Kindle Review – Kindle 3 Review, iPad Review

Kudos to Intel for creating the Intel Reader – the first eReader built specifically for the blind, visually impaired and dyslexic.

Here is a video –

The demo persons great voice contrasted with the awkward eReader voice highlights one of the flaws.

Intel Reader Features

1. Price is a hefty $1,499.
2. 4.3 inch LCD display.
3. Has Folders – though they call them categories.
4. 5 megapixel Camera to take picture of any printed pages or materials. Includes Flash and auto-focus LED for low light conditions.
5. Then have it read the item out to you or view the captured images (including zoom).  
6. The spoken words are highlighted on the screen.
7. It can generate audiobooks out of printed material which can then be played on mp3 players etc.
8. Changeable Speech Speed.
9. You can change the Voice Gender and Pitch.
10. Changeable Font Sizes. You can go right to one word per page – just beautiful.
11. Supports plain text (ascii) and these Formats: Daisy 2.02, NISO 2002, NISO 2005, NIMAS 1.1.
12. Plays mp3 and wav music files.
13. Text to speech feature.
14. Good, clean button layout and easy to use buttons and button layout.
15. Very durable with magnesium chassis.
16. No WiFi.
17. Does not work with street signs and certain newspaper layouts.
18. Does not recognize handwriting – only print.
19. Mini USB and Standard USB ports.
20. You can use a keyboard or mouse with the Intel Reader.
21. You can use an external drive too.

Device is available in US (although the Intel Reader link is not working on the Intel.com site) and will be available in UK in a week.

There are also some nice touches  -

1. You can take pictures while the Intel Reader is in its case.
2. The Case has a lid you can open up for easy access to keys and screen.
3. Shoulder strap and the safety wrist cord that cameras have.
4. Replaceable battery.
5. Charges in 3 hours.
6. There is a Hold button that lets you lock the other buttons.

Intel Reader Project Details

• The Intel eReader Project was spearheaded by Ben Foss who grew up with severe dyslexia.
• He compares the Intel eReader to a ramp that makes buildings wheelchair accessible.
• The Intel Reader comes out of Intel’s Digital Health Group.
• Tested with 400 plus visually impaired users.
• Available through Intel and also resellers like CTL, Don Johston, GTSI, Howard Technology Solutions and Human Ware.
• You can add-on an Intel Portable Capture Station to capture images of an entire book.

The device is aimed at the 55 million people in the US who have eyesight problems. You have to suspect the price does put it out of reach of most of those people.

The usage is claimed to be great -

Foss said he was able to scan a 262-page book in a half hour and listen to the first chapter of the book while he was doing it. The device can read text in the DAISY format, plain text, as well as MP3 music files.

Intel Reader – eReader Technical Specifications

• Intel Atom processor.
• 2 GB Flash Memory.
• 5 megapixel camera.  
• 4.3 inch LCD display. 
• 6 cell battery – 4 hours of text to speech, 5 days standby). 
• Formats: Daisy 2.02, NISO 2002, NISO 2005, NIMAS 1.1, Ascii Text.
• Audio Formats: Wav and MP3.
• 2 USB ports.
• Audio Jack.

 Sources include Venture Beat and Ubergizmo.

Thoughts and Preliminary Intel Reader Review

The really big positives -

1. Custom built for blind and visually impaired people.
2. Changeable font sizes with a huge range.
3. Changeable Text to Speech rate of speech.
4. 5 MP camera to take pictures and convert pictures to text to speech.
5. Good design.
6. The feature to create audiobooks out of any printed material is great.
7. You can add pages to an existing text file any time.

The negatives -

1. The Price – almost makes it a non-starter.
2. The Screen is too small.
3. Battery Life is definitely short.
4. Lack of PDF and ePub and other formats.

Overall Grade: 8 out of 10. In spite of its horrendous price (and a few limitations) the Intel Reader is a great addition to eReaders.

Thoughts

1. If Kindle does a good job with text to speech on its menu and a few software features it kills this device. 
2. The camera to book to speech is a great feature.  
3. It really is more of a companion device than an eReader. 
4. The price is terrible. Why does it have to cost so much – you can get color eInk and high-end laptops at that price.  
5. Lack of PDF etc. does limits the utility.
6. Suddenly expands the market for reading by a lot.
7. The Authors Guild is going to have a major fit.
8. The device does seem to be rather complicated. So many buttons. So many options.
9. The manual is well done though its short in illustrations and images.
10. The average IQ of YouTube commenters never ceases to surprise me.

It really is a strangely priced device and the selection of features is rather strange though. It does get a lot of things right and is a huge step forward for reading.