TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for the ‘Asus’ Category

By Paul Biba

A number of sites are reporting that the previously announced Asus dual screen reader will be released in March, 2010. According to Tech Digest the unit will come in two different sizes – 6″ and 9″ e-ink screens. They also say it will have Wi-Fi, 3G and WiMax, among other things. Mobile Computer is saying that it should come in at a price similar to the Kindle DX

Time will tell.

By David Rothman

Tablet PCs and other e-book-capable gizmos are like literature and fashion. Styles come and go.

Now a Web site owned by Conde Naste, a conglomerate famous for its fashion coverage, tells us that “Tablet PCs might be headed toward a revival.”

The Conde-owned Wired site made that observation in a  write-up on the $500 Archos Tablet PC, which will run Windows 7.

Says Wired: “Until earlier this year, most analysts and industry watchers saw tablets as a category that wouldn’t catch on with consumers. Tablets are not as compact as smartphones and don’t have a physical keyboard that could make them a real alternative to netbooks. But with rumors of Apple working on a tablet, the category seems to have caught the interest of other device manufacturers. Dell is also reportedly working on a tablet.” And of course we know about the Courier prototype, the fold-like-a-book prototype from Microsoft. But $500 for a non-Apple tablet from Archos?

What will excite me will be cheapie, Asus-style netbooks serving also as tablets and maybe using the PixelQi display, which can show color for many purposes, but can slip into a low-power E Ink-style monochrome mode for e-reading. Now that would be undeniably useful innovation.

Meanwhile all the talk about dual-screen notebooks amuses me. Old stuff, friends. A company called Every Book—one or two words?—was pushing the concept around ten years ago or so. There was also the iRiver protype shown here. I see that the new iRiver e-reader has shed a screen. A lesson learned somewhere?

But wait! Will the Microsoft Courier prototype set the latest trend after all, with its twin screens? You never know. Some TeleRead community members are warming up to the dual screen idea, for reasons noted here.

By Joe Wikert

Have you seen the leaked photos of the upcoming Asus Eee-Reader? If you missed it, here’s a short article on CNET with a picture. OK, I get the lower price. Sure, that’s something the market is clamoring for as the Kindles, Sony Readers, etc., are destined to be nothing more than nichey luxuries as long as they’re $300+.

But what’s with the two-panel hinged display? Why take a relic of the print book and force it into an e-reader? Think about it. There’s not a single time in the past year where I’ve said, "gee, I really wish this Kindle had a second display that hinged onto this one." Never.

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By Paul Biba

The Times Online (London Times, that is) is reporting a few new details of the Asus ereader. Evidently there will be two models, low-end and high-end.

The high-end model will have a foldable spine, like a book, and will thus have a two page display and so will look like a traditional book. It will also be in color and have speakers, a webcam and a mike.

The low-end model is aiming at the 100 pound mark, which is pretty cheap, and even the high-end model will be in the lower price range. Asus is looking to introduce at least one model by the end of the year.

Well, Asus created the netbook market, let’s see how they can innovate in the ereader market. Exciting times. Thanks to Shelf Awareness for the link.

By Chris Meadows

For some time, netbooks such as the Eee have been discussed as a possible e-book-reading solution. Well, now DigiTimes reports that Asus will be launching an Eee-branded e-book reader (an “Eee-book reader”?) possibly by the end of 2009, and MSI is considering an e-reader of its own.

The sources pointed out that the requirements for entering the e-book reader market are even lower than for netbooks, but the key to success lies in establishing a content delivery platform.

The article is fairly short and sparse on details (it does mention that e-book readers are more popular in North America and Europe than in Asia, due to differences in reading habits), so there is not a lot of information here to go on. Regardless, it is interesting to watch the e-book reader market start to heat up.

Here’s hoping Asus (and possibly MSI) will be smart enough to go with industry-standard formats to minimize further market fragmentation.

By David Rothman

“DisplaySearch expects shipments of almost 33 million mini-notes (netbooks) in 2009 as penetration of these products into the notebook PC market grows to 20% worldwide, according to its Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report. At the same time, DisplaySearch expects the market for ‘traditional’notebooks (those with displays 12.1” and larger) to be flat Y/Y for the first time…” – DisplaySearch.

The TeleRead take: Part of the reason? The new frugality—in this recession, er, depression. At any rate, lower prices of hardware are good good news for e-books. Better that more money be left over to buy actual e-books! Plus, the lower prices boost the number of potential users. Meanwhile that $130 Asus netbook deal from Geeks.com is apparently still alive.

And speaking of nondedicated e-book readers: Apple’s App Store downloads top 1.5 billion in first year, from Apple. E-book-related downloads were probably just a smidgen of that. But consider the numbers. “Apple has shipped over 40 million” iPhone and iPod Touches, the gimzos that run the apps. Plus, we keep hearing rumors of a large-screened iPod or other tablet from Apple that might debut in the fall. Also see Venturebeat article on the tablet (thanks to Reading 2.0 list).

Related: Three million dedicated e-reader devices in U.S. by year’s end, says Forrester analyst.

By David Rothman

I don’t know if this Geeks.com deal is still alive, but for minimalists using, say, FBReader, a $130 Asus netbook could be a good choice. Specs:

8.9-inch screen, 1014×600
4G solid state disk
512MB RAM
802.11b/g WiFi
Ethernet port
Three USB ports
Asus customized Linux

By David Rothman

“The company has polished off an e-book reader and a video game system to rival the Wii as well. Asustek, however, has yet to release either product because it’s struggling to hammer out content deals.” – New York Times, via Mike Cane.

By David Rothman

Tiger Direct, whose $100 Sony Reader sale I fondly remember, is coming through on Black Friday with another temptation.

It’s a $350 Asus Eee PC 901 Netbook with the features mentioned in the headline. “Original price” was $600, though the cost has apparently dropped since then; read on.

No, I haven’t tried the 901. But the rugged solid state drive and a rated battery life of up to 7.8 hours could make it interesting to some e-bookers—even if this is hardly the ultimate Black Friday bargain. For that, how about a widescreen 19-inch Acer LCD monitor for $110, new?

What a shame that the Asus netbook lacks a swivel screen of the kind that could convert it into a tablet. But the small size might still make it attractive to some as an e-book reader.

Related: Amazon’s page on the PC 901, with customer comments. The usual price is listed at $440, and the price on the page is $350, with a reference to Tiger Direct in the shipping schedule.

Also of interest: Dr. Ellen Hage’s discovery of a $198  ECTACO jetBook E Ink Reader (Black Friday price).

Suggestion: Why not share your own Black Friday sightings?