PocketBook has recently launched a new e-reader, the PocketBook 302 Cookie model, packing a touchscreen display, WiFi and Bluetooth. The device supports content downloads and USB-host, allowing you to transfer data from your PC using a flash drive. The new e-reader uses a 6 inch touch display, with a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels and E-ink technology.
Just like the previous model, PocketBook 360, the 302 Cookie uses sensor orientation, allowing the image on the screen to unfold depending on the position of the device. Cookie also includes a 2000 mAh battery, that will provide enough power for over 16.000 read pages.
What’s neat is that you can listen to music while reading e-books and you get 1GB of internal storage, plus up to 64GB via microSD cards.
Umang Dokey created a very interesting Windows Phone 7 tablet concept, that you can see in the image below and in action at the end of the article. This device packs an 8 inch touch display, two webcams that enable 3D video calling and a built in stand, also used as the tablet’s keyboard.
Two analog joysticks are also incorporated into the back side of the product, making it very gamer-friendly. It’s interesting to see Microsoft’s newest mobile OS landing on something else than a handset. Too bad that the platform lacks copy/paste functionality for now, but that will probably be available with Windows Phone 7.1.
These days there’s another interesting event to attend, aside from Microsoft’s MIX10, the Future of Publishing Summit in New York City. Among the attending companies there’s Marvell, showing off a couple of prototype devices, based on Armada processors, including a reference design of a 10.1 inch Android tablet. Here’s the device:
This is a pretty “fat” tablet, that should become sexier once it’s adopted by another company. Marvell claims that it expects finished products based n this design to hit the market before the year end, probably with a decent price tag, one suitable to compete with the iPad’s $449. Marvell’s device uses a version of Android much like the one on Android phones (Nexus One or Droid), but with a higher resolution display in the mix.
As far as the Armada processors are concerned, this is a low cost and power efficient solution, developed by Marvell and ideal for devices like e-readers and tablets.
Apple has just announced the conditions for replacing the iPad battery, which is basically giving the user a brand new tablet instead of the old one. This comes with a price, $99 to be more precise and it’s pretty weird that Apple chooses to send a new unit instead of the old one. This is very much unlike the iPhone battery servicing, that will have the device torn apart, battery replaced and the handset shipped back to you.
With the shipping included, you’ll pay up to $105.95 for your “fixed” iPad, or better said, the new one. The product comes in about one week, with the main disadvantage of you losing all personal data, unless you backup often. We wonder if the replacement iPad will be a refurbished one or a totally new unit, since none of the versions would surprise us.
If you like to toy with the thin border between MID and tablet, here’s a gadget for you: the iMito IM7 MID, a device with a Flash-based interface. This piece of equipment, that you can see in the image below, packs a 7 inch TFT LCD display, with a 800 x 480 pixel resolution and there’s also an ARM11 800 MHz processor on board.
Inside the 14mm thick case you’ll also find 256MB DDR2 RAM, 4GB of NandFlash memory and the specs list of the device also includes USB Host 1.1, USB OTG 2.0, a built in 1400 mAh Lithium Polymer battery, full HD video playback and an incorporated camera. There’s also an incorporated mic on board, support for 1080p HD HDMI video output, a GPS module and WiFi.
An external 3G module can also be connected to the iMito IM7 externally and a G sensor is also on board of the device.
If you’re a lady looking for a fancy e-book reader, PocketBook 360 might be your thing. The device uses a 5 inch E Ink Vizplex display, a G Sensor/accelerometer and a 400 MHz Samsung CPU. It runs on Linux and supports many E-book and image formats.
The device also packs RSS News, Calendar, Notes, Games and supports mini USB connectivity. As far as memory is concerned, you get 64MB RAM, 512MB internal memory, with 466MB user accessible. A microSD/microSDHC card gives you more storage space and a Li-Polymer 1000 mAh battery gives you more time to read using this product.
The e-reader is available in ivory and black, with a 10mm waistline turning to 12mm, with the cover on.
How about a 10 inch multitouch tablet to rival the iPad? This time we’re dealing with the Hanvon TouchPad BC10C tablet, reviewed in the video at the end of the article and pictured below. This device incorporates a 10 inch capacitive multitouch screen, with a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution and a 1.3 GHz Intel processor.
2GB of RAM are also on board, as well as WiFi and Bluetooth support, a webcam, 2 USB ports, an Intel GMA 4500 graphics solution and Mini HDMI output. There’s also a VGA out dongle included, plus a mic and speaker port, 5 + 3 shortcut buttons and internal dual mics (plus speakers.
Hanvon TouchPad BC10C gets more storage space via an SD card slot and the whole thing weighs 980 grams, with a 18.4mm waistline. The tablet runs Windows 7 Home Premium and costs $877, with the product being available in the US and EU starting March 25th.
Explay recently introduced a new e-book reader dubbed TXT.Book.64, based on e-ink technology. The device uses a 6 inch e-paper screen, with a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, it incorporates ergonomic side buttons and supports tons of text and audio files.
TXT.Book.B64 supports the option of returning to the last unfinished page, it uses selected search and fits thousands of books on an SD card.
It’s a 9,9mm thick e-reader, with the ability to select fonts and a battery life that should last for about 6000 pages of reading with a single charge.
Here’s a pretty original patent, filed by Qualcomm recently and revealing a multi-fold display that could make ASUS jealous (or interested), since they’re keen on such innovative designs. This device allows its user to fold and unfold it, so it would make a pretty good e-book reader. It can even turn a handset into a tablet and viceversa, or even a TV set, which is pretty cool actually.
Qualcomm’s interesting patent incorporates a “processor configured to execute at least one software application having a graphical user interface, the processor being responsive to the folding configuration sensor to modify the graphical user interface based on the detected configuration.” The interface plays the role of a panorama UI, or a desktop one, an app UI, a web browser interface, a media player UI and much more.
The only problem with this design is that when folded it makes out one bulky phone. We have a feeling that some major player like Samsung or ASUS will use this patent and not Qualcomm, since they usually provide chips and software to phone makers and don’t make full fledged devices.
As you might already be aware, the Apple iPad reached pre-order status on Friday and it even managed to score a record, selling 120,000 units in a single day. These are early estimates, so the numbers may grow, but they still show quite a success. The 120,000 were only sold on Friday, so this is a very impressive feat, even for Apple.
The largest numbers were associated with the WiFi-only iPad, that’s due out on April 3rd. Strangely enough, the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models were equally split in sales, so people don’t care that much about price, when it comes to more storage. What does this amount of units mean to the Cupertino giant? Well, about $75 million made in the first day of pre-order.
A simple calculus shows that Apple was selling about 25,000 units every hour and if they go on like this, they’ll pull an iPhone once again. April 3rd should tell us more about the fanboys and their will to line up in front of stores once again… We have to mention that the Apple Stores worldwide went down at some point, with the many people clogging the pipe to get a tablet.
If you’re wondering about the 3G iPad, it’ll be shipped in late April 2010, priced at $629, $729 and $829 and up for pre-order now.
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