If the current crop of e-book readers seem a little dull to you, maybe one with a colour screen might pique your interest?
Until now e-book readers like the Amazon Kindle have been resolutely monochrome. While that’s great for reading books, it doesn’t look particularly appealing to potential buyers. A company called Paradigm Shift looks set to change that next month with the launch of two devices with full colour screens.
While Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-book reader has a colour navigation bar, Paradigm Shift is going full colour for the whole screen. That means illustrations should look a lot nicer and documents like PDFs will be displayed in their full glory.
According to Electronista, the two devices, one with a 5-inch screen and one at 7 inches, will feature a built-in MP3 player, photo viewer and 1GB of built-in storage, plus an SD card expansion slot. Additionally, the 7 inch model will run Windows CE and feature a full touch screen, wi-fi, IM support via E-Buddy and support for playing YouTube videos. That sounds like it’s creeping towards tablet computer territory to us – albeit a tablet of the rather underpowered variety.
Avalailable in a range of colours, the 5-inch model will reportedly be priced at $150 US, with the 7-incher costing $50 extra.
Paradigm Shift is hardly a well-known company so it’s difficult to believe that they can come out of nowhere to crush the Kindle. That full-colour screen should help woo potential buyers but with rumours that Apple’s so-called iSlate will actually be an e-book reader they’re not likely to be the only full-colour kid on the block for long.
Paradigm Shift’s two devices will be launched at CES in Las Vegas, which runs 7 – 10 January.
People buy the Kindle for Amazon, not the screen. All the colors of the rainbow can’t top tens of thousands of books delivered in seconds.
Interesting. The only e-reader that I know of that currently provides a color E Ink screen–the flexia in Japan–requires up to 8 seconds for each screen refresh in full color. I notice no mention of the screen type or refresh rate.
If it uses an LCD screen, the in my opinion it’s rather missing the point. E Ink is easy on the eyes, while we have plenty of LCD-based devices–like iPhones and laptops–that can be used for book reading.
Ha – well spotted Don. No idea where I got that from. Fixed.
What use of color when resolution remains so low ?
That’s ‘pique your interest.’ A ‘peke’ might refer to a dog.
I tweeted this earlier today and the rest of the day was spent receiving and answering comments directed at me in Twitter.
The comments here do NOT show the apparent devotion of Kindle-users and the continuing switch from print to electronic news.
Here are a few I received:
@technobozo that does nothing to reduce eye-strain, though…which is the big selling point of the e-ink displays for me
@technobozo yeah, I feel bad for those that have a Nook on order, by the time they get it in Feb. it’ll already be outdated.
@technobozo that said, the world of e-Paper is the single most fascinating tech development to watch, barring none.
Color is easy (and cheap) to do on an LCD. Color e-ink is not yet mature. Unless Apple’s device has a color e-ink, it’s just a computer regardless of how they market it.
I’m not saying it won’t succeed marketed as an “e-book reader,” but, if it does, it will in the same way other inferior technologies have beaten out their superior counterparts in the past. If Apple does launch an “e-book reader” with an LCD, they are just begging some competitor to dump some cash into developing a more viable color e-ink display and showing them up with a superior reader.
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We already have a color e-book reader and it’s also a psuedo-Kindle at that. It’s called the iPod Touch / iPhone with the Amazon app loaded. It offers a full color touch screen. It’s actually portable and easy to use. So, having a color screen is already old hat. Paradigm shift’s reader is neither.
iPod? iPod? Hey, I’ve been reading eBooks on an LCD screen (iPaq pocket pc) for 10 years. The only innovation that counts is when someone produces a magazine-size reader that’s lighter and thinner than a magazine, has colo(u)r and a full touch and writable ink screen. I’ll stick with my iPaq till then.
It does not specify what display it uses, if its using colour E-Ink display then its really cool…
I bought my Kindle because it has exactly what I want for reading a good novel:
. Get current best sellers for $9.99
. Can set text size & words/line – aging eyes
. Can read more comfortably w/ a Kindle
. Eliminates library and bookstore visits
. Suggest a book & I can have it in a minute
. E ink is easy on the eyes
. Only have to charge it twice a month
. And more – Quite a bit more
I have a smart phone and iMac for the color stuff. I’ve yet to read a good fiction novel where color would enhance my reading.
KenJr pretty much says it all. Almost every story I see that promises some new non-e-ink device is going to “kill the Kindle” makes it clear the writer has never used an e-ink reader. And posters who mention iPhones and iTouches are right. Folks who will settle for LCD have plenty of options.