Spring Design Oct. 19 unveiled Alex, the first electronic reader based on Google's Android operating system for mobile devices, one day before Barnes & Noble is expected to unveil its first e-reader. The device features a 6-inch monochrome electronic paper display (EPD) for displaying book content and a 3.5-inch color LCD touch screen that can display multimedia content. Meanwhile, Plastic Logic today unveiled the Que, though it said customers would have to wait until Jan. 7, to learn full product specifications, availability and pricing. The e-book market is indeed heating up, which will be great for consumers in the long run as e-reader prices continue to fall.
Spring Design Oct. 19
unveiled Alex, the first electronic reader based on Google's Android operating
system for mobile devices,
one day before Barnes & Noble is
expected to
unveil its first e-reader.
While most e-reader browsers are poorly conceived or even
nonexistent on some e-readers, Alex boasts full browser capabilities over Wi-Fi
or 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM mobile networks. Bookmarking, history
and security settings are built in for the Web browser.
The device features a patented dual screen. There is a 6-inch monochrome electronic paper
display (EPD) for
displaying book content and a 3.5-inch color LCD touch screen that can display
multimedia content. Users can capture and cache Web content from the color
LCD screen and toggle to view it on the EPD screen.
Spring Design explained Alex in a press release, which has a
picture of the two-screened device:
"The revolutionary Alex livens up text with multimedia
links, adding a new dimension to the reading experience and potentially
creating a whole new industry for secondary publications that supplement and
enhance original text. Alex's revolutionary dual-screen display design brings
together the efficiency of reading on a monochrome EPD screen while dynamic hyperlinked multimedia information and third
party input on its secondary color LCD screen, actually an integrated Android
mobile device, opens a rich world of Internet content to support the text on
the main screen."
Alex will let users insert
images, videos and notes as "Web grabs" or custom text created by the user or
other secondary authors pertaining to the subject. Users can create their own
images and notes and capture them to add to the original text or grab relevant
content with the device's Link Notes multimedia authoring tool.
Alex also has a removable SD card, allowing users to
archive content.
There has been some
speculation that Alex could be the same device Barnes & Noble is expected
to unveil at an event in New York City Oct. 20. This seems unlikely based on
what Spring Design said in its press release.
See, Spring Design is not selling the device yet because
it doesn't yet have in place content and distribution partners for it. However,
the company said it is "currently in discussion and enlisting major
content partners and plans to release the Alex device for selected strategic
partners by the end of this year."
Read more about Alex on
TechMeme here.
The e-reader market is indeed heating up, which
will be great for consumers in the long run as device prices continue to fall.
Plastic Logic today
unveiled the Que,
though it said customers would have to wait until Jan. 7, to learn full product
specifications, availability and pricing.
Amazon's
Kindle has gone international in its fight
versus the Sony Reader. Google last week
announced more details about its Google Editions online bookstore, which will sell titles users can access through any device with a Web browser.
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