Who the heck is Foxit, you may ask?  Well, to those in the PDF world, they’re known as an Adobe competitor, having developed a lightweight PDF reader in 2007 which had a great reception and is still used by many.  So they definitely have some “cred” when it comes to the ebooks arena.

Their first portable ebook reader is known as the Foxit eSlick and could be considered an entry level device due to its very affordable pricetag ($289), yet it still manages to offer users a great set of features.

Features of the eSlick

Design

• e-Ink screen - Nothing unusual, pretty much every ebook reader uses this technology
• Thin profile – A svelte 0.4 inches…nice!
• Lightweight – 6.4 ounces (think 2 average sized cell phones)
• Long battery life – A single charge lasts up to 8000 page turns (wow!)
• Quick recharge – The battery can be recharged in only 3-4 hours
• Internal memory – Only 128 mb, fairly weak compared to competitors (some offer > 2 GB)
• External memory – An SD slot is available, so this gives you the option of adding up to 8 GB of dat
• Colors – Available in white, grey, or black

Audio

• Built in MP3 Player – You can transfer music to the eSlick via a USB port and listen while you read.

PDF

• Create – The eSlick of course uses Foxit’s great PDF generation technology (their PDF Creator software is included) so you can convert and download many file formats
• Zoom – You can easily zoom between 50-400%
• Reflow – The font size can be controlled and text is automatically resized for optimal viewing

Price

• Price – Hold the phone!!  $289? No way!  This is the cheapest ebook reader we’ve seen so far!

Summary

The Foxit eSlick is a very affordable ebook reader that offers all the bare essentials one would need to read electronic books.  If you need all the fancy bells and whistles, such as Wi-Fi, a web browser, or “Read-To-Me”, the eSlick is likely not for you.  But if you’re looking for a cheap (pricewise, not design!) electronic reading device that does everything most people require, or if you just want to dip your toes in the ebook reader pool…you should be quite content with the Foxit eSlick.