Portable Ebook Reader

The ebook readers market has mostly been dominated by a few companies. Sony Readers and Kindle from Amazon are the most popular ebook readers in the world.

Content is the only real difference between these devices. Amazon is known to distribute content directly from its store. Though a closed system, it is accessible widely through apps on smart phones and PCs. Many other companies including Sony do not have across platforms provision or an integrated bookstore experience, but they offer open format support.

The Kobo eReader has been in the ebook market for quite a while and Smartphone users may be familiar with the preinstalled app. The manufacturers of the Kobo eReader are moving from pure content to both content and hardware with the aim to provide a complete solution like Amazon. The Kobo touch eReader is a good and genuine alternative to the Kindle.

Hardware

The Kobo touch eReader is well designed and has an interesting “quilted” back finish. It is of course not a real quilt, but the plastic material is sturdy enough. The device has a diamond pattern that is nice to hold and provides a user with something extra to hold on to. At 185g, it is lighter than the kindle touch, but slightly heavier than the new Kindle from Amazon.

The Kobo touch ebook reader is built with an E-ink display of 6 inches and just like many other models, it will easily fit into a small bag or jacket pocket. The device also has USB connections and also a microSD card slot on the side in case you need to expand the memory. This device only has a home button below the screen and a power slider at the top. All other operations are by touch, thus no need for more buttons.

Getting content

In order to sync the Kobo eReader, the user will require a Kobo account. Unlike the Kindle which offers users PC free operation, the Kobo touch requires a user to download software from a Mac or PC before connecting to your device.

If you as have an account all you need to do is key your details in the application and all content you have purchased will be available and ready to sync to the Kobo touch eReader. If there is no existing content, you can navigate and purchase them via the desktop application. PayPal is included in the payment options on the Kobo store which makes things very easy for most users.

The advantage of having a Wi-Fi enabled device is that you can easily browse and search free ebooks or even download a preview of a book without necessarily having to use a computer. The Kobo store is easy to navigate and is accessible from the device’s home page.

Any book purchased on the Kobo store is made available on your eReader, mobile device and desktop computer on one same account. It is not a must you connect to your computer as long as you do the initial setup well and if you will only stick to the Kobo bookstore.

This device has the ability to perform cross device bookmark syncing, which means that you can continue to read a book on your eReader from the point you left off on the phone and vice versa.

The Kobo touch is an EPUB ebook reader and so it does not restrict you to Kobo’s bookstore. Of course the reading experience is better if you stick to the Kobo store but if you buy EPUB titles and authorize your device with Adobe Digital Editions, you will have the ability to read from these collections as well.

This ability of the Kobo touch lets you have more freedom than the Kindle. This is because you can shop around to find the best prices and you get to choose where you source your books from. The only downside to this is that you will lose the syncing function, meaning that your EPUB ebooks will not be automatically mirrored to other devices.

Reading Experience

In actual reading, the Kobo touch offers readers a great experience. The E-Ink screen has good contrast and the letters are well formed and crisp. For your preference, you can select a different font and even change the font size. The device has highlight and dictionary functions and offers the share on facebook function. Page turning on this device is fast and very easy as you only need to tap at the edge or swipe across the page. It is however possible to sometimes turn pages by accident with a stray finger.

The e-ink display of the Kobo touch has 2 distinct advantages that you get over LCD displays. One is that they are not glossy which makes it easy to read in bright conditions or outdoors. They are great for poolside reading. The second advantage is that the battery life for this device is very efficient because there is no backlighting.

The battery life is one month but this very much depends on the reading you do. The Wi-Fi also shortens the battery life considerably, so it is advisable to use flight-safe mode if you do not need a connection.

The Extras

There are some few extras in the Kobo touch. These include a browser in case you want to browse the internet although it is still an experimental browser and may be a bit slow with tricky navigation. A Sudoku game and a sketchbook are also some of the extras hidden in this device.

Another feature is the Reading Life section which is available on the home page and offers a social side of the eReader. This section is basically a kind of an achievements system where upon taking various actions readers earn awards. From this section you can also see the stats of activities like number of books read, page turns and even hours spent on reading.

Verdict

There are many eReaders that are technically proficient but not all of them impress. The service offered by the Kobo touch rivals that of the Amazon Kindle and it’s impressive because there is a full system to explore. It is a good and interesting alternative to the Kindle and it is competitively priced.

The cost and availability of content should also be considered. A quick glance at some recent titles in the kindle reveals that the prices are the same with occasional higher priced titles in the Kindle store and vice versa.

Overall the Kobo touch is a great option that should be considered by anyone planning to buy an ereader.

Buy the Kobo Touch here.

With the growing e-readers’ production these handheld reading devices are making a huge impression on their expanding category in the electronic gadget world. As everyone notices the iPad launch getting ever closer, other manufacturers are starting to show their part in the digital readers market.

The Asus electronic manufacturer has its big piece of the pie in the electronic gadget world too. Recently, one of the talked about e-book reader at the CES is the DR-900 produced by Asus. This device is perfect to maximize the reading experience, expand the reach of the reader, and attract them with its features and specs. As the company announced, the DR-900 is the first 9-inch e-book reader by Asus. The Asus DR 900 is a stylish and affordable e-book reader based on the Linux operating system.

The Asus DR 900 is quite light in the hand, it weighs just 370 grams and has dimensions of 222mm x 161mm x 9mm. Text is clear and very natural looked on SiPix 9-inch e-paper touchscreen display. Featuring 1024 x 768 resolution this e-ink display takes about a second or two to refresh the read document. Asus DR-900 is expected to support various file formats including MP3, ePUB, PDF, HTML, JPEG, GIF, PNG and TXT formats. There is also auto-rotate function that allows you to choose exactly how you’d like to orient your device.

Speaking about the apps, the Asus DR-900 comes with pre-loaded range of applications including a web browser, handwriting recognition, onscreen keyboard as well as music player application, study tool along with the eBook application. There’s also talk of text-to-speech and RSS apps on the board. The Asus Digital Reader is equipped with 4GB internal memory, which is perfect for holding books. User is able also to add more memory thanks to the SD card slot.

For connectivity the Asus 900 e-reader includes optional wireless 802.11g connectivity and 3G. The 900’s browser is well developed that will allow users to enjoy high speed performance and RSS feature. When producing the DR-900, the company was also serious about the battery life. It is very attractive, and can deliver 2 weeks without Wi-Fi and 4 days with Wi-Fi. This electronic gadget is thought to be launched this spring, but the pricing of the device isn’t available yet.

The Archos Company, known as a French consumer electronics manufacturer, is the author of the 7^th generation internet tablet Archos 5 (announced on September, 2009). Running on the Google’s Android operating system the Anchos 5 is expected to deliver all Android capabilities and bring the consumer a new way to enjoy Internet, Media and TV all in one. It is powered by an ARM Cortex A8 processor at 800 MHz and 4.8- inch 800×400 touchscreen display. It is a sharp and bright display which uses a resistive touch technology and has two common drawbacks. The tablet features only two physical buttons.

The Archos 5 has been designed to be a slim and sexy device and is certainly good to look at. Overall the tablet has dimensions of 143.2 x 78.8 x 10.4mm and weighs 182g. The Archos 5 Internet Tablet has built-in features of a PDF reader, Mac and PC compatibility, built-in speaker, integrated kickstand and game capabilities. On the audio side the tablet have support for great variety of formats, including MP3, WMA, OGG, and FLAC. It is also best for video playing. The device comes with two HDMI ports and is capable of 720p video playback. For video, expect MP4, WMV and MKV file supports. Don’t worry about the tablet memory, as Archos offers you a whopping 250 Gb of storage that can hold 300 movies, 145,000 songs or millions of photos. The size of the storage on the Archos 5 is very competitive with many current notebooks on the market.

For connectivity Archos has chosen to use Wi-Fi B/N/G along with Bluetooth, through which you can access the 3G connection of your mobile phone. The Archos 5 Internet Tablet has also GPS capabilities that the company powered with a photo satellite view version of the map. Thanks to this feature you won’t get lost with the Anchor 5 in your hands, and yet you will enjoy the navigation as this software includes various tons of options including type of route, traffic, list of radars and more. Browsing becomes almost seamless with the built-in Opera web-browser and Adobe Flash 8 video supports. Thanks to the Archos built-in full email apps you won’t also miss the ability to write, download or send attachments right to your contacts. And lastly, the Archos 5 comes with a built-in battery that can deliver up to 12 hours of audio and 4 hours of video.The Archos 5 can be a great choice for you and the pricing of the tablet starts at $249.99 for the 8GB device and maxes out at $439.99 for 500GB.

The Archos 5 Internet Tablet can be found at:

• Amazon for $302 USD

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Young people today are totally ‘plugged in’ with their cell phones, video games, iPods and other gadgets that they use on a daily basis. Offering students a cool, handheld device to use in the classroom, on the train or in a coffee shop may be a way to make learning fun. Irex digital readers are thought to be a motivator to students to become more involved with their learning.

Irex DR800s is the newest addition to the company’s innovative line of e-readers. At just 1 cm thick and with an 8.1-inch screen, the Irex Digital Reader 800S is just the thing for bookworms everywhere. A unique screen surface differentiates the DR800S from competitive devices, and delivers a natural reading experience in the living room, on the train or in a coffee shop.

The user has the opportunity to enjoy a variety of electronic books, magazines and newspapers with this digital reader that features an 8.1-inch interactive touch screen with a natural, paper-like display and adjustable text sizes. The Irex uses E Ink Corporation’s Vizplex ink-imaging film that is dubbed EPD for electronic paper display and has a 768 x1024 pixel resolution at 160 DPI 16-level grey scale. You can also use the supplied stylus and menus easily, thanks to electronic touch-screen paper technology. Internal menus are supported in the following languages: French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Greek.

Running on Linux operating system and featuring the FreeScale i.MX31L processor, the Irex DR enhances users’ true reading experience that far eclipses what they’d get from a multifunction device. The DR800S supports multiple formats, including the industry standard ePub, rather than a single, “closed” proprietary format along with PDF and JPG / BMP/ PNG / GIF file formats. That’s not all though! The mini-USB 2.0 port on the DR800S lets you download electronic versions of the latest bestsellers and newspapers from the internet. You will copy or transfer your own documents directly to the device without any additional software or fees, just connect to a computer and transfer them to the DR.

An SD card slot is onboard for extendable storage of up to a big 2 GB SD, so the digital reader will contain up to 1,000 books or photos. The 800s is powered by 2800 mAh lithium-ion battery, which lasts for up to 6,000 page turns. The e-reader has also a build-in sleep mode, which stretches the reading experience even further and lets the device wake up in seconds at the touch of the button.

The dimensions of Irex 800s are 1, 07 cm x 14, 9 cm 19, 3 cm and it weights just 360 g. The device comes with a custom cover and stylus.

The IREX Digital Reader 800s can be found at:

• Amazon for $399 USD

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In this day and age, everything is turning electronic. It started with the conversion of the regular (which is now called “snail”) mail to the electronic mail or eMail, our books turning into electronic books or eBooks. Therefore, there is the need for us to have gadgets to be able to catch up with this very fast-paced technology. One day I came across this remarkable device, called the JoinTech JE200 Color eBook Reader. The name itself speaks for itself, it stores and lets you read eBooks. So what’s so “remarkable” about it? Read on and you’ll find out.

There has been an older version of this eBook reader, the JE100. Is it much different than the latter? the answer is one big YES. The JE100 is a basic eBook reader, all it does it stores and displays the ebooks for reading, while with the JE200, there’s a whole lot more. First, it it colored. It has up to 16GB storage, supports all eBook formats, touchscreen, it has a backlight for night reading, and has full multimedia support to name a few.

As for hardware specifications:

• it is standing proud with a Win CE 5.0 operating system
• 400MHz processor
• 64MB internal RAM
• 7 inch touchscreen
• SD Card support for up to 16GB
• a built in speaker, audio out
• weighs only 250g
• and has a battery life of 3-6 hours.

As mentioned, it supports almost every eBook file formats such as .txt, .pdf, .doc, .rtf, .jbk, .html/.htm, .swf, .chm, .cbz. In addition to this, the JE200 also support audio (.mp3, .wma, .wav), video (.avi, .mpeg, .asf, .mp4, .wmv), and image (.bmp, .jpg, .png, .gif) formats plus any WINCE 5.0 compatible software. Knowing all these, you may be able to tell what it can do, but there’s more. The JE200 can be customized to have a user interface suited for special clients. The software itself is upgradeable, and another great thing about it is that the makers, Join Tech, offers free technical support to direct clients.

Remarkable isn’t it? These are but some of the reasons why people are being more and more excited about getting JE200 for themselves. After I saw what this excellent device can do, I honestly am thinking of getting one for myself.

The JE200 can be ordered from Sales4Online for $299 USD.

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The BeBook e-book reader is a product of Endless Ideas BV, headquartered in Netherlands, and well known for the companies like Shell, Philips, TomTom and Heineken. Endless Idea’s mission is to provide consumers with innovative products with an uncompromising, elevated experience. The BeBook is an e-book reader and does not try to replace books; it only lets you read digital content on the go, as you do on paper.

Announced on January 22, 2024 the BeBook Neo is the latest addition to the BeBook family and the first Wi-Fi e-reader in the world with access to eBook stores worldwide. As tells the company besides reading your favorite e-books on this new e-reader model, you can also make notes, scribbles or easily add, save and erase annotations. The reader has a touchscreen element and draws on a Wacom-made tablet surface that allows for margin notes or highlights.

Building on the success of the BeBook One and BeBook Mini, the Neo features the latest WACOM touchpanel technology, providing readers a very fast and more natural reading experience. Running on a 532 MHz Freescale processor and 1600mAh Li-ion battery, the BeBook Neo offers browsing and operating speeds of up to 2.5 times faster than other e-readers on the market. The powerful battery of the BeBook ne will allow for up to 7000 pages turns. The e-reader depends only on Wi-Fi to get online and points users to multiple third-party stores rather than to an internal shop.

With BeBook Neo on your hands you will have easy access to e-book store simply clicking on your country and then you can see a clear overview the third party e-book stores. It’ll have basic surfing abilities as be able to surf Wikipedia and Google. Endless’ reader supports must popular e-book formats including: EPUB, PDF, TXT, HTML, RTF, MOBI, CHM, PDB, JPG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIF and other. Don’t worry also about e-reader’s memory, BeBook Neo comes with 215Mb internal memory, which can be supported a microSD slot that can take up to 16GB cards.

The Neo features 6-inch E Ink screen, and 6-inches seems to the standard for e-readers, as the Kindle, Sony e-reader, others, all feature the same size and weights just 298g including battery. The BeBook Neo comes with also a 3.5 audio jack and a USB port with OTG support included in the package.

The BeBook Neo is available for pre-order now for $299.99 USD, and will be made available in the second half of February.