership with Borders. There’s built in Wi-Fi, 2GB of storage expandable via microSD, and an open development environment. The price tag is $400 for the Wi-Fi version, which will be available in February, and there’s a 3G-enabled version planned in the future. So, yes, perhaps a little on the pricing side for an electronic book reader but, hey, don’t forget about all the Android goodness.
Alex E-book Reader [Spring Design]