Filed under: Handhelds

So much for Amazon’s attempts to quell Kindle 2 rumors, eh? Talk of a replacement (or a pair of replacements) for Amazon’s popular — but very oddly-styled — e-reader has been in the mix seemingly since the first model started shipping, and Boy Genius Report has scored shots of something that certainly looks like it could be in the legitimate pipeline. The revised device appears to address complaints over the original’s look head-on, rounding the corners and ditching the oddball angles; the scroll wheel has been replaced with a joystick, the SD slot is gone (don’t worry, there’s at least a gig and a half on-board), and around back, we have grills that seem to suggest integrated stereo speakers. The display is basically the same size — no color here yet, sorry — so unless the sharp edges on your first-gen piece are driving you batty, it looks like this could be safely skipped by current owners while roping in new buyers who wouldn’t have considered it before. Thing is, was ditching the scroll wheel and that trick mirrored bar in favor of a joystick really the right way to go?

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Filed under: Handhelds

Sony’s plan to launch an updated Reader today wasn’t exactly a secret, but there are still some surprises to the new PRS-700 — particularly the new six-inch touchscreen E-Ink display. Page turning is now accomplished by a swipe motion with faster refreshes, and there’s a stylus and on-screen keyboard for searching and note-taking — plus an LED reading light (not a backlight) for reading in the dark. Apart from that, it’s basically the same deal as the PRS-505 — internal storage for about 350 ebooks with SD and MS-Duo expansion and a 7500 page-turn battery life round out the package, as well as an updated online store. Of course, there’s no Kindle-killing integrated wireless for the $400 price tag, but it’ll be interesting to see how they stack up when the PRS-700 hits shelves next month.

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Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Oh sure, we’ve seen a limited number of hacks surface for the hotly selling (but still unsightly) Amazon Kindle, but we’ve yet to see a hardware mod of this magnitude. We’ve always heard that desperate times call for desperate measures, and evidently said mantra is very true. After having the display in his Kindle smashed around 8 months ago (thanks, kid sister…), blakebevin set out to perform an unprecedented surgery. With an unwanted Sony Reader LCD in hand and a badly broken Kindle on the operating table, he attempted to give the latter unit new life with a few pixels from a cross-town rival. We’ll warn you — this one’s not for the rookies in attendance, and even Mr. Bevin (it is Mr. Bevin, right?) had some “nagging button issues” once the thing was sewn back up. Give the read link a look if you ever find yourself in this admittedly peculiar situation.

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Filed under: Handhelds

While Sony’s Reader has never received the enormous press or enjoyed the supposed whirlwind sales of Amazon’s Kindle e-book, and is certainly lacking in, erm, EV-DOness, the Reader is about to get one trick the Kindle doesn’t have yet: openness. Sony will be shooting out an update on Thursday to allow the Reader to use purchased books in the protected EPUB format from whoever is peddling them, instead of being tied to the Sony’s e-book store, or just DRM-free text and PDF documents. That openness should help Sony beef up its selection — which is lagging behind Amazon’s — and will hopefully mark a bit of a turning point in the e-book market to more standards and, more importantly, more books.

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Filed under: Displays

We Americans have had the opportunity to pick up Sony’s Reader for what seems like eons, but you poor bookworms holed up in the UK have been neglected unjustly. No more, as Sony has just opened up the phone lines for folks eager to claim their spot in line the queue. No need in rehashing the specifications you already know — it’s still the same ole PRS-505, just way more expensive in US dollars.

[Via MobileRead, thanks Alex]

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Filed under: Handhelds

E-book readers are becoming quickly becoming the new cheapo MP3 player, what with unusual designs, promises of salvation from paper, and now diving prices. Enter the Astak Mentor. This series of readers comes in three sizes — 5-, 6-, and 9.7-inch — and is based on either Linux or Windows CE. So what’s new here? A sub-$200 price tag for the 5-inch version, touchscreens, Bluetooth, and WiFi. Those three latter features come standard on the 9.7-incher, and are optional on the smaller two. Look for them in October from less-than-$200 to $350, or until someone else comes out with a $99 reader.

[Via Crave]

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Filed under: Handhelds

CyBook’s Gen3 e-book reader has been out for a while, and it looks like there’s a slight spec bump in the making — the Gen3 New Edition now features 512MB of storage, more stable firmware with better battery life and a more responsive interface, and a slightly revised housing. Owners of older Gen3 units will be able to download the new firmware, but sadly there’s no word on whether the new rev comes with Bobby Brown or Johnny Gill.

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Filed under: Handhelds

ECTACO wants you to know something: it’s about to change the way you read… forever! That’s right, as we journey into the future, nothing will ever be the same about books, reading, or reading books. According to the company, its jetBook reader will allow you to, “Kiss your old-fashioned, dusty library goodbye,” and you can rest easy because, “Not a single tree was cut down to make it!” The “completely amazing” bright red device houses a 5-inch grayscale display, and features multi-language support, bookmarking ability, playback of MP3 files, and an SD slot. The game- and life-changing reader — which will crush and dismember your stupid, old, and ugly real books — is available now for just $349.95.

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Filed under: Handhelds

Sure, Philippe Starck may not care for the Kindle, but an open letter posted on Amazon’s front page suggests he’s in the minority. We already knew that the company was having a difficult time filling orders, but we had no idea the wait for buyers would warrant what amounts to a public apology from Jeff Bezos. Apparently, the online superstore is drawing heat for six-week delays on delivery for some customers, and is scrambling to get itself into an “order today, ship today” scheme. The original release of the device sold out in just 5 1/2 hours says the letter, which might explain why no one is hacking it — no one has it.

[Thanks, Michael]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Displays

It seemed obvious back in mid-December of last year that Polymer Vision wasn’t going to nail its timetable for production versions of the 3G-equipped, e-ink wonder known as the Readius. Now word is that the company will have a commercial version of the phone / e-book reader available sometime in mid-2008 in Italy via Telecom Italia — provided that everything goes according to its diabolical plans. If you’ll recall, the device features a foldable, grayscale, 5-inch QVGA display, and boasts a slew of features, including HSDPA, a 400MHz ARM CPU, and a battery life up to “six times longer” than current mobile phones. We’ll admit we’re intrigued, but don’t make us wait too long over here, okay?

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Filed under: Handhelds

Amazon isn’t disclosing how many Kindles it actually had ready to go, but apparently the idea of a tiny e-book reader with free EV-DO and the visual flair of an Apple IIc hit home for quite a few people, because they sold out in just five and a half hours. Amazon’s site says they’ll be back in stock on the 29th, but availability is first-come, first-served, so it looks like you’ll have to act fast if you want to get one before gift-giving time sets in.

[Via Blankbaby]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Handhelds

Although it hasn’t had the buzz of some other longstanding rumors, we’ve been heard a lot about Amazon’s Kindle ebook reader over the past year — everything from shady pics to tagged content to a supposed October 15th ship date, which came and went with nary a peep from the etailer. Now Brad Stone at the New York Times — who predicted that ship date to begin with — says that his sources have told him that the Kindle has been delayed (shocking), but will still make it out by the end of the year. Stone also says Amazon is still perfecting the service and wants to have as much Kindle-ready content (Kindling?) available at launch as it can — and that the built-in EV-DO modem will pull down content over Sprint’s network. That’s news to us, but until we actually see this thing we’re going to take our Kindle with a large grain of salt.

[Via mobileread]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Displays

Sony just went live with their latest eBook reader, the PRS-505. Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen it but it’s always good to get an official release. Available “this month” for $300 in silver and dark blue, Sony’s 500-followup features a new electronic paper display that is more responsive with a better contrast than its predecessor while offering expansion for both Memory Stick Duo or SD memory cards. A new USB Mass Storage mode allows for a lickity-quick transfer of files when connected to your PC. Better yet perhaps, is to see a late 90’s indie band coming out in support of Sony, eh Joey?

[Via MobileRead]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!