Samsung unveils its first e-book reader – with writing capabilities
As predicted, the red hot electronic book reader business is about to boil over with many new players unveiling devices at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Samsung today announced its first e-book readers – the E6 and E101 – each with some impressive specs.
Samsung Electronics today announced the company’s first e-book readers, the E6 and E101, each with writing capabilities – an industry first.
These products will let you jot down annotations, notes or reminders using a built-in electromagnetic resonance (EMR) stylus pen. Other features include handwriting recognition, drawing support, calligraphy and edit functions (cut, copy and paste) by using the stylus’ pressure sensitivity.
More importantly for reading lovers, these models boast an e-paper display similar to real paper, says Samsung, resulting in crisp text, even outdoors. Supported formats include industry standards like ePub, PDF and TXT, plus the built-in dictionary can launch by double-tapping a word.
Similar to the Amazon Kindle, built-in text-to-speech can read a book to you, if you prefer, while MP3 support lets you listen to downloaded audiobooks or music.
Finally, Samsung’s e-book devices will be equipped for wireless connectivity using Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) – not cellular connectivity, as with the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader Daily Edition (U.S. only). Users will be able to download content, such as books and newspapers, without having to tether the e-book reader to a PC.
No pricing or hard launch date has been announced yet (nor do we know the differences between the two models yet), but Samsung says the E6 and E101 will both be available in “early 2010.” Stay tuned to Sync for further details.
How does the cost of downloading new e-books compare to the Kindle? First, do Kindle-format books cost more or less than those sold as PDF or eTXT etc.? Second, will WiFi connectivity cost more or less (on average) than downloading over the cellular network?
Would the speed of download differ between the two? I have a niece in a rural area using that red Rogers-Rocket-stick device for internet access, and net surfing via the cell-phone network it uses is agonizingly slow.
-becca
This e-book reader looks awesome. When it will be launched? What would be the price?
It’s nice to know that samsung has its e book reader. I’ll be checking the features of this device and see how it can enhance my research scheme.