It seems like everybody and their dog is trying to get a flexible display out there. TDK, Sony, LG, HP, and most recently Bridgestone are all going nuts trying to make this happen
E Ink is no exception, and although they’re not planning on putting out a successor to their Pearl screen this year, they aren’t standing still, either. Check out these videos. → Read More
One of the main features of the latest version of the Kindle was its new “Pearl” E Ink screen. It offered better contrast, faster response, and so on. And since we’ve gotten so used to new stuff being given to us every year, I guess we all just kind of expected there would be another new E Ink screen this year, along with a new wave of e-readers using it. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be… → Read More
One of the main complaints about Honeycomb is the lack of apps that are legitimately tailored to its ecosystem. Amazon’s Kindle app, available on a number of platforms, is only just now making the leap to Honeycomb with an improved layout and so on. Good news for people who already have a few books bought through Kindle, but want to read them on their new Honeycomb tablet. I doubt there are… → Read More
A report from the Association of American Publishers reveals that e-books sales experienced “powerful continuing growth” as they colorfully put it, and paper books of all types dipped, compared to the same period (January-February) from last year. This isn’t surprising news, mainly because it isn’t news — and even if it were, it’s just history repeating itself; we’ve seen the same thing… → Read More
Looks like HSN wasn’t lying when they said the Nook Color would be getting an update next month. Of course, they continue to lie about the price of the device ($500, HSN? Really?), but that’s a whole other thing. → Read More
While there are quite a few e-readers on the market right now, printed books still have a totally different “feel” to them. Enter the “Paranga”, a device that’s supposed to add tactile feedback to the experience when reading e-books. → Read More
You might have heard by now of the senseless idea of HarperCollins’s that their e-books should only be able to be lent 26 times by libraries before “expiring.” Not the smartest PR move I’ve seen. But I’d just like to congratulate Halifax’s public library system for opting not to acquire any of these restricted titles for their collection. Many other librarians… → Read More
We haven’t heard anything regarding the Alex e-reader for a long time. I nearly reviewed it, but can say now that due to its performance it really wasn’t fit to be reviewed at the time. I was told then that a successor was in the works, and although we’ve heard no more from them, this week finds a notable change on their site: the Alex is no longer “out of stock,” but has graduated to being… → Read More
If you’re one of the Kindle users who is bothered by inconsistent page numbering between editions, this update should come as a pleasant surprise. Amazon is adding page numbers that correspond to the printed versions of books, so you can use the old citing style or just tell your friend reading the paperback that it’s “on page 215.” → Read More
It was just a few months ago that we heard Samsung was leaving the e-paper e-reader business to focus on LCD-based systems. Those reports may have been mistaken, as the tech giant has just purchased Liquavista, a company originally spun off from Philips, and which is working on improved electrowetting techniques. → Read More
Back in October, we heard from Amazon that Kindle users (on all platforms) would soon be able to lend their books to each other. It was one of the features the Kindle lacked that Barnes & Noble really liked to shove in consumers’ faces, but as of today that’s no longer a problem. The loan program is now live, and the process looks pretty simple. → Read More
We’ve spent quite a few posts on Sharp’s Android tablets, named Galapagos, in the past months. The 5.5 and 10.8-inch devices are marketed as tablet/e-reader hybrids, with Sharp having inked deals with Japanese publishers to offer books and newspapers to buyers in its home market. And today, various Japanese media are reporting that big S will bring both Galapagos devices to the US next year. → Read More
When Japan’s second biggest mobile carrier KDDI announced its winter and spring line-up back in October, the company also showed a very Kindle-like e-reader. Dubbed Biblio Leaf SP02, the e-ink device was introduced with an open price model, no exact release date and just a few specs – until today. → Read More
Short version: It’s the same thing I reviewed a few months ago, but with wi-fi and an on-device store. They work as well as can be expected on an e-ink device. → Read More
The Nook Color is starting to make minor waves (in spite of my prejudice) as it’s really quite a lot of machine for $250. And now the SDK has been opened up, which should allow the usual suspects to adapt their existing Android apps to the Nook’s hardware.
It’s not like the Nook Color is some undiscovered country, though, filled with exotic future tech. It’s just a mid-range tablet with a nice… → Read More
The e-reading battle is raging hot, and while statistics ostensibly showing an insurgent iPad should be taken with a grain of salt, the volatility of the market is plain to see. The Kindle has made the most of an early lead, and promises to be a highly popular gift item. The Nook Color is receiving encouraging reviews and has just been rooted, rendering it a thrifty choice for tablet shoppers. … → Read More
I’m not really sure this research is as revealing as it seems to be. Take a look at the diagram. The take-away is that since the introduction of the iPad, the Kindle’s share of the e-reader market has dropped from 68% to 40%. This suggests that sales of the Kindle are dropping, or that Amazon is losing ground to Apple. But the simple nature of the study suggests a different conclusion. → Read More
Not long after the original Nook came out, it was hacked, and progress on that front has been consistently documented over at NookDevs. The latest update to the Nook Color page indicates that yes, the new device has been rooted in part, a new UI installed (LauncherPro), and apps side-loaded to the “extras” section of the native UI. → Read More
Asus’s Eee Note, formerly known as the Eee Tablet, got its official official debut this morning. We heard a couple months back that the device (in the middle of a name change operation) would be available in October, but as usual, the real date turned out to be a little later. Actually, a lot later for Americans. → Read More
Sony yesterday announced [JP] it’s ready to re-enter the Japanese market for e-books with the launch of two new e-readers – after having failed miserably between 2004 and 2007. In 2007, Sony pulled out of Japan and focused solely on markets outside Japan, especially the US. But according to the company, e-books will soon be the fourth pillar of its entertainment segment, next to music, movies, and… → Read More
Let’s not get too excited just yet, but a study performed by Dr. Andrew Steckl at the University of Cincinatti’s Nanolab has shown that electrowetting (the process by which current e-ink displays work) works just as well with a paper substrate as a glass one. The implications are… far off at the moment. But still cool. → Read More
When Amazon introduced the Kindle in 2007, Fujitsu started showcasing the first version of its own e-book reader, the so-called FLEPia. Back then, Fujitsu marketed the FLEPia as the world’s first such device displaying pages in color. We covered the device a few times until it actually went on sale in Japan with a $1,200 price tag [JP] last year. → Read More
Yesterday saw E Ink revealing their new Triton color e-paper screens, and showing them off in a Hanvon-branded e-reader, about which little else was said. Today brings us pricing and dates for the as-yet-unnamed device. Hope you’re feeling spendy! → Read More
A recent study by Forrester has revealed a few interesting tidbits about the e-reading populace. Most important is perhaps the $966 million figure of total sales this last year. That’s a lot of money to be coming from what is at the moment a niche market. → Read More
We all knew this was coming, though whether the first to market would be the frontrunner, E Ink, or one of its competitors, has always been up in the air. Other color e-paper technologies have been bumbling along for years; Fujitsu’s FLEPia jumped the gun on color e-readers way back in 2008, and technologies from Ricoh and Qualcomm might easily have taken the lead.
But for now, it appears E Ink… → Read More
We reviewed the Entourage Edge back in April; Scott was able to appreciate aspects of it I had dismissed out of hand, citing the “purpose” of e-readers. Of course, everyone has a different purpose in mind when they go in for a device like this, and it looks like enough Edges have been sold to justify a new model. The Pocket Edge is, as you might expect, a very similar device, but smaller and… → Read More
Some slightly misleading figures have been propagating through the websphere, apparently, describing the much-anticipated Adam tablet as having a minimum of 15 hours of battery life, and a maximum of around 20. Notion Ink wants to set the record straight, and while the new figures aren’t quite so high, they’re still quite good, and have the benefit of being not totally wrong. → Read More
I’m a fan of iRiver; have been ever since their SlimX MP3-CD player. I’ve admired their other gear from afar, and I suspect that will be how I admire their latest, the Cover Story e-reader. It’s among the cleanest readers I’ve seen, perhaps outdone only by the Plastic Logic Que (R.I.P.). iRiver knows how to make a slick device, that’s for sure. → Read More
In case you were wondering what’s powering Barnes & Noble’s new Nook Color (or NOOKcolor, as they’d have us write it) e-reader, wonder no longer. It’s an e-book platform introduced by Texas Instruments at CES, with an ARM Cortex A8 processor at its center. There are some superficial similarities to the A4 system used by Apple, but really, the processor line is the only for-sure overlap. We… → Read More
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