Are you interested in a small, compact, and elegant e-reader with two integrated displays? Designed for future, this is the first digital e-reader in the CES to run on Google’s Android operating system. Cool design, fast browsing and high developed reading experience: Alex Digital Reader is your perfect companion both for home, school and business. Before getting it, don’t miss the chance to check out here some specs and features of Alex.

Coming with two displays, the Alex e-reader combines the efficiency and reading comfort of EPD and LCD displays. The full color 3.5 inch LCD display is perfect for web browsing, while 6 inch EPD screen looks nice for your extended reading experience. Alex is actually an Android device which is familiar with famous Android applications as well as new ones from Android developers. Standard apps include the Calculator, Email, Gallery, Music, Settings, and WebKit browser.

With Alex DR in your hands you can start building your own library on the go. Spring Design allows Alex users to download ePUB format digital books from Google Books and Alex partner bookstores. Don’t worry also the device’s memory, as it comes with a 2GB removable memory card and the microSD expansion slot supporting cards up to 32GB. This e-reader supports various file formats included ePUB, PDF, HTML, and TXT files as well as any MP4 or Flash video and many audio file formats.

Speaking about connectivity…Alex Digital Reader has WiFi, 3G, EVDO/CDMA and GSM capabilities. Alex e-reader comes with Android’s Wbkit browser on the board. The e-reader has a native ability to read Flash driven website content. Spring Design has also announced a new feature called Link-Notes. This means that users can add hyperlinks or clicking on hyper text within e-books visit a web-page.

You can also read your favorite e-books offline without recharging the battery with browsing and wireless off. The battery used for the device is 3.7V 1530 mAh Lithium Polymer that can deliver up to two weeks of standby time. Long and narrow, Alex e-reader has an interesting shape measuring 8.9 x 4.7 x 0.4 inches. It has only been a few days since the Alex Digital Reader from Spring Design has been announced with an available  price of $399. The stylish and powerful Alex DR began shipping on April 16, 2010.

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.

Sure the iPhone and the iPod are some of the greatest gadgets ever made. But lately, people around the world are talking about this so called new tablet computer to be released by Apple, the iPad. What’s so special about it anyway? Let us look around into the wonderful world of this device that’s said to make a mark on today’s technology.

First, take a peek at what it has in store – the specifications. This iPad is said to have 9.7” display screen at 1024 x 768 pixels, 16 to 64 GB Flash Drive, 1 GHz Apple A4 Chip, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi 802.11n, has optional 3G (by using a new micro-Sim), and has 10 hours battery life (that can even stay alive for a month in standby mode). How cool can that get? As thin as it is at 0.5” (13.4mm) and as light as 1.5 lbs, it is said to be the enlarged iPhone with faster and a mightier processor.

As per the applications, it’s also similar to the iPhone, but has more. It has features like the iBookstore, iWorks, and said to be better in terms of gaming and internet browsing. Question now, Is it safe to say that the iPad is just a blow up of the iPhone?

The iPad is said to be half to be one hell of a gadget. There have been such good reviews from its makers. As the Apple chief executive, Steve Jobs, stated, “We think we’ve got the goods. We think we’ve done it.” In one of his interviews, Jobs asked “Do we have what it takes to establish a third category of products in between a laptop and a smartphone?”  After a few seconds, he answered his own question, “We have done it”. And not just from the makers did this earned trust, but even from people who can make use of it as well. iPhone software executive Scott Forstall quoted, “We think it’s going to be a whole ‘nother gold rush for developers as they build applications for the iPad.”

The price range of this device is quite acceptable too. The cheapest one would be sold at $499, and the most expensive ones would be sold at around $1,000. These price differences depend on which add-on features you desire. The basic iPad ones, which cost from $499 to $699, only differ on the storage size. These are the one to be released in March. While those 3G iPad models on the other hand, the ones that will cost between $629 and $829, will be released worldwide in April.

So there ya go, you’ve read some of the most important details about this device. We can’t judge it quite yet, because no one really knows what’s in store and what exactly it can do. All there is are these facts and specifications, all we hold on to are the manufacturers’ words and the brand “Apple” itself. Only thing we can do now is to wait and see for ourselves what really the big deal about this iPad is as soon as it comes out in March.

Watch the keynote video with Steve Jobs

Watch a marketing video

If you were on the fence about purchasing an Amazon Kindle 2 before because you considered it to be too pricey, well we have some good news for ya!

Amazon must have heard the complaints because they’ve recently reduced the price of the of the Kindle 2 to a much more reasonable $299!   It was previously $359 so that’s a $60 discount (17%).  Weeeeeeee! 

Read more about the Kindle 2 or purchase this popular device…

Jointech (a tech company based out of Hong Kong) have recently announced that they have a new ebook reader (known as the JE100).  It’s a 7-inch device that has a COLOR LCD touchscreen rather than an e-ink display.

This is the first non-e-ink portable ebook reader that we’ve had the chance to discuss, so we’re quite excited.  Although e-ink seems to be the way of the future for electronic reading devices, it’s still nice to see competing technologies

The JE100 uses Windows CE 5.0, and has the following capabilities and specifications:

• Comes with Mobipocket Reader, MSReader and eReader support
• Can play video and audio files
• Ability to view and edit Microsoft Office documents
• 3-6 hour battery life
• 400 MHz processor (slower than both the Kindle 2 and Kindle DX)
• 128 MB internal flash storage
• 64 MB RAM
• Up to 4GB external storage
• Two USB ports (to plug in accessories like keyboards or for hooking the device up to a PC)
• Built-in speaker and audio-out port

Those specs seem fairly mediocre, and the battery life is definitely weak.  It seems like more of a netbook or mini-PC than a portable ebook reader.  I guess we’ll have to wait until people start buying and reviewing it until we can make a better-informed decision.

One thing’s for sure, though…it definitely looks sleek!

Amazon has announced that the highly anticipated Kindle DX will be shipping starting June 10, 2009. Woo-hoo!

The shipping schedule apparently goes like this:

• Pre-orders placed before June 5 will start shipping on June 10
• New pre-orders (after June 5) will be treated as first come, first served
• New pre-orders will likely be shipped in between 7-10 days?

So basically, even if you haven’t pre-ordered a Kindle DX, you didn’t really miss out on anything, as you can still order now and get one within 2 weeks. That’s not bad at all!

Read more here…

Plastic Logic recently demoed their portable ebook Reader at the Wall Street Journal’s All Things D conference near San Diego. They surprised a lot of attendees by giving everyone a *free* Plastic Logic Reader. This device won’t be available to the general public until Jan 2010, but apparently Plastic is determined to build the hype early.

Here’s a video showing a demo of the Reader at the conference:

And here’s a list of some of the features that we were able to gather from different sources:

• A screen that’s larger than 10″ – wow!
• Extremely light-weight and thin
• Touchscreen (like the Sony Reader PRS-700)
• 3G wireless capability (like the Amazon Kindle 2 and Kindle DX)
• The devices will be able to “beam” documents back and forth between each other (we’re guessing via BlueTooth or maybe IR)
• WiFi support
• Ability to scribble and add annotations
• Very long battery life
• Native support for many Microsoft Documents and PDF files

The price is currently unknown but many sources are saying it will likely be more expensive than the Amazon Kindle DX – that means greater than $500!

The target market is reportedly “mobile business professionals” according to Plastic Logic’s Director of Marketing, Maureen Mellon. Their CEO went on to say, “Everything is designed for the business user, and business users require a lot of different types of content. It’s really not about books at all.

Hmmm…sounds like it’s designed more to be a business document, magazine, and newspaper reader, rather than for novels or ebooks.

One apparent flaw that the media is jumping all over, is that it takes 4 seconds to turn pages, although in the video above you can clearly see that it takes less than that. Plus, the public release isn’t for 8 months so I’m not sure why everyone would make such a big deal out of a work-of-progress.

For more info on the Plastic Logic Reader:

• A detailed article – TG Daily
• Many, many pictures – LaptopMag

It seems that Amazon has really been stepping up their portable ebook reader game in the last few weeks. They’ve gone from two Kindle releases over a 1.5 year period to announcing something major every week or so. That’s quite a turnaround!

Here’s some of the recent developments from Amazon:

• Kindle DX – This was an expected but still huge announcement on May 6, 2009. It’s the largest ebook reader yet and the first ever to incorporate an accelerometer device, so pages are automatically rotated between portrait and landscape, simply by turning the device.

• Kindle for iPhone v1.1 – Amazon recently released a new version of this popular app which is available from the iPhone App Store. Some of the notable new features include:
  • Pinch screen to zoom images within books
  • Read in landscape or portrait mode
  • Select alternate text colors and backgrounds to improve reading comfort in low light
  • Tap on either side of the screen or flick the screen to turn page

• Amazon Encore – Amazon has joined the “publishing” industry. They’ll reportedly be publishing authors who are currently doing it themselves and are showing promise. Amazon has obviously realized that there’s tons of money to be made in publishing, especially with a lot of their future competitors going under.

• Kindle Publishing for Blogs – Amazon is now allowing bloggers to sell their blogs to Kindle owners through the Kindle Store. This is huge news for web marketers and content publishers as it provides a simple method for generating income from their labors of love.

Out of seemingly nowhere emerges a UK company called Interead, with the launch of:

• The COOL-ER – a small, light, electronic book reader available in 8 colors and at a very affordable price of $249
• CoolerBooks.com – an e-boostore with over 750,000 titles available for instant download

This is huge news for the ebook reader industry!  For us users, this can only be a positive thing, as competition breeds better technology and more affordable devices.  Many sources are calling the COOL-ER the “iPod of ebook readers”.  Wow, that’s quite the complement …and time will tell if it’s true.

Here’s some quick specs on the COOL-ER:

• Size - 7.2″ x 4.6″ x 0.4″
• Weight - 4.1 ounces
• Internal storage - 1 GB
• External storage – SD (up to 4 GB)
• Processor - 400 Mhz
• Battery - Li-Polymer; 8000 page turns per charge
• File formats – JPG, PDF, EPUB, TXT
• Interface - USB

Once we get our hands on one of these trendy reader’s, we’ll provide a detailed review, but for now we’re just going to marvel at what may prove to be a very successful future for Interead. If you’d like to be a trend setter and pre-order a COOL-ER, you can do so here, but it won’t be delivered until early June 2009.