Sony’s got a new Reader in the PRS-700 and that Reader, it’s got a touchscreen. Simply slide your dirty, smudge-inducing finger across the six-inch screen and watch as the e-inked pages magically turn, just like a real book. Or use that same finger to enter notes and/or highlight text. There’s also a stylus for people like me who have weird issues with touchscreens. And for those of you who like to read in the dark, the PRS-700 sports LED illumination emanating from either side of the screen. Total weight is 10 ounces, battery life’s good for more than eight hours, and storage should top out at around 350 books (plus anything else you can fit into the SD card or Memory Stick expansion slots). The Reader will set you back around $400 sometime in November. [via DVICE] → Read More
We’re believers in the idea of ebook here at CrunchGear, so any time we can bring you a freebie, we will, especially if it’s one that appeals to our geeky nature. Del Rey is offering a Star Wars book, Legacy of the Force: Betrayal, as a free download in PDF, audiobook, or ebook for Sony or Kindle formats. It’s the first of a seven part series, they’re hoping you’ll like it enough to buy the rest, it seems. I’ve not yet read it, and Star Wars novels can be hit or miss, but this one isn’t written by Kevin J. Anderson, so it could be alright. It’s free; what have you got to lose? → Read More
That’s a pretty big screen, ladies and gentlemen. The one on the left there, with the dog — it’s almost ten inches! Guess what else? It’s got built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and it uses electronic ink, has 4GB of storage, and lasts 5000 pages on a single charge. I’d actually buy it if I knew how to accomplish such a task (more on that later). Then there’s the dumpy one on the right. It’s for babies. No wireless connectivity of any type, only 128MB of memory, and just a 6-inch screen. It uses e-ink too, though, so that’s good. And I bet it costs a lot less than the cool looking one with the awesome dog picture. I’m sorry I said it was for babies. Both play music files and I hope the dog one features some sort of web browser. They’re made in Taiwan by a company called Netronix and I have no idea when they’ll be available or how much they’ll cost, unfortunately. We’ll keep you posted, though. Product Page [Netronixinc.com] via Techfresh.net → Read More
So close. I’ve been eyeing eBook readers for a while now. I really can’t see myself spending $300 on one when I have gadgets like the Nokia 770 and iPod Touch that are capable of handling similar tasks and more. However, the E-Ink technology is pretty cool and the 7,500 page-turn battery life that Sony suggests is intriguing. According to Gordon Meyer over at 43 Folders, the Sony PRS-505 eBook reader is pretty close to perfect until you try to drop a few PDF files onto it. "None of my PDF files were remotely close to readable on this thing," he says. He then details several different cumbersome options for converting PDFs to more legible formats but ultimately ended up returning the device. This is disappointing for something that claims it’s compatible with one of the most ubiquitous text formats around and the thought of spending $300 and then having to reformat and/or convert many of the files you want to read is silly. Does anyone have one of these that can speak to the PDF issues? My fling with a Sony Reader [43 Folders] → Read More
News Corp. continues its quest to dominate the mainstream media. One of the publishers it owns, HarperCollins, is now planning to offer selections from 14 books available for iPhone viewing. The move comes as HarperCollins tries to dive into the digital world and hype surrounding Apple’s successful phone. You’ll be able to use your iPhone, come August and September, to view snippets from books like “The Burnt House” and “Obama”. Only 10 pages or so will be available for preview, but should the book interest you, a mobile option to purchase it will be there. HarperCollins offers digital book content for iPhone [Reuters] → Read More
yesterday is dead in the water. Oh, wait, maybe it does. Or at least so says David Rothman over at TeleRead as he compared it to the Edsel, an automobile failure beyond compare in 1958. His key arguments are certainly not offbase – monochrome screen, general suckiness of DRM, only 10,000 or so titles, no backlight, and a relatively high cost for a very limited product. However, all this aside, after having played with one last night I can’t help wanting one. I was in a very dark room and could read the display easily and without strain. It was simple enough to operate and the magnification of the print was nice, and would be handy for the nearly blind. But do I think it will fail? And how! I really hope it doesn’t fail completely though, because I do want to see the next generation of it. Will the Sony Reader Be The Edsel Of E-Ink? [TeleRead] → Read More
At the risk of sounding old-fashioned, wasn’t the eBook something we were supposed to see about six years ago? Really, back when we all started using dial-up modems to connect to the Internet to access the World Wide Web, weren’t the dropping costs and rising resolutions of LCDs supposed to make these disposable, cheap, common-place toys? Whatever. They’re here, now. Earlier, we told you about Sony’s new eBook reader thing, with compatable service. Now Panasonic is thowing down a similar device, the Word Gear (we like things that are “gear”). The big difference between Sony’s eBook and Panasonic’s is that the Pany is full color at $10 less, at launch ($350 for the Sony, $340 for the Word Gear). If this were Street Fighter II, we’d yell, “Ready, Fight!” But it’s not, so we’ll see if people will even buy these things. Oh, and the Pany has SD expansion, so with, like, those new 100GB SD cards coming in a few years, you can tote around your own Library of Alexandria, and if those damn Roman’s don’t get to it first. Panasonic’s Word Gear color e-book reader [engadget] → Read More
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