Kindle Review – Kindle Fire Review, Kindle 4 Review

August 2010 Update: We now have the Kindle 3 available at Amazon for $189. We also have the Kindle WiFi available for $139.

With the upcoming release of the $149 Kobo eReader and the $499 iPad it’s worth categorizing eReaders by price, looking at what they offer, and identifying patterns and trends.

$150 eReaders - Entry Level, Bare Bone eReaders

The defining characteristics of this category are a low price around $150, a bare minimum set of features, and a 5″ to 6″ screen. These go for the value angle and put a smile on the face of all the analysts and eReader critics (aka people who do not read and do not value reading) who think a $50 or $100 eReader is the answer.

Update: The $139 Kindle WiFi is now the clear winner in this category. It has the latest generation eInk Pearl screen, it has WiFi (but no 3G), and Amazon has made a ton of improvements across the board including up to 1 month battery life with wireless off and enough space for 3,500 books (double the memory of Kindle 2).

We have three strong contenders -

1. Sony Reader Pocket Edition at $169. It has great screen contrast, supports PDF and ePub, has a Library Finder service to get free library ebooks, and is available in 3 pretty colors.
2. Kobo eReader at $149 (not yet released).
3. The refurbished Kindle 2 US version for $139. Its main strengths are the Free Whispernet, Amazon’s Kindle Store, and a very simple user interface. The disadvantage is that it’s the original model released in 2007 and it’s refurbished.

The lack of value-add features means that these tend to provide less value per dollar than the $250 eReaders.

There are some more $150 eReaders -

1. Jetbook Lite at $149. 
2. Aluratek Libre eReader for $179.
3. Copia Tidal – A social features oriented eReader priced at $199. It has a 6″ eInk screen, a qwerty soft keyboard, and 2 GB storage.
4. Asus budget eReader – Supposed to be $164 and to release in the UK.

There are not that many eReaders around $150 as eInk is still working out the economies of scale.

$180 to $200 eReaders – The main eReader product lines

These are the eReaders driving the explosion in the eReader market - they provide the best value for money and arguably the best fit for people who love to read.  

Expect to find a good-sized screen, occasionally a touchscreen (Sony Touch) or a 2nd screen (Nook), value-add features like text to speech and lending, and a solid ebook reader.

The top contenders in this category are -

1. The Kindle 3 at $189. Please note that this is the only latest generation eReader. If you’re tending towards getting Nook or Sony Reader please wait a month or two for Nook 2 and the new Sony Readers.
2. The Nook at $199.
3. The refurbished Kindle 2 at $169. Recommend going with the Kindle 2 instead.

These are incredible value for money.

$250 to $300 eReaders

The price drops for the Kindle and Nook make this category rather unappealing.  

1. Sony Reader Touch Edition at $299.
2. Samsung E6 at $299 – It’s going to be released soon and the handwriting support and touchscreen make this a dangerous contender.
3. Copia eReaders with 9″ screens at $299. Copia has 4 different 9″ eReaders – supposedly all for just $299. They include models with 9″ capacitive touchscreens, 2 GB or 4 GB storage, WiFi or 3G, stereo speakers, and optional Linux. They are called Ocean and Tidal Touch. Copia focuses on social reading – shared notes, recommendations, etc.

The latter two are very promising as they hugely increase the value for money (Samsung E6 via handwriting support, Copia via 9″ screens at $299) and will force the other 3 to evolve and improve.

Most of the growth and sales are in this category so there are lots of eReaders competing around this price point -

1. Copia 6″ Ocean eReader – 6″ capacitive eInk screen, WiFi, microSD card slot, tilt sensor, and 4 GB storage.  
2. Cool-er at $249. It’s a pretty standard 6″ eReader with PDF and ePub support and a SD card memory slot. It does support a lot of languages including traditional and simplified chinese and is available in 8 different colors.
3. [Price not Known] Netronix has some 6″ models in this range – the EB600 (bare bones), E60430 (bare bones), and the E60400. The E60400 is interesting with a resistive touchscreen, 6″ eInk screen,  handwriting support, external 3G, optional WiFi, and support for PDF, ePub, PRC, Mobi, and Doc.
4. [Price not Known] BenQ nReader K60 - A 6″ eInk screen (from SiPix, 167 dpi), capacitive touch, just 11 mm thick, 2 week battery life, File Manager app, WiFi support, ePub and PDF support, Micro SD Card Slot, and it supports English, Chinese, and Japanese. They also claim that every 53 ebooks read translates into a tree saved.
5. Pocketbook 301 – It costs $275, has a 6″ eInk screen, supports lots of formats including PDF and ePub, has an SD card slot, and is available in multiple colors.
6. Pocketbook 360 – It costs $239, has a 5″ eInk screen, has a built-in accelerometer, comes with a protective lid, supports PDF and ePub and more, and comes in black and white.
7. Scan eReader is $230 or so, supports lots of formats (PDF, ePub, Doc and more), has a 5″ monochrome screen, comes with a 4 GB memory card, and has a SD Card slot.
8. Neolux Nuut 2 – Priced at $230, 6″ eInk screen, WiFi support, weighs 290 grams, and has PDF and ePub support. 
9. Neolux Nuut 3 – Price is rumored to be in the $220 to $280 range, it has a 6″ eInk screen, SD Card slot, WiFi, weighs 245 grams, ePub and PDF support via Adobe Reader Mobile, News and Workbook Viewer apps, 1 GB internal memory, and is available in 2 colors.
10. Foxit eSlick - It’s $259, weighs a tiny 6.4 ounces, is just 0.4″ thick, has a 6″ eInk screen, support for eReader format and more, SD Card slot, and is available in 3 colors. The Foxit eSlick has really good PDF support with zooming (50% to 400%) and reflow capability. The parent company makes PDF software so it really is exceptional PDF support including ability to convert txt, ppt, doc, xls, and html to PDF (using desktop software).
11. Azbooka 516 for $239 with a 5″ screen, PDF support, a SD card slot, and support for English and Chinese.
12. Hanlin V5 for $249 with a 5″ eInk screen, support for lots of formats (including PDF, ePub, and Doc), lots of language support, Folders, and a SD Card slot.
13. Bebook 1 for $249 – Lots of formats supported (including PDF, ePub, Mobi, PRC, and Doc), lots of languages supported, free rss newsfeeds (unconfirmed), and includes 20,000 free ebooks.
14. Bookeen Cybook Opus for $280 – It has a 5″ eInk screen, a microSD card slot, weighs just 150 grams, has a g-sensor, runs on Linux OS, and supports PDF, ePub and more.
15. Onyx Boox (price not known) – 6″ eInk screen with touchscreen and full screen scribble, SD card slot, WiFi, lots of formats supported (including PDF and ePub), and availability in 5 different colors.  
16. Hanlin V3 at $299 – A 6″ eInk screen, Linux OS, lots of formats supported (PDF, ePub, and more), lots of languages, a SD card slot, and folders.

The $250 or so category of eReaders are not threatened by the iPad and will continue to lead the explosion in eReader sales.

Towards end 2010 or early 2011 we might see a competition between $250 eReaders and $150 eReaders. It will be interesting to see what wins out - low prices or higher value for money.

$350 to $400 eReaders - The ‘we do more’ eReaders

This is a very interesting category – these are eReaders that do more than the $250 eReaders do although they offer less value per dollar. This category is currently stuck between the higher end $500 eReaders and the higher value for money $250 eReaders and might become very important if color ereaders come in at $350.

This category will soon see attempts from netbook manufacturers to position netbooks as ereaders – especially if the iPad is successful in selling itself as an eReader.

This category does not currently have many compelling ereaders. The main contenders are -

1. Refurbished Kindle DX US version at $349. Good value for money though the technology is now a year old.
2. Alex Reader at $399. Dual screens, Android OS, and lots of cool features like transferring a webpage text from color screen (3.5″ screen) to eInk screen.
3. Sony Reader Daily Edition at $399. First Sony with wireless downloads, has a larger 7″ touchscreen, the Library Finder feature (free ebooks from libraries), support for PDF and ePub, and you can take your books to any eReader that supports Adobe DRMed ePub .
4. Asus DR900 which is rumored to be for 250 pounds ($372). This actually has a 9″ eInk screen (made by SiPix) so it’s very good value for money and almost belongs in the $500 category.
5. Refurbished Kindle DX Global at $399. A good-sized screen, free Internet, the Kindle Store, and an accelerometer. It is refurbished and does not have a touchscreen.

This category might see the Kindle DX join it soon (especially if the iPad does very well) and hopefully it gets color eReaders by Fall of 2010.

The other eReaders in this category include -

1. Key Reader which is available in Singapore, has wireless connectivity, has a touchscreen, and includes 900,000 digital books from the National Library Board of Singapore. The price is rumored to be in the $285 to $355 range. 
2. iRex DR800 at $399. It’s available at BestBuy. 
3. Txtr Reader at $399 (299 euros). It has a 6″ eInk screen, 3D accelerometer, WhisperNet-like TxtrNet (no free Internet), an App Store and an open platform, SD Card slot, 3G, and also ePub and PDF support,
4. Bebook Neo selling in the UK for the equivalent of $421. It has a touchscreen, stylus, WiFi, web browser, and access to ebook stores from Foyle’s, Waterstones, W. H. Smith, and Blackwell.
5. Non-convertible version of the Intel Classmate Tablet which will be somewhere between $200 and $400 and have WiFi and WiMax connectivity and a 10.1″ resistive touchscreen. It supports ePub and PDF and has 8.5 hrs of battery life.
6. [Price not known] Netronix E60600 is a 6″ eReader with 3G, optional WiFi, a choice of Linux or Windows CE, a touchscreen with Wacom digitizer, handwriting support, and great format support (ePub, PDF, Doc, PRC, and Mobi).
7. Netronix also has the E60700 and the E60800 which differ in the type of screen (and perhaps a few other ways – website only lists main features).
8. Pocketbook 302 – It’s priced at $339, has a 6″ eInk touchscreen, supports lots of formats including PDF and ePub, has Wifi and Bluetooth, has mini USB and a USB host port, has utilities like Notes and Calendar and RSS reader, has a memory card slot, and weighs just 9.8 ounces (280 grams).
9. [Price not known] Pocketbook 901 – A 9.7″ flexible, plastic eInk screen, compact and light (350 grams), and has an SD card slot.
10. Cybook Gen 3 for $350 – A 6″ eInk screen, a SD card slot and support for PDF, prc, and more.
11. Hanlin V2 for $350 – A primary 6″ eInk screen, a slave display that is touchscreen with a stylus for input, good format support (PDF, Doc, and more), a SD card slot, and it runs on Linux OS.

This category seems to me to have a lot of misfits – eReaders that would offer much more value for money if they were optimized and their prices driven down to the $250 to $300 price range.

$500 eReaders - The Big Screen eReaders and ‘more than just read’ eReaders

This category has become the scene of the ‘dedicated large-screen eReaders Vs multi-purpose devices‘ battle. An important battle and one that people are confusing as ereaders vs multi-purpose devices.

Quite frankly, it’s hard for a dedicated eReader to justify a $500 price tag until color, better touchscreens, and additional value-add features make it into ereaders. The iPad and Tablets are going to eat up a lot of the $500 and higher eReader market – Perhaps color eReaders change that in end 2010, perhaps not.

Note that we also have a lot of 12″ netbooks around this price point and it starts getting very competitive.

The main contenders are -

1. iPad WiFi at $499 - Yes, it’s not an eReader. However, thanks to apps like Kindle for iPad and its inbuilt iBooks App it’ll be quite a strong contender.
2. Entourage Edge at $499. It comes with a 9.7″ eInk screen and a 10.1″ LCD screen, weighs 3 pounds, has WACOM enabled stylus input for the eInk screen, runs Android, has WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, has 16 hour battery life with the eInk screen (6 hrs with LCD screen), and supports ePub and PDF. A very solid offering.
3. Kindle DX at $489. Without touch and color the Kindle DX is at a disadvantage and Amazon might move this down to the $350 to $400 category to differentiate.

This category is seeing a lot of larger screen eReaders and a lot of tablets. The other contenders include -

1. Netronix E90600 Reader (aka EB900) – It has a 9.7″ eInk capacitive touch screen and a 2.8″ LCD screen, has 3G and optional WiFi, and supports lots of formats (PDF, ePub, Mobi, PRC, and Doc). It also has handwriting support, a browser, rss, and email.
2. Netronix E90600 – Same as above except it has Android as a choice for the OS, and it has a digitizer instead of a capacitive touchscreen. 
3. Toshiba JournE Touch – It’s a 7″ touchscreen tablet positioned as a home multimedia tablet. It will be launching in France, Italy, Spain, and EMEA soon.
4. Dell Streak Tablet – This is the Tablet whose leaked flyer promised a Kindle for Android app.
5. Creative MediaBook.
6. MSI dual screen eReader.

Not a very interesting category until color eReaders and eReaders with full-blown writing support arrive and make $500 ereaders vs tablets a fair battle.

Well over $500 – Specialized and Business eReaders

eReaders in this category probably have a hard road in front of them. $250 for a dedicated reading device is easy to budget in – $800 is rather difficult. Plastic Logic is targeting business customers, Fujitsu is targeting restaurants and other businesses, and a lot of the eReaders are targeting very specific niches.  

The iPad and tablets again hold a significant advantage here. The available eReaders and Tablets include -

1. iPad 3G at $629. Guess it makes no sense to price the 3G at $529 when people would rather pay $629 to get the satisfaction of owning the higher end iPad.    
2. Plastic Logic Que WiFi model at $649. It has WiFi and bluetooth connectivity, 4 GB memory, a 10.7″ eInk screen that is unbreakable, touchscreen with writing support, weighs 17 ounces, and is targeted at the business eReader market. It supports lots of formats including PDF and ePub and also supports Microsoft Office formats and Outlook using the Que PC software.
3. Skiff Reader – It will have a 11.5″ screen, be just 0.27″ thick, have a touchscreen that supports stylus and finger input, support 3G and WiFi, have a memory card slot, and the screen will be flexible, shatter-proof, and crack proof. Thanks to partnerships with lots of magazine and newspaper publishers and some book publishers this is beginning to look like a strong contender. It does focus on advertising supported content and might try to pollute books with advertising. 

There are some other eReaders in this category -

1. iRex iLiad for $699 – 8.1″ eInk screen with Wacom enabled sensor board, WiFi, stereo speakers, support for some formats (PDF, prc, and more), and support for some languages (English, Dutch, German, Spanish, French).
2. Plastic Logic Que 3G model at $799 with WiFi and 3G support. It includes 8 GB memory and is identical to the Que WiFi model in every way except for the 3G support and the 4 GB of additional memory.
3. iRex DR1000S for $859. A 10.2″ touchscreen with Wacom enabled touch sensor input (stylus), capacitive buttons with optical feedback (whatever that means), 1 GB SD card and SD card slot, some format support (PDF, prc, etc.), some language support, and support for handwritten notes.
4. Fujitsu FLEPia for $1,013 – the first color eReader in the world is only available in Japan. Fujitsu might bring it to the USA in 2010. It has a 8″ color ePaper screen, 40 hours battery life, a SD card slot, runs Windows CE, and is just 12.5 mm thick.
5. Intel Reader – Specifically for the blind with a 4.3″ LCD display, 5 megapixel camera, text to speech support, OCR (optical recognition of words from photos taken), and lots more. It’s priced at $1,499.
6. Brother SV-100B Reader for $1,500 – A 9.7″ screen with 1,200 by 825 pixels resolution, just 15.5 mm thick, weighs 600 grams, and has a 4 digit pin code and AES encryption for security.

There seems to be little hope for eReaders over $400

There are two reasons I say this -

1. There are companies delivering 9″ eReaders at the $299 and $399 price point.
2. At $450 and $500 you start seeing very strong competitors – 12″ netbooks, high-end netbooks, the iPad, tablets, and more.

eReaders can hold their own in the $250 and $150 category as they provide good value for money and offer eInk screens and other features devoted to reading. At $350 to $400 they can add-on value-add features like great touchscreens, handwriting support, color, etc. and still be very compelling.

Above that we run into multiple problems – lack of features to justify the price, brutal competition, further thinning of an already thin reader population, and a lack of the it pays for itself via cheaper ebooks argument.

$500 eReaders probably represent 10% of the eReader market and tablets and netbooks are going to destroy that (perhaps cut it to a quarter in size). Hopefully the press and non-readers interpret that as a great victory and leave us in peace – with our $250 eReaders and our $10 eBooks.

Filed under: eBook Reader Devices Tagged: | ereader list, ereader review