Plastic Logic Que ProReaderScreen Size: 8.5” x 11”
Product Thickness: 1/3″
Display Type: E-Ink Vizplex Technology
Battery Life: Unknown
Release Date: April 2010
Price: $649
Screen Size: 11.5″
Product Thickness: 1/4″
Display Type: Metal Foil Display
Battery Life: 1 Week
Release Date: End Of 2010
Price: Not Available
Screen Size: Dual Screens 6″ with 3.5″
Product Thickness: 2/5″
Display Type: E-Ink EPD Display & LCD Screen
Battery Life: 2 Weeks
Release Date: Feb 2010
Price: $359
Screen Size: Dual Screens 6″ with 6″ (9″ & 9″ also avaliable)
Product Thickness: 1″
Display Type: Color
Battery Life: 122 hrs.
Release Date: June 2010
Price: $163
Screen Size: Dual Screens 9.7″ with 10″
Product Thickness: 1″
Display Type: E-Ink Technology with LCD Screen
Battery Life: 6 – 16 hrs.
Release Date: March 2010
Price: $499
Entourage has entered the e-reader market with a very profound, new and innovated concept for an all around useful device combining several devices into one. The enTourage eDGe is a dualbook, with an e-reader, netbook, notepad, and an audio/video recorder and player all in one.
The market that they have aimed for is the typical student. The goal of the Edge, the company has said, “is to offer a device that can replace the textbooks and notebooks carried around by typical high school students.”
Entourage Systems, Vice President Doug Atkinson said, “We just thought here was a way to take technology and apply it to what they carry around. The initial goal was to put a 30-pound backpack in a device. I think we’ve achieved that.”
The eDGe was originally designed with students in mind, but with the Wi-Fi and optional 3G module, it could appeal to a variety of professionals, as well. There’s also an embedded webcam and microphones for recording chats or meetings.
The EnTourage eDGe is a two touchscreen device, the E-reader is a 9.7-inch E-ink touchscreen, with the second screen being a 10-inch LCD touch screen. The eDGe uses the Google Android operating system. It has 4GB of RAM, 3GB of usable built-in storage, BlueTooth 2.1, an SD card slot, two USB ports, standard-size headphone and microphone jacks, built-in stereo speakers, and a Lithium-ion polymer battery. The eDGe is a bit smaller than a piece of paper and just under an inch thick when closed and weighs 3 pounds. There is over 16 hours of battery life when using the E-Link display, or 6-hours usage when using both displays.
Several unique qualities that this device offers are for one, the netbook functionality for web browsing using the built in WiFi, with full email functions, contact lists, taking digital notes, watching movies or listening to music. It also includes a calculator, alarm clock and a library function for managing all of your books and files.
The microphones can be using for recording lectures, meetings, sharing notes, textbook annotations and multimedia content while simultaneously having access to class schedules, campus maps, an online e-book store and announcements. This device for the student or professional can easily fit in a backpack, briefcase or tote bag.
Another use is the netbook in portrait or landscape mode, but then you can flip everything around 180 degrees. When you do this, the e-reader, where you keep your journals or take notes on books, will be on the right side, and the netbook will be on the left. Between the two screens is a hinge that allows users to fold the device completely flat or bend it all the way back for working on one screen at a time. Both screens will rotate in every direction, allowing botheDGe any way that they like, as a traditional notebook with one screen up or lying on a flat surface.
left and right-handed users to operate the
The LCD screen lets users highlight or annotate text and then navigate between highlights by touching on the color screen, using automatically created bookmarks. The device works with both EPUB and PDF files and has USB ports and SD cards for moving data back and forth, as well as a built-in Wi-Fi connection. It’s also one of the first devices to come with the new chip from Marvell.
The battery options are also unique, you can use the lithium ion battery for up to 16 hours of reading without recharging, and you also have the option of having a spare one on hand.
The difference between the two screens is that you can use the color side for browsing the web by using your finger, stylus or keyboard to scroll though menus and apps. On the reverse screen e-ink users can draw or write handwritten notes on their eBooks or in their journal application. This side is strictly for documents supported by the eReader application and EPUB and PDF documents.
The enTourage eDge has a powerful Library application, which is linked to the Blackboard Learn Content Module, a leading e-learning platform. Entourage has also aligned with publishers McGraw Hill, Oxford University Press and John Wiley & Sons, which will bring a number of academic texts to their eDGe book store.
McGraw-Hill alone is making nearly 100 top-selling education titles available for purchace through the enTourage System e-book store. With content for business, economics, science, math, humanities, foreign languages and social sciences. Some key titles include Managerial Accounting (Garrison, 13th edition); Principles of Economics (Frank, 4th ed.); Biology (Mader, 10th ed.); Elementary Statistics (Bluman, 5th ed.); Puntos de Partida (Knorre, 8th ed.); The Art of Public Speaking (Lucas, 10th ed.) and American History (Brinkley, 13th ed.).
The Oxford press is offering the Oxford American College Dictionary directly into the device’s dictionary application.
Specifications
8.25″ x 10.75″ by 1.0″ (closed)
Weighs 3 lbs.
4 GB RAM
LCD Touchscreen Display 1024 x 600 (10.1″)
E-paper Display Size: 9.7″ e-Ink®(1200 x 825), 8 shades of gray
E-paper Input: Wacom® Penabled
Operating System: Linux with Google® Android®
Screen Rotation: 90 and 180 degrees
WiFi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth capability
Lithium-ion polymer Battery, 16 hours e-reader, 6 hours LCD screen
External Memory: SD card slot, 2 USB ports
Internal microphone and speakers
Audio playback: MP3, WAV, 3GPP, MP4, AAC, OGG, M4A
Video playback: 3GP, MP4, Adobe Flash Lite (H.264)
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
The enTourage eDGe comes with an amazing color choice of Midnight Blue, Piano Black, Ruby Red, Glacier White and Ice Blue.
The basic starting price is $499.00, extra for optional colors and extras. It is to be available in March 2010.
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Spring Design has entered the E-reader market with The ALEX, an Android OS powered mobile device. It is a unique design with a dual-screen, it has a 6-inch E-ink EPD display, and a 3.5-inch LCD color touchscreen just beneath it, with earphones and speakers. It comes with a removable SD card for storage. The perfect device for not only reading, but with browser support also.The Alex is the first truly mobile wireless e-book device that gives users their own personalized library on the go, whenever and wherever they need it right from the internet. Web browsing, watching videos and viewing pictures with the LCD color touchscreen, while the revolutionary EPD screen produces printed page-like views for reading. The Marvell ARMADA 166E SoC is powering the Alex giving it new benefits of speed.
The Android OS is optimized to support integration between the color and monochrome displays while preserving battery life. A single battery charge supports up to 7,500 page views or six hours of online browsing. You can capture online web content on the LCD screen and view it on the EPD screen without taxing the battery life. The browser features bookmarking, history and security settings that are built into the device. It is also mobile-enabled with smart phone capabilities.
With the LCD touchscreen a range of file types for formats, MP3 files, JPEG and other images, and PDF and HTML files are easily viewed. You can plug the device into a PC using USB 2.0 and browse the net using WiFi or mobile networks like 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM. With the dual screen features it gives you multi-access capability to use the entire web as a universal reference library.
The Alex gives you easy access to more than a million books from eBook vendors, to read online or download to build your personal offline library. The Alex eReader explores the Web through hyperlinks embedded in online books.
The Alex is ideal for the professional, educational and entertainment markets. Spring Design is working with major book stores, newspapers and publishers to extend content for their new dual screen device.
Dr. Priscilla Lu, CEO of Spring Design said, “This is the start of a whole new experience of reading content on e-books, potentially igniting a whole new industry in multimedia e-book publishing for secondary authors to create supplementary content that is hyper linked to the text. We are bringing life to books with audio, video, and annotations. This gives readers the ability to fully leverage the resources on the Web, and the tools available in search engines to augment the reading experience.”
“The combination of Borders’ leadership in the book industry and Spring Design’s innovation and experience in consumer electronics will create a world class service for eBook readers. This partnership delivers one of the critical foundations of our business growth going forward,” Lu added.
Borders Group Chief Executive Officer Ron Marshall said, “Our agreement with Spring Design represents another step in our digital strategy, which continues to focus on offering book lovers-including our more than 35 million Borders Rewards loyalty program members-high quality content on the device of their choosing. We look forward to bringing a world class eBook experience to Alex users.”
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
The Spring Design Alex eReader will be available in March for $359.00 in the online store at www.springdesign.com. The Alex will be available for sale at Borders stores later this year.
Plastic Logic debuted its Que proReader at the January 7, 2010, Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It was quite a spectacular hit with the software industry, and also gave hope to the declining newspaper industry. It is getting ready to hit the market in April.
Plastic Logic’s, Chief Executive Richard Archuleta believes that “We haven’t seen anybody even come close to what we’re doing with our product.” “The QUE brand stands for a premium reading experience.”
The Que proReader has been designed specifically for executives and business travelers, the essential tool for busy professionals. It is expected to lighten their workload, with access to content anywhere, anytime in the world. The unique design and technology of this device certainly has placed it far ahead of anything currently on the market. It will definitely give the user a competitive edge in the business world.
“Que” is more than just a standard E-Reader, it is being touted as the ultimate “paperless briefcase.” The Que can hold “a file cabinet’s worth of documents and publications.” This traveling device can hold everything you need including powerful tools for interacting with and managing the content while on the go. It will be able to support business documents including PDF files, provide Power-Point for presentations, support for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats. It can connect either over Wi-Fi or via AT&T’s 3G network, and has a battery life of days not hours, to wirelessly download books, newspapers, and magazines. Microsoft Office documents, Adobe PDF files, and other content can be transferred from BlackBerry smartphones, PCs and Mac computers.
The “Que” is a unique design of a slick, super-thin, lightweight, wireless e-reader, less than a 1/3 inch thick, about the same thickness of a pad of legal paper, also the largest touchscreen currently available. The soft capacitive touch screen was described as being “more responsive than any other tried.” The software and graphics were described as “top notch.” Plastic Logic has replaced the traditional glass backplane, with a super-thin, flexible, durable plastic. It uses plastic transistors instead of silicon, which enable it to build a smaller, lighter device. Plastic Logic claims it should survive normal drops and bumps comparing it to a typical cell phone’s durability. Plastic Logic’s Vice President, demonstrated on a tour at their fabrication facility last year, that the screen could even take a punch.
This device has a lightweight, glass-free display screen, the size of an 8.5-by-11 inch piece of paper, and uses a touchscreen interface with E Ink Vizplex technology. It has a screen large enough for reading a newspaper or magazine article and making it feel just right. The USB port, SD card slot, and speaker are located on the bottom and are the only ports on the otherwise sleek device. The button on the bottom left is for an online book store, on the home screen, users can access the features for favorite files, calendar, or access email. This device blends software and technology for great graphics of images and documents.
The innovative technology of the “Que” is not only how much more productive it could be from the average professionals point of view, but also the impact this could have on the declining newspaper and magazine industry.
At the CES in Las Vegas when the “Que” was unveiled, among the software industry reporters and key players, reporters and managers from news organizations were on hand to see if electronic readers could be the answer to help revive their industry.
USA TODAY, Publisher Dave Hunke said, The platform “delivers our content the way it’s supposed to look and feel.” This is appealing to newspaper and magazine publishers who want to feature more than text.
Plastic Logic has introduced a template called truVue, enabled by the Adobe Reader Mobile SDK, providing the familiar look and feel of printed publications. The large, high-resolution screen helps provide this, giving it a richer reading experience. At the top buttons lead to different sections of the headlines.
Plastic logic has already entered into agreements with Financial Times, USA Today, Libre Digital, Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, the San Jose Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times, the Oakland Tribune, the Huffington Post and The Sporting News Today, along with magazines from Barron’s, Fast Company and Forbes.
Plastic Logic was founded in 2000 by researchers out of the Cambridge University Cavendish Laboratory in England, after they developed ways to print transistors on plastic film, instead of silicon, using inkjets.
Plastic Logic’s mission has been to lead a revolution in the way people acquire, organize and consume information. In 2007 Spectrum readers voted Plastic Logic the winning technology of the year.
WHAT PLASTIC LOGIC HAS TO SAY ABOUT THE “QUE”
Richard Archuleta, Plastic Logic CEO
Business travelers “can look forward to a paperless briefcase, a lighter load, and a better way to work.”
“The QUE brand stands for a premium reading experience,” “The QUE proReader enhances business performance and gives you a competitive edge. More than an E-Reader, QUE means business.”
Daren Benzi, Plastic Logic Vice President of Business Development
“Because of the size of our device, newspapers and magazines really are our core focus,” he stressed, “right away a newspaper company sees the greater opportunity to publish on an end user product that is much closer to the print version.”
Marketing Blog
“QUE™ was made for how busy professionals work. Thousands of documents and all of your favorite publications now at your fingertips.”
“Light, sleek and with the largest touchscreen available, the QUE proReader has a user interface as intuitive as paper and ink. More than an E-Reader, QUE means business.”
THE PRICE OF THE QUE
The name alone, “Que proReader” is an explanation in itself as to why this device will cost more than the average e-Reader. It is aimed more for the professional field.
The 4GB of storage for documents, Wi-Fi, USB, and Bluetooth, but no 3G connectivity is $649.00.
The top-of-the-line model with double the storage and adds AT&T 3G wireless is $799.00
It is expected to go on sale in April, and will be released with Barnes & Noble as their retail partner.
Que will have its own online store powered by Barnes & Noble, which will include digital books from Barnes & Noble that use the ePub format, and will offer a more significant collection of business reading than is currently available on any eReader.
All in All, Plastic Logic’s Que proReader looks to be a device for the up and coming executive ready to make his/her mark in the world.
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