Kindle Now Available In New Zealand.. As An iPhone App.

By Benedict Wee

Despite Amazon thinking us unworthy to ship their e-Readers to our shores, you can take comfort in the fact that their latest iPhone/iPod Touch application brings us the same functionalities as their physical device does.

Kindle for the iPhone allows you to:

• Buy a Kindle book from your Mac, PC or iPhone using a web browser and wirelessly transfer the books to your iPhone
• Read the beginning of any book for free before you buy
• Download the Kindle books you already own for free - they are automatically backed up on Amazon.com
• Adjust the text size and add bookmarks
• Tap and hold on a word to create a note or a highlight. Whispersync will back up and synchronize annotations with your other Kindle devices
• Read in portrait or landscape mode
• Select alternate background and text colors to improve reading comfort in low light conditions
• Tap on either side of the screen to flick pages
• Pinch to zoom images in books

The app is free and you pay only for the books you download which cost around US$9.99/NZ$13.75 for New York Times Best Sellers and most new releases.

Source:

Engadget Mobile - Kindle for iPhone takes over the world, hits over 60 new countries

Hands On: enTourage eDGe

By Benedict Wee

Gadget-site Gearlog has a hands on preview of enTourage's Android eBook reader and judging from the impressions they have, forking out US$490/NZ$650 doesn't seem too bad when you consider how much netbooks cost in New Zealand.

To refresh your memory, the eDGe is a dual-touchscreen device with a 9.7-inch electronic ink display on one side and a 10.1-inch LCD screen running Android 1.6 (though it might be updated to 2.0) on the other. This means all the standard Android features such as a web browser, media player and more importantly; the app market will be usable from the get go.

The eDGe is WiFi-capable and has Bluetooth but 3G access comes in a module which is sold separately. Its internal storage space is only 3GB though you can always expand it with a SD card and it comes with a standard headphone jack, built-in stereo speakers and a Lithium-ion polymer battery which will power the eBook reader for 16 hours on the e-ink display alone or 6 hours when both screens are in use.

To read more about the preview, hit the link below.

Source:

Gearlog - Hands On: enTourage eDGe eBook Reader Runs Android.

Creative Joins The e-Reader Movement With A Color Screen.

By Benedict Wee

e-Readers! They seem to be the buzz gadget to have right now, next to the portable tablets, which makes sense since they're practically the same thing.

To add to the growing list of readers hitting the market for the holiday season, Singapore-based tech company; Creative have shown a prototype of their device which integrates a bunch of multimedia elements into one.

The Zii MediaBook sets itself apart from other e-Readers by utilizing multiple gestures for navigation on a color screen. It copies Microsoft's Courier with its ability to search for highlighted words and it comes with media player and video chat functions.

So it is basically a tablet (see what I mean?).

Not much else is known about the device (like does it run Android?) but I guess we'll hear an official announcement from them soon.

Source:

Engadget - Zii MediaBook UI Video Explains Very Little.

Android-run Alex e-Reader Shown On Video.

By Benedict Wee

Right. So after getting burned by both Amazon and Barnes & Noble for not making their e-readers available to New Zealand we're left looking at the smaller companies to give us our e-book fix.

Spring Design's Alex is next in the line of e-readers that I'm hoping will reach our shores. Its specifications are pretty decent and judging from the video below it looks like Alex's bottom screen runs on a full Android OS which integrates with the top screen really well.

Source:

Engadget - Watch Spring Design Alex Push The Web To e-Reader Format.

Barnes & Noble e-Reader Called Nook, Costs US$260. We Don't Get It Either. (Update)

By Benedict Wee

Barnes & Noble have just revealed their e-reader in the US, joining the soon-to-be-over-saturated market of e-book devices announced in the past couple of weeks.

The Nook is equipped dual screens; a 6-inch E ink display for reading and a 3.5-inch touchscreen color LCD for navigation. Other specifications of the device include 3G & WiFi connections, 2GB internal memory, a microSD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Unique features of the e-reader include bookmarking, highlighting passages and note taking support and the ability to lend books to other Nooks for up to 14 days.

Unfortunately, the lack of Android makes the purchase of the Nook a deal breaker for me as stuff like web browsing and video playback are features that I would like in my e-reader so currently my money is pointed at Spring Design's Alex at the moment.

Update: Hey it turns out it DOES run Android! Though it does not specifically mention what features (i.e. Market, browser, video player) of the OS it does.

Update 2: Just like the Kindle, the Nook isn't available to New Zealand either. Poo.

Source:

Engadget - Barnes & Noble Officially Launches Nook e-Reader: $259, Pre-orders Are Live.

enTourage eDGe: Dumb Name, Cool Netbook/e-Reader Hybrid.

By Benedict Wee

If you think a 3.5-inch screen is too small to run Android ala Spring Design's Alex e-reader then perhaps this portable is for you.

Part Microsoft Courier/part e-reader/part Android netbook, the enTourage eDGe looks like a giant Nintendo DSi, except both are touchscreens and one isn't in color. On the left of the gadget, we have a 9.7-inch screen e-paper display where PDFs and ePub files are automatically opened to and on the right, a 10.1-inch 1024x600 resolution screen with Android.

Other specifications of the eDGe include 3GB of internal memory, an SD card slot, WiFi & 3G connections, Bluetooh, 2 USB ports, audio (MP3)& video (MP4,3GP) playback and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The device gets shipped in February next year and will set you back US$490/NZ$650, unless you want a different color other than midnight blue then it's US$40 more.

enTourage eDGe website.

Source:

Engadget - Entourage eDGe Is The Red-headed Stepchild Of Two Over-Saturated Markets.

Android e-Reader Makes Its Debut, But It's Not From Barnes & Noble.

By Benedict Wee

Tomorrow's the day when book store/publisher Barnes & Noble announces its long (by long I mean 2 weeks) awaited e-reader, poised to compete against Amazon's "popular-but-unavilable-to-kiwis" Kindle. While we wait in anticipation for a confirmation of the rumored Android-run device the people at Spring Design have stolen their thunder by announcing their own Android e-reader a day before.

The Alex has dual-screens; a 6-inch E-ink Electronic Paper Display on top for reading and a 3.5-inch color LCD on the bottom which runs Android for web browsing and viewing video/audio/photos/notes. Other nifty features include a removable SD card slot, speakers, a headphone jack and WiFi & 3G connections.

There isn't any information on which publishers would be supplying digital books to the Alex but Spring Design will make the details available closer to its launch at the end of the year.

Source:

Engadget - Spring Design Alex: Dual-screen Android-based e-reader

BeBook Two: Another e-Book Reader.

By Benedict Wee

Don't you just love how advanced our technology is that we get duplications of the same gadget really quickly?

If you've been disappointed by Amazon's Kindle not reaching our shores you still have the Barnes & Nobel one to look forward to and if you can't wait till next tuesday, another entry by BeBook is expected to make its appearance at the Frankfurter Buchmesse (that's the Frankfurt Book Fair for those who do not speak German) today.

The BeBook Two is a touchscreen eReader that comes with 3G /WiFi connections and free wireless RSS support (compared to having to pay on the Kindle).

No price or release date has been set yet but expect to hear more details as the device is announced.

Source:

Ebook Readers Review - BeBook Two To Be Released On The 14th Oct At Frankfurter Buchmesse.

First Barnes & Noble e-Reader Photos.

By Benedict Wee

Gizmodo has information and the exclusive shots of Barns & Noble's e-reader, which is set to be announced next tuesday at their "Major Event".

The device has dual-screens, the first being a 6-inch e-ink display with 800x600 pixel resolution where you'll be doing most of your reading and the second screen will be a multi-touch one which will be used for browsing books in a coverflow fashion similar to iPhones and iPod Touches.

The eBooks B&N plans to offer are said to come with a huge discount since they're also publishers and they will have access to scanned books from the Google Books project.

Source:

Gizmodo - Exclusive: First Photos Of Barnes & Noble's E-Reader.

Barnes & Noble e-Reader Coming Soon, Might Run Android.

By Benedict Wee

After being denied the Amazon Kindle here in New Zealand and no word from their PR on why/how this happened, a glimmer of hope presents itself in the form of the US book store Barnes & Noble who are expected to introduce their own e-reader to the market soon. How soon? Most likely next tuesday as Gizmodo has received an invitation to a B&N "Major Event" in NYC on the 20th of October.

Adding to that glimmer, there is a rumor that the reader will be powered by Android, which means a color screen and app downloads from the Market, definitely a better option than Amazon's monochrome screen and a way better choice than buying a Vodafone NZ imported one.

Source:

Gizmodo - Barns & Noble "Major Event" Next Tuesday.

Gizmodo - Rumor: Barnes & Noble's eReader Will Run Android.

Rumor: Vodafone NZ Might Bring The Kindle In.

By Benedict Wee

An article over at Computerworld hints at the possibility of Vodafone bringing in Amazon's Kindle, which was denied to us despite it being available to Australia.

If this is true then expect to pay out of your nose for the gadget as Vodafone will possibly try to jack the price up and justify it by saying the Kindle is "unlocked" and they are afraid you'll skip over to another telco.

Full article here.

Source:

Twitter Juha Saarinen via. Twitter IT Sercurity

Kindle Now Available To New Zealand. (Update: Nope, None For Us)

By Benedict Wee

Update: I've tried purchasing the Kindle and it turns out that Amazon is not making it available to New Zealand despite it being purchasable in Australia. Stuff.co.nz has a story about it here.

Original Story:

Books. You know, that thing that has words in it and relies heavily on the imagination to picture scenes of the narrative? Yeah well Amazon's device that displays and stores a ton of those in digital format is now available for Kiwis.

What was once a US-exclusive gadget, the Kindle can now be shipped internationally and features the following:

Slim and Light - 1/3 of an inch thickness and weighing only at 10.2 ounces.

Books under 60 seconds - Books are delivered wirelessly in less than 60 seconds.

3G Wireless - Download books from anywhere with a 3G connection.

Paper-like Display - Reads like real paper without glare, even in bright sunlight.

Carry Your Library - Holds up to 1,500 books.

Long Battery Life - Read for days without recharging.

Read-to-me - Experimental Text-to-Speech feature allows the Kindle to read out to you. (Subject to book's rights holder availability)

Free Book Samples - Download and read the first chapters for free before deciding to buy.

Large Selection - Over 350,000 books (including 104 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers) plus international newspapers, magazines and blogs.

Low Book Prices - New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases are US$9.99/NZ$13.60 (unless marked otherwise).

The international version of the Kindle retails for US$279/NZ$378 (minus shipping) and will be released on the 19th of this month.

Source:

Amazon.com - Amazon Kindle Now For Sale To Customers In More Than 100 Countries.