Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

It seems that everyone and their mother are getting into the eReader business and taking on the kindle.

Here are some of the latest entrants to the eReader jungle -

Entourage Edge – Finally a Video

Love how the reviewer gets confused by the name. It is a very well done video and it’s refreshing to see someone focus on the product.

The key details on the Entourage Edge (available for preorder, ships February 2010) -

1. 9.7″ eInk screen on the left and 10.1″ LCD screen on the right.  
2. $490 price.
3. Interactions are primarily with the LCD screen, including an on-screen keyboard.
4. It’s pretty quick.
5. 6 hours battery life.  
6. 1024 by 600 screen resolution.  
7. You can flip the eInk screen into note taking mode via a dedicated button. There is a dedicated Journal application.
8. They have a newer generation that they’ll be releasing soon which is much thinner and seems better designed too.

It’s good to see a high-end eReader enter the market. It’s also good to see the dual screen design and a dedicated journal feature.

Read more about it and other dual screen ereaders in my Dual Screen eReaders Review. 

Taiwan’s IDRI unveils 4.1″ flexible color OLED

Just some interesting technology from Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute -

It’s a 4.1″ flexible AMOLED display. The cholestric LCD screen at the end is also interesting, especially as it can hold an image without using power (just like eInk EPD screens), making it ideal for eReaders.

Netronix to launch Android eReader, selling 30K to 60K eReaders a month

Update: Netronix is apparently a subsidiary of FoxConn. Certainly makes things interesting.

Digitimes covers Netronix’s planned Android eReader and chairman Arthur Lu’s bold predictions -

1. Interoperates with Android smartphones.
2. Expected Release date of mid-2010. 
3. Partnership with Texas Instruments.
4. 3G/3.5G connectivity to transform eReaders into personal communication devices.  
5. Netronix say that they will ramp up monthly eReader capacity to 200,000 units in early 2010.
6. Arthur Lu expects shipments to top 1 million units in 2010.

If they hadn’t partnered with TI would laugh at their 1 million eReaders in 2010 claim.

Netronix did release their current numbers -

Netronix is currently shipping e-book readers at a rate of 30,000-60,000 a month in the fourth quarter of 2009 and expects total shipments for the quarter to reach 140,000 units, Lu stated.

Lots of anti-Kindle people would like to believe that’s the number Amazon are shipping. If Netronix is shipping 30,000 to 60,000 eReaders a month you can guess how many Amazon are shipping.

BenQ eReader … um … nReader

PC World reports that the BenQ nReader will be out in China and Taiwan in January 2010 for $280 -

1. 6″ touchscreen. 
2. They said the screen quality is the same as the Kindle – doubt it with the touch layer. It’ll probably be more like Sony Reader Touch quality.
3. The screen is from SiPix and not eInk. SiPix is an AU Optronics subsidiary.
4. Plays music.  
5. 3G and WiFi support.
6. 2 GB flash memory.
7. eBook Store will launch along with the nReader.
8. Chinese, Japanese and English support.
9. ePub support.

BenQ have very ambitious plans -

• They want to sell 50,000 nReaders in Taiwan and 300,000 units worldwide in 2010.
• They claim they’ll have a color eReader out by 2nd half of 2010.

The PC World article also mentions 5 other companies releasing eReaders -

Netronix, Delta Electronics, Greenbook eReader, Asustek, MSI.

Everyone’s joining the party.

Que is not new – but it has new content partners now

Thanks to Press Releases every time anyone at Plastic Logic sneezes we all know about the Que Business eReader.

Plastic Logic are doing a great job of adding new content partners -

1. Que already had Financial Times, USA Today, Detroit Free Press and other newspapers and magazines. 
2. They have now added Popular Science, MIT’s Technology Review, PCWorld, Macworld, CIO, Network World, and ComputerWorld. 
3. The Que release date is January 7th, 2010 so look forward to more partners being added.

One of the things Que has going for it is its support for PDF, Word, Powerpoint and Excel. That together with all the content partners increases its chances of making inroads into businesses.

Hearst’s Skiff Reader

It’s still way too early – However here are the few known details about the Skiff Reader and a Kindle Vs Skiff strategy review.

Hearst certainly aren’t shy about revealing their intentions.

the Kindle vs new eReaders

All the new eReader releases and announcements are getting a lot of coverage, including people asking the inevitable question – Can this new eReader hurt the Kindle?

While the Kindle could handle these new eReaders one on one, at some level you have to feel that together the new eReaders will eat up a chunk of the eReader market.

Filed under: eBook Reader Devices Tagged: | kindle vs ereader, new ereader