E-readers - Page 12

E Ink announced today that over 1 million E-Book readers with their displays are being used today. In fact almost all epaper readers use E Ink technology.

At SID 2009 (starting sunday), E Ink will showcase many such readers:

• Cybook Gen 3 by Bookeen
• Digital Reader 1000S by iRex
• eSlick by Foxit
• EZ Reader by Astak
• HandyBOOK N516 by Hanvon
• Hanlin eReader V3 & V8 by Tianjin Jinke Electronics
• iLiad 2nd Edition by iRex
• Kindle 2 by Amazon
• NUUT from Neolux
• Reader Digital Book PRS-505 & PRS-700 by Sony
• STAReBOOK STK-101 by Staretek

Amazon has started to sell the eSlick reader from Foxit, for 290$. It has a 6" E Ink display (600x800, 4-level gray scale).

Foxit eSlick reader

The eSlick has 128MB of memory, SD card slot (it comes with a 2GB card), MP3 player, and weights 180 grams.

Engadget posted an interesting review of the new Kindle DX. Basically they like it - it is rather similar to the Kindle 2, but with a larger and better screen.

The only problem? It costs a lot of money (489$, currently available for pre-order).

The rumors were true: Amazon has launched a new, larger Kindle e-book reader yesterday: the Kindle DX. The display is a large 9.7" 1200x824 (at 150 ppi) E Ink display, with 16 shades of gray. It will cost 489$, and it's available for pre-order.

Amazon kindle DX

The older Kindle 2 has a 6" E-Ink display, 600 x 800 pixels at 167 ppi, 16-level gray scale, and is available now (for 360$). Here's a photo showing the size difference between the two gadgets:

Amazon Kindle 2 vs DX

Here's the complete feature list of the new DX. Finally, another nice shot of the new Kindle DX:

Amazon Kindle DX

A couple of weeks ago we reported that there are rumors Amazon will soon launch a new Kindle, with a larger display.

Kindle 2

Several sites are reporting that in fact this new devices will be launched tomorrow. The screen will be large enough to read a newspaper - 9.7" (the Kindle 2 has a 6" display). In fact Amazon might be targeting this not for books, but indeed for newspapers. The NY Times will reportedly offer a 9.95$ a month subscription.

It will be interesting to see how much the new device will cost, as the current Kindle 2.0 costs 360$, and the E Ink display is the most expensive part (with a 60$ price tag)...

Dutch company Endless Ideas is set to launch a new version of the BeBook e-reader. It will have a 5" E ink display (vs the original BeBook 6"). It will cost less than 200$.

The BeBook is manufactured by Chinese company Tianjin Jinke Electronics, which largely sells its readers under the Hanlin brand. That means the BeBook Mini will also be available as the Hanlin v5 Reader.

iSupply has made a teardown analysis of the Kindle 2, which sells for 360$. iSupply says it only costs 185.5$ to make.

Kindle 2

The most expansive part is the E Ink display - estimated at 60$ (41.5% of the total material bill). It's a 6" diagonal screen, 600 x 800 pixels at 167 ppi, 16-level gray scale.

The second most expensive part is the wireless module from Novatel (39.5$).

Polymer Vision's Readius, which was actually planned for release last year is delayed - because of financial difficulties.

The Readius has a 16-grayscale 320x240 5" e ink based display. When closed the size is 115x57x21mm, and when you open the display, it's 160x115x21mm.

There are rumors that Amazon are planning a new Kindle, to be available before christmas 2009. It will have a larger e ink display. The Kindle 2 has a 6" diagonal E Ink display, 600 x 800 pixels at 167 ppi, 16-level gray scale.

Kindle 2

The only problem? a larger e ink display will be much more expensive... The current Kindle 2.0 costs 360$.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Hearst Corp has its own E-reader planned for 2010.

Apart from also using E Ink, which Hearst invested in, and a similar flexible display technology, we don't know much about it because Hearst isn't saying much. We're pretty sure the technology comes from FirstPaper, a "stealth startup," backed by Hearst.