The alleged new Barnes & Noble reader. Credit Gizmodo.
Posted on 10/16/2009 5:31:49 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Book seller Barnes & Noble is expected to announce its own e-reader next week, and a new report states the device will sport both black-and-white e-ink and a multi-touch, iPhone-like color display. New information and photos of the device were provided to Gizmodo, which revealed that a majority of the device will have a traditional e-ink display, much like the Amazon Kindle, which provides superior battery life. It will be a 6-inch screen with an 800x600 pixel resolution. But the bottom portion of the device will have an LCD color display sporting multi-touch technology. It will be used to browse through and select books in a manner described to be like Apple's own coverflow. The second screen is 480x144 pixels with a 150dpi resolution... "Contrast this with the Kindle which uses the e-ink display to emulate a slow menu system and requires a physical keyboard for searching. Likewise, Sony's e-ink readers with touchscreens layers have reduced visibility." The purported hardware has only a handful of buttons for flipping pages, searching, purchasing books, and connecting to social networking sites. The new device is believed to have a lending feature that will allow friends to share books and post excerpts to sites like Facebook and Twitter. "But that may be cut before launch," Gizmodo said.
(Excerpt) Read more at appleinsider.com ...
The alleged new Barnes & Noble reader. Credit Gizmodo.
I was desperate for a book (13 yr old son - book report due next day) and got the Barnes and Noble online version. In order to unlock it you have to enter your credit card number (this is AFTER you have already entered it for the purchase) - not very happy with that.
It won’t be long before Big Brother knows what you read without having to come into your house to look at your library.
I was thinking of getting my son (a 2nd Lt. in the Army currently stationed in Germany) one of these type things for Christmas. But I can’t find anyone that’s used one of them or what they think of it. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
BB already knows what we’re reading on FR. ;’)
Thanks!
Our great great grandchildren will be puzzled at the the idea of a book burning.
My mother in law, my husband and I all have a Kindle. We’re on the same account, so we can share books.
It’s especially great because my husband’s mother has vision problems and can turn the font higher. I like the instant gratification - able to download the book I want, when I want it.
We also loaned one of the Kindles to a friend that had shoulder surgery and had troubles holding a regular book.
I’ve tried e-readers, before, but never liked the screen or the limits in books.
Doesn’t work if there’s graphics or pictures - all black and white and no ability to change size of most pictures. But for most novels and non-fiction, great!
It has to be “off” on take off and landing on planes.
You can also use the Kindle for a slow web browser or email device.
I own a Kindle and it is wonderful.
I think that you need the newest version to be able to download books if you are in Europe.
You should check that out.
Other than that it is very simple to use and you can also email documents to it.
It would make a great gift.
Thank you!
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Sony has an e-reader too. Anyone have any experience with that one?
I wanted to buy "Unintended Consequences" by John Ross, but it is out of print. You can get a copy on ebay for about $100 but I didn't feel like doing that. Then I found out that it's available on the internet in PDF. I downloaded it, emailed it to my Kindle account and had it available in seconds. Total cost to me was 60 cents (fee for Kindle conversion performed by Amazon).
Great book by the way.
and writing!
I have a Kindle II and generally like it. Right now, IIRC, its price is down to $259.00 from the $359.00 I paid about a year ago. The e-ink used on the screen is perfectly good to read on the instrument's 6" screen. About 300,000 titles are currently available. Being in the Army with limited space for personal gear, your son would really like it because it can hold a little over 1,000 books (try to hump that many paper backs!). Its compact size and light weight also make it a lot easier to carry around and use to read large books, e.g., one of Robert Caro's LBJ biographies, than carrying and reading the large books themselves. It also electronically converts text to language, meaning each book can be listened to as well as read.
Its primary disadvantages, as far as I'm concerned, are that it doesn't have a contrast control, meaning things like maps and half tone illustrations are often washed out and hard to read, and that it lacks color, which really reduces its usefulness when I'm reading a book with a lot of color plates. Indeed, I've just purchased a new 800 page history of the 30 Years' War from Amazon in hard copy precisely because of those two objections.
This article about the B&N device says the color features are apparently only useful for the controls, something the Kindle's buttons are perfectly good for, and the B&N instrument does not give access to color illustrations in the books. If so, it's not better than a Kindle, and may be worse.
My heartiest congratulations and deepest gratitude to you and your son for his service. My prayers are with you and him for his safe return.
That's the main reason I thought it would be a good gift for him. Plus, he's kinda a gadget junkie.
Thank you for your response and your prayers!
I have a Kindle Dx.
They are very awesome for reading.
If you’re into things like reading novels.
I have several technical manuals that were converted (by me) from PDF to a format the Kindle reads and they are difficult to find material in unless you’re reading in a linear fashion.
The Kindle (Amazon.com) works only with (for buying books) through Amazon. And at the MOMENT, you can’t use one out of the country. However there is a new version coming out for Christmas I believe which should function in Europe.
I’ve done extensive research on the currently existing e-readers and honestly, I only bought the Kindle DX because it has a large screen and I have “older eye sight” now.
I would have purchased an Irex Iliad had I had the money. But, I think they are too expensive.
Also note, that Plastic Logic is also “rumored’ to be coming out with a reader and were “rumored” to be working with B&N as well.
Personally, I’d wait another year for another reader to see what happens with the market.
Sony is coming out with a new one at Christmas, too.
Also this.
Google Editions Embraces Universal E-book Format
http://www.pcworld.com/article/173789/google_editions_embraces_universal_ebook_format.html
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