Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, began this year’s Holiday season with the release of the Amazon Kindle. This device is a groundbreaking step in increasing the popularity of eBooks. It boasts an electronic-paper display to mimic the look of real paper, wireless connectivity, more than 88,000 books, newspapers and magazines available for purchase, and the capability to email Word documents and pictures. But has Amazon really figured out how to revolutionize the way people read?

The Kindle’s electronic-paper display is not so revolutionary, considering this has been seen before in other products, such as the Sony Reader. The display is also limited to black and white, and is not backlit. This is a far cry from a full-color, high gloss magazine, or even a blog. Also, the free wireless connectivity, WhisperNet, operates on an EVDO network and is therefore only available in the US, and tends to have limited reach and reliability within the US. Amazon charges for every document or picture you receive through email on the Kindle, and does not offer PDF support. The Kindle has a single proprietary format, MOBI. From the leader in the online bookstore industry, you may also expect to have the largest selection of eBooks to choose from for the Kindle, but that is not the case. Amazon only offers 88,000 eBooks for sale, while some smaller companies can offer up to 154,000 eBooks, almost twice as many as the Kindle and nearly eight times as many as Sony.

The biggest question being raised about the Amazon Kindle is about its price. Technological mobility always carries a hefty price tag, but is $400 for a grayscale eReader a worthy price? Keep in mind that this $400 does not include the cost of books, magazines, blogs, and newspapers. Other stores have been recognized for having the best prices on the web for eBooks with no monthly fees, so you can enjoy the convenience of having thousands of titles at your fingertips without the hefty price tag from Amazon. These stores also offer eBooks that are compatible with all PCs, Macs, laptops, PDAs, Windows Mobile PocketPC, Smartphones, Blackberry and even iPods. In addition to the price is the amount of customer service Amazon has shown customers in the past. There has been two instances where Amazon has bailed on eBook customers in the past year. First in 2006 deleting the backed-up bookshelves of eBook customers, and then in 2007 shutting down its Mobipocket servers for ten days. In each occasion no warning or explanation was given to customers. This history demonstrates a clear lack of concern for end customers, concerned first and foremost with the benefit of volume. Amazon’s customers can be discarded because they can afford to buy new ones with major advertising and marketing dollars. Smaller companies like BooksonBoard and Fictionwise care about each customer because it’s their practice.

So has Amazon really found the answer? Not yet. While Amazon’s valiant attempt to revolutionize the industry are definitely appreciated, there are just too many wasted opportunities that the Kindle fails to take advantage of; perhaps Amazon’s efforts will inspire Steve Jobs or even Google to come up with a true revolutionary eReader.

Wireless Kindle Customer Review…

By: C. White

Everything Amazon says it is and more!

A great product. The second generation Wireless Kindle has a sleek design and is easy to use. Reading on the Wireless Kindle is like buying a new album for the one song you like; after about a week, it is one of your favorite CD’s. The Wireless Kindle is more than just an eReader. You can download lots of books for cheaper than the paper versions without connecting to a computer.

There are also many books available for free via Amazon or other websites. What is more, the free access to the Internet is a major plus for checking websites on the go. This is why I bought the Wireless Kindle over other similar products. There are a few bugs that can be worked out and it can always be improved on, but this is the best one out there.

 

Very Pleased compared to the Sony Reader 700

By: Jessica S. Johnson “JSJ”

I wanted to choose between the sony reader 700 and the Wireless Kindle 2. So I purchased both.

The sony reader arrived first. I have read so many praises about the sony reader compared to the Wireless Kindle 2. Whereas my experience with the sony reader, I kept for only 1 day, was the glare was horrendous. The backlight is not a backlight. The lights are casted from the side of the reader fusing towards the center, which caused me to experience severe eye-strain. Even without the back light, within fifteen minutes of reading on the sony reader due to the glare, my eyes were hurting. I repackaged the sony reader and sent it back immediately.

My Wireless Kindle 2 arrived two days later. Although I have read some ill reviews about the kindle 2, my personal take on the Wireless Kindle 2 is …. “I HAVE YET TO PUT IT DOWN.” I have not experienced eye-strain. The words are crystal clear. Although it does not have a back light, I purchased a clip on light. The illuminence of the light is equally distributed onto the screen which causes “no” eye strain.

I do hope in the future that Wireless Kindle incorporates a touch screen, which would enhance its performance. I ALSO wish kindle installs, (which the sony reader does have) “password” protect. On all of my electronic devices, they are all password protected.

But, as far as my reading experience with the Wireless Kindle 2, I have downloaded so many books and all at a fraction of the original price. I have also found books that are free or next to nothing in expense. I enjoy my Wireless Kindle 2 so much that my sister is buying one too.

With some of the other reviews which were quite helpful, I am going to back up my purcahsed books onto my computer.

As far as I’m concerned, the Wireless Kindle 2 is my choice of electronic reader.

Check For Best Price Now!..

 

 

The “Readius eReader”, the first pocket-size e-reader with a rollable e-paper display larger than the device itself, was invented by Polymer Vision, a spin-off of an electronics company that wanted state-of-the-art technology to be able to reach the marketplace more quickly. A financial mess led the fledgling company to bankruptcy in July 2009, but its knight in shining armor was an Asian technology firm that has since shepherded the project to safety. It will make its debut in 2010.

Polymer Vision was hatched in 2003 in an infant-technology incubator developed by Royal Philips Electronics NV and eventually spun off. Four years later, Technology Capital SA of Luxemburg purchased the majority of the stock previously help by Philips and turned Polymer Vision loose to go forward and do great things.

As a result, Polymer Vision is the proud papa of the Readius, an e-reader the size of a credit card whose prototype made its debut in late 2006 at the IFA consumer electronics exhibition in Berlin. Polymer Vision’s Dutch executive team had high hopes for the mobile device with a rollable display that was larger than the device itself. But the firm became mired in financial difficulties by July 2009, at which time it declared bankruptcy, putting the brainchild with so much promise in limbo.

However, Asian technology firm Wistron – itself a spin-off of Acer – came to the rescue in late 2009 and resuscitated Polymer Vision’s baby. Wistron has confirmed that in 2010 it will release a 5-inch device based on Polymer Vision technology that features a fold-out display similar to the prototype device they took to the IFA exhibition in 2006. With the current contract of sale, PV will be able to keep approximately 80% of its stuff. The Polymer Vision team makes up part of the Wistron’s Mobile Business Group.

The Readius uses E Ink Corp.’s Vizplex ink-imaging film called “EPD” – electronic paper display, or, alternately, electrophoretic display – which was originally developed at MIT in the 1990s. EPD has higher resolution than LCD and allows pages to appear very similar to newspaper. It also eliminates the poor visibility and eyestrain caused by glare from the sun, and can be read from almost any angle, just like paper. As it was described in the article “E-Readers: their Past, Present and Future“, e-inc consists of a microencapsulated suspension in a clear medium containing particles which are white one half and black the other, the white being positively charged, and the black with a negative charge (Digital Book Readers). When planning production of the foldable screens, developed by Stanford University, PV had invested $4.9m in manufacturing facilities.

Touted by Wistron as the world’s “first pocket eReader,” the new Readius is not only smaller but weighs less than other e-readers, making it a no-brainer to use on the go without a bag or briefcase. Although the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Reader and some other e-readers also use EPD, known casually as e-paper, the Readius is the only pocket-size version. Rather than having a correspondingly smaller screen, the Readius offers a unique expandable display.

Its rolling display technology was 15 years in the making. The challenge to its makers was its extra mechanical requirements: While the device needed to be thin, lightweight and small enough to fit in the back pocket of jeans, the flexible display had to be unbreakable and capable of rolling and unrolling repeatedly for a period of years while offering increased battery life and the readability of the larger e-readers on the market. Polymer Vision is confident it has met its goals with the new 2010 Readius.

The Readius applies its mobile device talents mainly to eBooks, eNews, emails (POP3 and IMAP supported) and RSS feeds (text and audio). Here are a few of the device’s most attractive features:
- 3.5G data connection
- Global wireless connectivity
- GSM, GPRS, EDGE – tri-band
- UMTS, HSDPA – dual-band
- 5-inch diagonal display with 16 grayscales (Kindle’s smallest, 6-inch)
- Weight 4 ounces (compare to Kindle’s smallest, 10.2 ounces)
- Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity for accessories
- Dimensions 4.5” by 2.2” (Kindle’s smallest, 8” by 5.3”)
- Battery life up to 30 hours
- USB port-rechargeable battery
- Up to 8GB storage
- Audio player for MP3, AAC, WMA

As of late November 2009, Polymer Vision had not established a price point, so users eager to purchase an e-reader must either wait or make an alternate choice. Because the Sony Reader is being pre-sold since the company cannot promise immediate shipping at this time, the Kindle and other e-readers that are readily available may stand to benefit from strong e-reader demand over the next few months.

Nowadays, almost everything in this world relies on digital technology, even reading. If you are still into buying books and you would like them to travel with you, carrying them around would not be that easy. But, if you have your own electronic book reader, bring books anytime, anywhere would be possible. You can even bring thousands of books with you if you want to. This time around, you can enjoy reading books wherever you are and whenever you want to. However, the challenge here is to find the right ebook reader that would meet your needs. You definitely would like to find the right one because you don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on one that doesn’t meet your needs.

If you’re looking for the cheapest price for an ebook reader, you won’t find one that only costs a hundred bucks or so. You would need to spend a little over $200. With this amount, you’ll be able to purchase a typical ereader which has the basic features. However, this price may not be enough to get one that has a longer battery life and you probably might have to get a more advanced model. For better options, you may have to spend about $500. One of the advanced models that you may come across is the Kindle DX, which has some of the best features in an e-reader. The more you pay for the device the better features you get. Another high-end alternative that has a lot of add-ons packed in is the Flepia which may costs more than $1000.

If your device doesn’t come with all the features you need, you’re just wasting your money. Make sure the battery will last for as long as you need it to. Also be sure to try the device out before you buy it. Each one uses a different kind of screen and you want to make sure it doesn’t wear out your eyes. While the most expensive ereaders come with the most features, that doesn’t necessarily make them the best ebook readers.

More often, what is left unnoticed when it comes to its features is the reader’s file compatibility. For example, not all readers are capable of reading PDF files, which is one of the most popular file format nowadays. This would then limit the libraries that you may get your ebooks from. If you opt to use Sony readers, they would have a library which has about a hundred thousand books, while Amazon’s Kindle would allow you to gain access to over 250,000 books.

It doesn’t have to be a difficult process to choose an ereader, you just have to know what to look for. Getting the most expensive model may not be the wisest choice for you. While the Flepia may come with a really nice touch screen, can you really justify spending $1,000 on it? That is a question that only you can answer. No one can make the decision about which one is correct for you except for you. Don’t just look for the one with the most features, the best ebook reader is the one that suits your needs without breaking your budget.

Read our Kindle DX Review and see it in action! What would be the best ebook reader for you? Visit us to know more about these devices and to get indepth reviews of the most popular readers sold today.

On December 1, 1971 Project Gutenberg was started by Michael S. Hart. The main aim of the Project Gutenberg is to encourage encourage the creation and distribution of ebooks. Project Gutenberg is one of the oldest digital libraries. Most of the books in Project Gutenberg are of public domain … Meaning they are not copy protected and can be distributed freely. The books available be also in open format which will run on any computer. The books are mostly english and in plain text format, it also provides books in other format such as HTML, PDF, EPUB, MOBI and Plucker (I’ll explain these formats in later). Project Gutenberg currently adds fifty new ebooks every week.

In 1985, Robert Stein started Voyager Company, which had ebooks in CD-ROMs. In 1993, a person named Z.K.Zapata created the very first ebook reader software called Digital Book V.1. In the same year Digital Book Inc. offered 50 books in Digital Book Format in a floppy. In 1995, Amazon started to sell books (paper based books) on internet. In 1998 two ebook readers Rocket ebook and Softbook where launched. In 1999 many websites like eReader.com and eReads.com poped up. In 2000, “Riding the Bullet” by Stephen King was offered as ebook. In 2005 Amazon (sadly) bought Mobipocket (I’ll tell you the reason later). In 2006 Sony introduced their very own ebook reader named Sony Reader. In 2007 Kindle was launched in US by Amazon. In 2008 Adobe and Sony made an agreement to share their technologies. Kindle 2 was launched in 2008 (again only in US) and in 2009 Kindle DX (the big brother) was launched. Recently Kindle 2 was “allowed” to be sold outside US.

Last year, there were more sales for e-books than printed books. On March 5 this year, Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest chain of bookstores, acquired online e-book vendor, Fictionwise. President of BN, William J Linch said: “The market hasn’t been that developed to date. We think it’s a big growth area going forward.”

Many people like to purchase and read e-books and e-magazines through lightweight handheld readers today. Several companies have come up with innovative, standalone e-book readers, such as Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, Hanlin eReader (aka Endless Ideas BeBook), etc; these thin elegant gadgets can take people back to the era of reading. Let’s have a look at some of these readers in this article.

E-books and E-magazines: How Do They Work?

E-books can be of two types: those which can be read on a computer and those which require special devices to read. There are several formats for e-books including Adobe PDF, Microsoft LIT, Palm PDB, etc. In order to buy an e-book, you go to the online vendor of the e-book, pay and register your reader for DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection, and download the e-book to the registered reader. Since only the registered e-book reader can read this e-book, the author and the publisher are protected from piracy. Digital copying is not possible with DRM protection.

Popular E-book Readers

There are many reading devices available in the market, and most of them work with electronic paper technology by E Ink Corporation.

In 2008, an Apple iPhone app for reading e-books in iPhone had a surge of sales (even more than the sales total of Amazon Kindle). This made iPhone one of the popular devices to read e-books. But in this article, we will be looking only at specialized e-book readers.

1. Amazon Kindle

Perhaps the most popular of e-book readers, Amazon Kindle had a sales total of 380,000 units in 2008 in the US alone. Kindle is now in the next generation with the advent of Amazon Kindle 2 and Kindle DX this year (DX is already out of stock). According to Digital Book Readers, K-DX offers native PDF support, has an iPhone-like accelerometer that changes the orientation of the screen when you rotate the Reader and is more suitable for reading electronic versions of newspapers, magazines, and formatted books. With the ability to keep thousands of e-books in storage and easy access to the online Amazon e-book store, Kindle is perhaps the first choice of anyone looking for a standalone e-book reader.

The display is like normal paper and easy to read. Kindle has wireless capabilities to access the online book store and magazine store of Amazon. Kindle 2 has a 600 x 800 (6 inch) display. It can receive books through the high-speed Sprint 3G network, nationally available. Supported formats include the Amazon proprietary format, AZW (DRM-restricted), PRC, TXT, and PDF (some of these formats may need to be converted to AZW).

2. Sony Reader

Sony Digital Book Reader is the popular e-book reader from Sony, and there have been already three editions of this—PRS-500, PRS-505, and PRS-700.

The reader has a 600 x 800 pixel electronic paper display (EPD), similar to Kindle, and the display is 8-level grayscale. PRS-700 edition, unlike others, sports a touch screen. The supported e-book formats include BBeB book (from Marlin), TXT, RTF, ePub, Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word (DOC). It supports JPEG, GIF, PNG, and BMP for images; and MP3 and AAC for audio.

3. iRex iLiad

iRex iLiad, similar to Kindle and Sony Reader, makes use of the electronic paper display and comes at 768 x 1024 (8 inches) resolution. It has 16-level grayscale screen.

Through Wi-Fi, LAN, USB connectivity, or a network using a MyiRex account, you can transfer e-books to the reader. The supported e-book formats include Adobe PDF, MOBI, PRC, HTML, and TXT.

4. Hanlin eReader

Hanlin eReader, known in various brand names across the world, such as Endless Ideas BeBook, is a popular e-book reader. It has a 600 x 800 resolution, 4-level grayscale display. It connects through a USB port.

Unlike other readers mentioned above, this reader supports almost all popular file formats for e-books—Adobe PDF, CHM, DJVU, DOC, ePub, FB2, HTM, LIT, MOBI, PPT, PRC, RTF, TXT, WOLF. It also supports archiving formats like ZIP and RAR; image formats like BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF; and audio format, MP3.

Conclusion

Most of these e-book readers come with revolutionary E-Ink technology developed by E Ink Corporation. This is a digital paper display, which gives the experience of reading actual paper. With the storage space for thousands of e-books and ability to keep battery power for thousands of page turns or several hours, these e-book readers can be regarded as portable libraries. Since they can connect to some network to purchase and download popular fiction and non-fiction from online e-book vendors, they can provide great reading experience when you are on a long-distance journey.

There is no doubt that eBook readers are continuing to increase in popularity, although it is believed by many that sales will settle to a background level as most potential users wait for the technology to improve. Although many would like the convenience of an eBook reader and the capability of loading a library of books into one machine, they prefer to wait for improvements in both the e-ink and e-paper technology, and also in the quality of the eReaders.

Many feel that if the Kindle is the best there is then they would rather wait. However, they might perhaps not be waiting too long, because many businesses that believed that portable eBook readers would have a niche clientele at best are now developing their own versions of a technology that is proving to have an unexpectedly large demand.

It looks like sales of eReaders are going to rocket in 2010; that is if the bubbling activity in sales and development planned for the year is anything to go by. It seems that many of the problems that consumers have with eBooks and their readers are being addressed, and that development is not only being restricted just to the production of bigger and better machines, but also to new cutting edge technology. So what’s in store for you if you are currently considering the pros and cons of eReaders against the real thing?

The devices themselves are becoming increasingly more sophisticated, with companies such as Plastic Logic and Barnes and Noble entering the arena. The latter has just unveiled its ‘Nook’, which with its multitouch color screen looks hot enough to knock the Kindle of its pedestal. Plastic Logic is entering the market with a business-oriented eReader with 3G connectivity.

The Plastic Logic proReader will be shown to the public at the Consumer Electronics Show on 7th January, 2010 in Las Vegas. With its 8.5 x 11 inch touchscreen, the QUE is the first true business eReader, enabling users to read PDF, Excel, Word and PowerPoint files. As it was described in the article “The QUE e-Reader: The New Kid on the Block“, the screen is not only shatterproof, but also capacitive without any loss in sensitivity that such layered screens often show (Digital Book Readers). “The QUE proReader enhances business performance and gives you a competitive edge,” according to Plastic Logic’s CEO, Richard Archuleta.

In a market currently dominated by Amazon’s Kindle, the two computer giants, Apple and Microsoft, are said to be working separately on a multifunctional tablet device that will also offer computer and multimedia functions to their customers. Sony are also rapidly improving their eReader range and the new IREX DR800SD eBook reader goes some way towards helping with the size problem with its 8.1 inch screen.

Many potential users have been put off by the screen size of the earlier products and these new 8 inch+ products are beginning to look very attractive to them. However, apart from increasing wireless connectivity and larger screen sizes, what else should we be looking for in 2010?

Screen size has not been the only problem with newspapers, although some of these will be resolved by 3G technology providing the ability to update quickly without the need for a hard connection. In fact, the concept of digital newspapers is an attractive one to many people, and it is certainly environmentally friendly. Add to that the saving in printing and distribution costs and it is little wonder that many of the larger newspapers are considering trials based upon a 3G and digital subscription model.

Future hardware could involve thin, rollable screens that would convert a large number of people who currently prefer magazine and tabloid formatting. However, given that news is freely available online, the e-News experience would have to offer something special over and above just what can be found on any laptop or palm computer.

Perhaps the new product being developed by Asus might meet the needs of everybody. This eReader is said to have twin color touchscreens that open up just like a hardback book, thus meeting one of the complaints that reading eBook readers with one page open at a time detracts from the reading experience. The eReader will also have a speaker, microphone and webcam, thus enabling Skype videocalls.

In fact, Amazon had better shape up because word has it that the Asus will cost less than the Kindle, and with all the extra features, is liable to jump ahead of it in sales. 2010 might see a massive sea-shift in popularity, particularly if Amazon and Seiko have been resting on their laurels a bit. There is no time for that anymore because the next 12 months will see a massive surge in both R&D and in developments on existing products.

Another of the gripes of genuine book lovers is the appearance of the print. E-ink has gone a long way towards solving this problem, and the continuing development of both ink and e-paper technology by companies other than just Prime View International will lead to improvements in the appearance of eBook reader text and also in prices for the equipment. Early 2010 will bring more competition in this technology that will benefit customers’ pockets and their reading experience.

As the popularity of such devices continues to grow, computer and cell phone manufacturers will offer their own equivalents, based on 3G technology and utilising the best e-ink and e-paper technology available to them. Devices will become larger, though still portable, which will involve rollable screens commensurate with the restriction in screen size of portable devices. An increasing number of devices will offer touchscreen throughout 2010, although color screens will not likely be generally available until the year after.

You will also be seeing stores setting aside space just for eBook readers and associated technology. To date, such equipment has been hidden among other miscellaneous electronic applications, but it is now being recognized as a mainstream technology deserving its own promotions.

Finally, don’t forget Asia! 2010 will also likely see a significant increase in inexpensive eBook readers from China, Taiwan and other Asian countries. However, it will be the screen and ink technology, and also the range of books, magazines, and eventually newspapers available to users that will ultimately distinguish between those eReaders that sell and those that don’t.

If you like ePaper, E-Ink and reading your eBooks using an eReader, then Notion Ink has come up with something that is believed to be totally revolutionary: a new tablet that really rocks! What makes it rock is Pixel Qi’s hybrid display that lets you choose between ePaper and traditional LCD display at will, even at mid-reading. And there is a third display, described below.

Why you should want to do that is another question, but it is likely that lighting conditions will sometimes be better suited to one or other of the alternative displays. It was displayed at CES 2010, although as yet has only been given a temporary name: appropriately Adam. For those of you to whom eReaders are the name of the game, you should also keep in mind that this is an ink tablet and not an eReader per se. However, it has a few exciting features that will pull the strings and press the buttons of anybody that gets excited by innovation in this technology.

Pixels’ Qi technology is one of these exciting innovations that you just love to see working for the first time. Enabling ePaper to be viewed without glare in full sun light, and then switching to regular LCD or a low-watt high definition display. It is based on Android, and offers just over 10 inches of display screen at 1024 x 600 pixels.

The purpose of the three display options is that the e-Ink and e-Paper display can be read in sunlight without reflection problems, although you also have the option of a standard LCD display if that is what you prefer – many do in fact, and the E-Ink display is not as popular as many believe it to be. The third option, a low-power trans-reflective screen, saves on battery power, and can be used whenever you want to conserve the battery and lighting conditions enable you to read the screen without eye-strain.

The tablet is claimed to be able to play a 1080 pixel video for eight hours without recharging, and one that you can browse online for 16 hours. According to Notion, it is the only company to use the Qi screens with a tablet, and so reduce battery consumption to about 10% of normal. Not only that, but there are several accessories offered such as a digital compass, GPs, and accelerometer and a 3 Meg camera. It also has speakers and a microphone, and the integrated memory ranges from 16 to 32 gig, with a SD card slot if more is needed. Something similar was created by Fujitsu a year ago: as described in the article “E-paper 2.0 And Fujitsu Has It In Color“, FLEPia e-readers incorporate Fujitsu’s ground breaking color e-paper, 4GB SD flash memory card, XGA quality display that supports 768X1024 and either 8 or 4096 colors can be chosen (Digital Book Readers).

This is some mean machine, and even though it is ‘just’ a tablet, it is extremely powerful with a price tag of around $325. Add to that Bluetooth, WiFi and USB, HDMI and headphone connectors, and you know that you are getting your money’s worth. It is possible to go further and mention its capability of running three 1080 bit streams along with its beautiful profile (not everybody is worried by the spec – they love the looks!) and you will pay the $325 without one single blink.

CoolER or BeBook? Forget it unless you want a small eReader that can do little else. This tablet is exactly that: a tablet that rocks and offers you three ways to read your eBooks, magazines and newspapers. If specs thrill you, then this is 6.3″ x 9.8″ x 0.6″, a bit thicker than some dedicated eReaders, but then again, it does a lot more. The chip is an nVidia TEGRA and it’s not hard to lose sight of the fact that this is not a netbook computer.

It is machines such as the Notion Ink ‘Adam’ that imposes (only) slight doubts upon the future of dedicated Readers such as the Kindle, the Nook and any of the Sony equivalents. However, as yet, this tablet, that is certain to take a massive chunk out of the netbook market, does not compete directly with the aforementioned dedicated eReaders for a number of reasons, one being that it was designed to be predominantly an eReader. Nevertheless its ePaper technology enables savings to be made in power usage and battery life, and glare is consequently lower although the transreflective display option enables you to have a clear view in direct strong sunlight.

Between Notion Ink, Pixel Qi paper technology and Google’s Android application framework, we have here a tablet that can truly be said to be ‘new’ in that it combines the more important cutting edge technology that is being applied to the most modern and sought after tablet and eBook readers. It will be some time, however, before tablets can compete with eReaders for that one specialist application, and because of the size and convenience of use of such dedicated eBook readers, it might never happen. At least, not using current technology.

Where this machine will benefit is with those that are looking for a small tablet computer that will also enable them to read eBooks and other publications, but for whom the eReader capability is not their sole need.

Even those that can provide an acceptable on-screen representation of real paper are plagued by problems such as the clunky buttons of the Kindle, the glare of touchscreen systems (due to dual layers) and the potential loss of pens from those that require them. E-paper was developed to reduce the glare of regular screens, but the display technology did not advance with the development of E-paper and e-Ink.

However, touchscreen technology is now developing with coatings that can reduce glare, such as the screen that is offered with the new Be-Book Neo, a Wacom touchscreen that combines well with its 6″ e-Ink panel to offer clear reading with minimum screen glare. In fact, it could be argued that while the development of E-paper and the E-Ink to go with it were very significant factors in the surge of popularity in eReaders, the newer anti-glare touchscreen developments have really brought these developments to their full potential, or at least close to it.

EReaders have frequently been referred to as e-Book readers, as though they were a better way to read PDF files, for example. The majority of people using the internet are familiar with eBooks in terms of the PDF publications that are very common in the world of internet marketing. However, eBooks are now just a part of the overall eReading experience, many people preferring their newspapers to be offered in a format that is easy to read on a 5″ – 8″ display screen in a bus, train or cab and then pocketed or stored in a purse or bag, particularly the smaller versions.

In fact, the storage convenience is one argument against eReaders offering increasingly larger screens, since it is not as simple to carry an 11″ reader, such as the new Sprint Skiff, as it is the 6″ Acer, BeBook Neo or even the original Sony LCD portable if you still have one. That was the original argument for eReaders, but now that they are increasing in screen size, what is the USP other than size? Will they eventually become tabloid size, so that the next development will be those than can fold under your arm?

However, let’s leave the fantasy (for now) and get back to reality. There have been several attempts at solving the glare problem of touchscreens with E-paper, one of which was the Nook with its touchscreen compressed into the bottom of the device with its problems of eye movement between that and the reading area. Next example is the Sony’s Daily Edition device. It offers an E Ink Vizplex e-paper screen. According to the review “Sony’s Latest e-Reader: A First with Touch-Screen Navigation“, it has large 7-inch screen because of the elimination of most physical controls, offering instead navigation with a touch screen: the user can make notes in the margins, turn pages, and highlight text using his fingertips (Digital Book Readers). Another was the Iliad that attempted to resolve the glare problem by means of a light-pen, although they were pricy to replace when lost.

One of the best solutions, if not THE best, is the Touchco system that uses IFSR (interpolating force-sensitive resistance), a technology that detects the level of pressure used on the screen, and thus enables a greater degree of sensitivity and dynamics to be employed in the interface. In simple terms, when you press or push on the screen, the signal detected, and hence the resultant action, is dependent on the hardness of your touch or push on the surface of the touchscreen, and the different levels of pressure can be scanned.

Not only that, but the battery demand depends on the level of pressure used and so power can be conserved by using less pressure on the screen. It works by means of force-sensitive resistors, akin in a way to regular load cells that respond to pressure, and it not only works, but it is also the least expensive of the current touchscreen technologies.

Several eReaders will be launched this year that are using the IFSR technology, including sketching and drawing devices that can distinguish between the hardness of pencils, brushes and pens. The IFSR technology has a lot going for it, and future developments offer exciting possibilities, particularly in respect of input feedback.

Then Touchco system can be used with any of the current E-paper devices on the market without added glare or the eye-strain that such devices have caused to many people in the past. Multiple layers on the screen can be avoided, and single touch points will be possible without the need for pens that can be lost.

When you consider the advances made in E-Ink and E-paper technology over the past year, 2010 is going to be an exciting year and we wait with baited breath for what is to come next. What is certain is that more players will enter the field, and that new technology will emerge that will not only rival the iPhone for touchscreen technology, but will likely combine several new technologies into one device that will meet the needs of all – but let them forget the convenience of size at their peril!

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E-paper has finally made it from the lab to consumers. As detailed in this report, Sony began shipping its long-awaited Portable Reader System, an e-paper-based e-book reader that has generated substantial buzz on the Internet and among book industry watchers and analysts. At the same time, in Europe, the iRex iLiad e-paper-based newspaper reader has been shipping since the summer and has garnered positive reviews and user feedback – despite its steep price tag.

Table of Contents :

Introduction
Defining Our Terms

A Note About Orthography

Historical Background

About the Present Report

How This Report Is Organized

For More Information

Section 1: E-Book Formats and Readers
Hardware Devices

Historical Background

Gemstar

Franklin eBookMan

The Current Landscape

Amazon Kindle

iRex iLiad and Digital Reader

On the Horizon

Software Formats

All Purpose Document Formats

Text Files (.txt)

Word Files (.doc)

Portable Document Format (.pdf)

Hypertext Markup Language (.html)

Specific E-Book/E-Publishing Formats

Adobe Acrobat/Acrobat eBook Reader/Digital Editions

Amazon Kindle (.azw)

eReader (.pdb)

IDPF/EPUB (.epub)

Microsoft Reader (.lit)

Mobipocket (.mobi or .prc)

BBeB

Other Formats

Online Books

Project Gutenberg

NetLibrary

Google Books

Onward

Section 2: Digital Periodicals
Zinio

Texterity

NewsStand

Qmags

AvantGo

Changes in Digital Editions

Onward

Section 3: E-Paper
E Ink

Other E-Paper Developers

Fujitsu

Plastic Logic

Polymer Vision

Onward

Section 4: Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages of E-Books

Portability

Searchability

Linkability

Highlighting and Annotating

Type Size Adjustability

Incorporation of Multimedia

Low Cost

Relatively Easy to Produce

Easy and Inexpensive to Distribute

Environmental Responsibility

Disadvantages to E-Books

Too Many Formats

Power Requirements

Hardware or Software Requirements

Fragility of Reading Devices

Fragility of Digital Data

Theft Potential

Low Readability

Limited Choice

Lower Quality

Difficulty of Copying

Ease of Copying

Loss of “Look and Feel” of Books

Loss of Browsability

Environmental Responsibility

A Sexy Medium?

What Offsets What?

Section 5: Players and Products

E-Book Hardware Manufacturers

Amazon (www.amazon.com)

iRex (www.irextechnologies.com)

Sony Corporation (www.sony.com)

E-Book Software Readers

Adobe (www.adobe.com)

Amazon (www.amazon.com)

eReader (www.ereader.com)

Microsoft (www.microsoft.com)

Mobipocket (www.mobipcoket.com)

Portable Devices That Support E-Book Readers

Apple iPhone (www.apple.com/iphone)

PalmOS handhelds and Smartphones

Windows Mobile Devices

Pocket PC

Smartphone

Symbian OS Devices

RIM BlackBerry

E-Bookstores

Adobe Digital Editions (www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/library)

Amazon.com (www.amazon.com/kindle-store-ebooks-newspapersblogs/

b/ref=topnav_storetab_kinh?ie=UTF8&node=133141011)

Barnes & Noble (www.bn.com) (E-books coming in Summer 2009)

eBooks.com (www.ebooks.com)

eReader (www.ereader.com/)

Fictionwise.com (www.fictionwise.com)

Microsoft Reader (www.microsoft.com/reader/find/new_releases.aspx)

Powell’s Books

(www.powells.com/ebookstore/ebooks.html?margin=eBooks)

Sony Style (http://ebookstore.sony.com)

Digital Periodicals Providers

Zinio (www.zinio.com)

Texterity (www.texterity.com)

Qmags (www.qmags.com)

NewsStand (www.newsstand.com)

Online Books

Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.com)

NetLibrary (www.netlibrary.com)

Google Books (http://books.google.com)

Section 6: General Conclusions, Implications, and Recommendations

E-Book Sales Data

Kindle Demographics

E-Book/E-Publishing Outlook

Back to the Future

Lingering Questions

Multifunctionality

Enter iMags

Is It the Future Yet?

Implications and Recommendations

For Book Publishers

For Magazine and Newspaper Publishers

For Commercial Printers

For Creatives

The Final Word

Table of Figures
Figure 1: THE RCA REB 1100 E-Book Reader

Figure 2: The Franklin eBookMan

Figure 3: The Sony Reader

Figure 4: The Amazon Kindle

Figure 5: The Kindle for iPhone App

Figure 6: The iRex iLiad

Figure 7: The iRex iLiad Book Edition

Figure 8: The iRex Digital Reader

Figure 9: The Fujitsu Flepia Color E-Book Reader

Figure 10: The Now-Defunct Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader Interface

Figure 11: An E-Book Purchased from Fictionwise.com Can Be Read on the eReader E-Book Reader on the iPhone

Figure 12: The Microsoft Reader Interface

Figure 13: A Fairly Typical Project Gutenberg Entry

Figure 14: The Zinio Reader Manages, Downloads, and Displays Digital Magazine Subscriptions

Figure 15: Texterity Technology Provides the Underpinnings for Publishers’Digital Magazine Offerings

Figure 16: The NewsStand Reader Lets You Subscribe to and Read a Wide

Variety of World Newspaper in Digital Form

Figure 17: Qiosk’s QMags Can Be Downloaded and Read via Adobe Reader or Acrobat

Figure 18: E Ink’s Microcapsules

Figure 19: The Readius Pocket eBook Reader from Polymer Vision

Figure 20: A Printed Book Will Never Give You an Error Message

Figure 21: Book Categories as a Percentage of Book Sales, 2008

Figure 22: E-Book Sales, 2003-2008

Figure 23: Change in Magazine Circulation, Population Growth, and Magazine Titles, 1970-2008

Table of Tables
Table 1: E-Book Advantages and Disadvantages Summary Table

Table 2: Monthly Book Sales, January-February, 2009

Table 3: Estimated Net U.S. Book Sales, 2002-2008

For More information please contact :

http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/E-Books-and-E-Publishing-Primer-39343.html