Samsung e-book reader range doubles in a day
Yesterday two models, today four, including Kindle lookalike
CES 2010 Samsung's upcoming line of e-book readers is larger than the company's initial announcement suggested, taking in a Kindle-style model with a keyboard and a basic unit in addition to the two versions highlighted yesterday.
Then, the line consisted of the 6in E6 and the 10.1in E101. But with the opening today of Samsung's CES stand, we saw two further models, both based around the same 6in E Ink display used in the E6.
Samsung's E6
The first lacks the slide-out control panel found on the E6, presumably to reduce the manufacturing cost and so the purchase price:
Samsung also showed off another 6in model, this time with an integrated keyboard, along the lines of the one on Amazon's Kindle:
Closer inspection reveals the E101 not simply to be a scaled up version of the E6, but to sport its own design:
Samsung confirmed the readers will handle the de facto standard ePub format, plus PDF and text files. The readers will have a text-to-speech facility too.
The readers - with the possible exception of the low-end model - have Wi-Fi on board. They also have screens on which you can make notes using the bundles active stylus.
Samsung said it will release the e-book readers in the US in "early 2010", and we hear that they'll arrive in the UK in March. We can't say how much they'll cost when they do but, as a guide, US punters will pay $399 (£249) for the E6 and $699 (£437) for the E101. ®
COMMENTS
Nope
Nope, I have become adept at using the thumb and little finger on my left hand to turn most paperbacks, including thick scifi/fantasy novels. Right hand gets used to hold briefcase (while walking to/from work), straps/poles/handholds in buses and metro, or holding cups/glasses.
Re: As a Lefty
On every other device that I've used as an ebook reader (6 of then to date) I've been able to turn the page by simply tapping the bottom of the page.
Many of them offer several choices on how to select 'Next Page'.
The Sony PRS-600 demands a specific 'gesture' (a swipe) which is just more fiddly to do.
None of my other devices are dedicated eReaders, (PDAs, MP4 players & Internet tablets) but each one manages this better than the PRS-600.
It's a good job that turning pages isn't an important function in a dedicated eReader.
Hang on...
Sam
Handedness
Don't they tend to have multiple sets of page navigation buttons dotted around various edges of the device? The BeBook for one has at least three pairs of next/previous buttons that I know of, which also double up for other functions when not actually reading. Things like audio volume, menu navigation etc.
Big difference
You can read an eInk screen all day and not get a headache. Try doing that with a backlit LCD.
Right-handed
Same here, I agree. Of course you hold the book in your left hand so that your right hand, the one you use most often for manipulating objects, can turn the pages.
