technabob » e paper

skiff reader: specs revealed for biggest, thinnest e-reader yet

technabob — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:32:57 +0000

I love CES week. So many cool new gadgets, never enough time. The latest drool-worthy bit of electronic gadgetry comes to us courtesy of a little company called Skiff. The Skiff Reader definitely caught my attention when I saw the photo below.

The Skiff Reader has a huge 11.5″ diagonal touchscreen, and a native resolution of 1200×1600 pixels at an astoundingly sharp 174 pixels-per-inch. Just how sharp is that? The screenshot below is only at 72 pixels-per-inch, and it’s already pretty impressive.

The next-gen metal-foil e-paper display (made by LG) is also shatterproof and crackproof. With a screen like that, this is truly the first e-reader that I’ve seen that could give newspapers and magazines a run for their money.

While it has a great large screen, it still has a super svelte thin profile magnesium body that’s every bit as nice as anything you’ve seen on any e-reader before it. The reader can run for about a week on a single 2 to 3 hour charge, and has built-in Wi-Fi connectivity and 4GB of on-board storage (and an SDHC slot for additional memory). In addition, Skiff has signed a deal with Sprint to provide 3G network access for downloading content, and they also will sell Skiff Readers in Sprint stores.

No word yet on pricing or a release date – only “later this year”, but the Skiff is definitely one to watch.

sony e-book reader now less than $100

technabob — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:23:11 +0000

It seems like it wasn’t very long ago that Sony released their first ever electronic ink book reader for around $350. For a limited time, you can pick up one of these nifty devices for just under $100.

TigerDirect is offering the Sony PRS-500 E-Book Reader for just $99.99, which is a savings of over 70% from the original price. And yes, the PRS-500 has a nice 6.9″ x 4.9″ display, not a 5-inch display as listed on the product page (Sony never made a 5-inch model.)

The reader can hold about 80 digital books in its internal memory, and can be expanded to hold plenty more if you add an SD card. It can also read PDF documents you download to it from your computer. Battery life is pretty amazing too, letting you read up to 7,500 pages on a single charge.

To sweeten the pot even more, if you happen to pick one up before July 31, 2007, Sony CONNECT is offering $149 worth of free eBooks making this one really amazing deal. Let’s hope that the price isn’t a typo.

[via MobileRead via pocketables]

lg philips show off a flexible color screen

technabob — Mon, 14 May 2007 11:27:33 +0000

This week, LG.Philips LCD showed off a breakthrough in flexible displays when they announced the successful creation of an A4 (14.1-inch) color E-paper display.

The display is the largest full color (4096 colors) flexible display to date, and is visible from a full 180-degree viewing angle. Since the flexible panels only require power when the image changes, they’re extremely energy efficient compared to typical LCDs.

Displays like these are likely to first appear in advertising and commercial applications, but it’s only a matter of time before we see them in appear consumer electronics products.

[via Akihabara News]