Mini Monster - Ectaco Jetbook

The Ectaco jetBook In one phrase: Well rounded! It reads PDF docs with ease. Formatting of docs is great, and it is small yet fast. I can open up a large doc, and it takes only a couple of seconds (with Sony, it took about 10). The screen is smaller than the SONY or Amazon, and I thought it would bother me. Here is the good news: you can rotate your doc! You can read landscape style, and the screen is perfect for that. The device is small that you can control it in one hand, and not heavy that you get tired. The keys are well placed, and the user interface is very simple! I charged it four days ago; been using it since, and the battery is at about 95%!
What I would add to this device: wireless internet access and a web browser. I know this kills the battery life, but it is worth it. I would like a back-light so I can read docs in the dark. None of the readers have this feature, but it would be very good thing to have. It doesn't read SD Cards over 2Gig, but I still have over 1Gig left - with over 200 docs already on the card.

Apple Touchscreen Netbook Rumours

Rumours of a macbook touch have been circulating for a while now but a release period has been set for around october 09, just in time for christmas.

The iphone has finally mated with the macbook.

The predicted end product is said to feature 9.7" diagonal screen and do everything a mac is capable and more. The screen is said to be based on that of Amazons successful reader, the kindle and although it's more of a must have gadget than a pc, it's priced like a macbook at an estimated $800.

It will be the end all of gadgets and i for one cannot wait to get my hands on one . . .

Amazon Kindle DX

Amazon keeps on hitting this Kindle thing right out of the ballpark. The DX is a worthy upgrade to the Kindle 2. From the HUGE screen to the native PDF support to the ability to turn the DX sideways to read, everything is just better on the DX.

1) The packaging is crisp, clean, and similar to a certain fruit vendor from California.

2) The DX comes pre-registered so all you have to do is plug it into the AC adapter and turn it on. The DX does the rest. Within a minute or two, your books will start appearing. From the time the UPS driver dropped off my DX to my first book was less than five minutes. Amazon has made the setup process very, very easy.

3) The native PDF support is absolutely brilliant. I sent a 6.7MB manual to my DX account. It appeared in less than 2 minutes! The fonts are crisp, the graphics are decent, and there is a "go to page" feature that allows you to skip through large PDFs.

4) The gyro-thingie works like a champ. While reading a PDF, I turned the DX 90 degrees. The DX reorientated the PDF automatically. Took less than a second. Not sure how comfortable it will be to read since the next page/prev page buttons are now at the TOP of the page...but it's a very cool feature to have.

5) The keyboard has been improved as well. The keys are now slightly raised and, in my opinion, easier to use.

The DX is expensive. No question about it...but if you do any kind of reading, you owe it to yourself to get one. You will not be disappointed.

Some people might question the e-ink, lack of color, and lack of a touch screen. The DX isn't designed to be a tablet...or have a battery life measured in hours. The DX can run for days with wireless enabled...and up to weeks without wireless. There are tradeoffs to be made. If you are seeking those features, the DX isn't for you.

If you are seeking a huge e-book reader with native PDF support, text to speech, massive storage, whispernet, ability to purchase a book and start reading it in under a minute, access to over 270,000 books plus millions of free books on-line, and enjoy reading, get a DX.

Ok, I did find one minor drawback. The left-side buttons have been removed in the DX. Not sure why. It's only slightly annoying...given all the other brilliant features.

Check out the video review below.

Braille Ebook reader concept

The technology is already available, just an investment from a blind entrepreneur could set off this braile ebook reader.
The technology uses electroactive polymers which change the surface's shape and turn the page once the last word has been felt.
Naturally the battery life will be shoddy while using this energy thirsty technology but on the plus side no back light will be required.
Updates will be available if more progress is made.

Cool-er than the rest!

Capable of storing between 500-800 novels, the 1GB Cool-er (expandable via SD) uses E-ink technology to replicate the experience of reading a book. It has to be seen to be disbelieved; the glare-free 6” display looks just like paper. You’ll be tempted to lick your finger to turn the pages. It’s also unaffected by direct sunlight, so you can carry on reading wherever you may roam. Amazing!

Simply download your books from any of the countless online sources floating around in cyberspace and drag them on to this USB friendly slice of genius. It’s easier than…erm, picking up a book. Better still, all Cool-er owners receive a 25% lifetime discount at Coolerbooks.com, home to over 750,000 titles, 500,000 of which are completely free. You’re spoilt for choice: thrillers, chick lit, biographies, children’s books, languages, best sellers – we were even gripped by a guide to used Fiat Bravas, which is hardly surprising because we still haven’t got over the novelty of reading books digitally.

Speaking of turning pages, the Cool-er’s iPod-style scroll wheel acts as a menu selector and page turner. It also lets you select from six font sizes and toggle between landscape and portrait viewing. The only thing it won’t do is make some fresh faced Z-listers godawful autobiography remotely entertaining.

It’s not all about the written word though, because this unputdownable little gadget also plays MP3s, so you can listen as you read. Hmmm… Dostoyevsky and Lady Gaga. Indeed it’s a proper format muncher and is compatible with several file types including PDF, EPUB, FB2, RTF, TXT, HTML, PRC and JPG. It’s even multi-lingual and can be used in eight different languages.

If you need more than just a reader . . . Hp iPAQ 214

Lets Keep it simple . . .

HP iPAQ 214 Pocket PC

Pros

* SCREEN (4" transflective TFT, 260K colours, 640 x 480 pixel touch panel display with LED backlight) - fabulous, I love it! ...this is definitely one of its best points. The colour is very good and image is sharp.
* Battery life - It is better than other PDAs out there. Personally I use it a lot and find it isn't enough (2200 battery) so I am upgrading to the monster 4400 battery.
* Set up + installation - easy enough.
* Operating System- Windows Mobile 6
* Expansion - both a CompactFlash and a separate SDHC card slot allows this device to use a 32 GB memory card in each slot for a maximum total of 64 GB of storage......now that a lot of memory!
* Connectivity (Integrated Wireless Integrated WLAN 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR)- I have only used WLAN, which was easy to setup and use.
* Cables and Connectors - AC adapter and mini-USB Port. The AC adapter allows you to both sync and charge the device.

Cons

* Speakers (audio) - poor volume. There are two speakers, but they do not work together at the same time. I hope iPAQ will fix this issue, as it is a major disadvantage of this product. As far as GPS goes, you can forget about (IMHO).
* No cradle
* D-pad -some have commented this is poorly designed. Personally, I do have an issue with it.
* Compatibility issues - It has come to light on many forums that CF cards put a huge drain on the system and some people have gone as far as not even using CF cards and only using SDHC cards. Also, others have found problems with software. Personally, I have not had any trouble with the software I have installed.
* Slip case - this will do if you just want something to protect the product while not in use. However, I prefer something that opens out, so I had to invest in a PDAair case.
* No handbook - minor point but for something that costs this much I would have liked a hard copy. You have to go to the HP website to download the handbook
* Cost of other products - for the first timers among you, remember in evaluating the overall cost you need to account for things like software (in my case medical software, backup software e.g. Sprite, today screen e.g. spb pocket plus (the one installed is very basic), Styletap (so one can use Palm software, as a lot free medical programmes are in Palm format, although many are now doing windows), Opera software if you do not like internet explorer...etc...the list is endless and the sky is the limit); ? new case; screen protectors...etc. The cost of things soon adds up.

SmartPhone Competition - Samsung Omnia

The Samsung i900 OMNIA is Large. It's reassuringly large though. You wouldn't want a device that is capable of so many wonderful things to fit in a pixie's pocket. Plus, as far as I'm concerned - it's a mans' phone, therefore it needs to be big.

If you like taking pictures but find the pretentiousness of carrying around a 15billion megapixel digital camera too...pretentious then this 5MP camera with all it's features - and there are far too many to list - will enable you to do so quietly yet elegantly.

If you're a chav and need every high-pitched, ear-shattering, 'Happy' Hardcore song there is to illegally download then this phone is not for you. Well, yes it is but let's face it, you can't afford it. Which, I think is another plus side - the cost. You're not going to get this phone any cheaper than £350 brand new (for the 8gb) and any cheaper than £430 for the 16gb. So it's reassuringly large and reassuringly expensive too. And not without good reason.

The Omnia boasts a Microsoft 6.1 operating system, the latest software for smart phones from Windows. Included in this software is Microsoft Office 2007, (Word, Excel, Powerpoint and a cheeky little OneNote, which, in my opinion is the loveliest of all Office applications)which is useful for every person who uses these applications on a computer, and a great bundle of bragging rights for those who don't but want to show off.

With the 8gb version you have enough memory to hold up to 2,000 mp3 tracks, or an indeterminate amount of photos. Video quality on the camera is good, however the microphone could be better and sound quality through the phone's speaker is lacking.

Another bad point - the stylus. More specifically, using the stylus to send a message, or to generally type on the phone. Yes, the Omnia comes with 5 different types of keyboard, and yes, one of them will suit you more than the others. The difficult part is that all of them require that you stop walking while texting.

The 3.2" touch screen has haptic feedback, meaning that you know when you've pressed something. Don't sneer at this because this addresses the problem of other touch screens - that you don't know if you've pressed a button or not for at least half an hour!

Windows Media Player comes along for the ride too, and it's unimaginably superior to Samsung's attempt at a media player with their Touch Player.

Battery life is great, unless you're watching films on your device, and, fully charged, will last you around 2 days of normal usage.

Some Omnias come pre-loaded with SatNav. Mine didn't. Woe is me.

Google Maps is another feature that is hugey impressive and hugely handy when you're out and about in a big city.

There's also a nice little feature on the Omnia called screen rotation. This allows you to change your phone's display from portrait to landscape just by turning the phone 90 degrees.

There's a widget bar on the left hand side of the phone, (widgets can be dragged around and dropped) but be warned that if this feature is on you can't have any other features such as clock and calender on simultaneously.

The quality of voice calls is below par. Often it sounds as though the person on the other of the call is screaming at you, and once you've turned the volume down a little you can no longer hear them.

On the plus side though, there is so much crammed into this device that you'll never get bored by it. Whether you're using it for business or for fun there really is something for everybody.

My Note Premium - Mating Pen With PC

My Note Premiumis an A4-size ink pad that can do what the traditional graphic tablet can't-writing your notes on the paper with a pen! There's no typing and no need to carry a Notebook all the time. Furthermore, you can draw the graphics effortlessly by using the pen and normal paper that a mouse and PC can't do.
The handwriting is stored as e-notes in the internal 32MB flash memory, which saves up to 100 pages. When an SD card is inserted, you save 30 times more!

MyNote is not only a notepad, but also turns into a graphic tablet by connecting the MyNote to PC with a USB cable. You could start enjoying the handwriting, free drawing, annotating, and making free notes.

MyNote Premium includes handwriting recognition software MyScript Note 2.0 and file management software MyInk.

MyScript Note 2.0 is a handwriting recognition software that supports the Trainer function to help create your personal handwriting profile in order to enhance the accuracy of character recognition.

When you take this out of the box you have to write a couple of pages to check your handwriting. Straight after that I copied a coupld of pages out of a magazine and it got 95% of what I wrote down perfectly and the rest just got corrected with the spellchecker.

This is going to help so much with coursework. Instead of coming home and then spending hours typing up my notes it will be connected straight to the pc and done in no time at all. The pen is quite comfortable to hold. The 32mb memory built in holds 99 pages and you can just slide in any old SD card. I had an old 64mb that was good for nothing but now adds another 200 pages worth of storage. You can use any A4 sized notepad but for accuracy you have to make sure that the notepad is held securely to the tablet for continouous writing. I have been using this for about 10 hours with no sign of battery wear but the battery for the pen is easily available and the batteries for the tablet are standard AAA.

Best is yet to come Fujitsu E-reader

Fujitsu's e-reader is based on "FLEPia" technology from Fujitsu Frontera that incorporates the color screen with a wireless data management system. And that screen is about as large as the average magazine page--making it far more suitable than the Amazon device for browsing magazine-style info or even e-newspapers. That's certainly why Mainichi Newspapers Co. Ltd. is involved in the trial of the e-papers currently underway in a Tokyo restaurant to see how the public accepts it.
The Termina Kinshicho Fujiya restaurant has a dedicated "BB Mobile Point" wireless LAN installed to serve content to the e-readers--this includes diverse stuff from newspapers to adverts to train timetables and weather reports.
Hardware-wise the e-reader is pretty sleek--it's got a narrow bezel which makes the Kindle 2's huge one look positively ugly, and still manages to be a relatively narrow 12mm deep. It also ditches the keyboard of the Kindle since it's got a touch-sensitive screen. Inside there's Wi-Fi and USB 2 for connectivity, an SD slot for memory expansion, stereo speakers, and the entire Windows CE5. And the device can go for 50 hours use on a single charge.

Soon to come . . . Seiko Epson eReader

Those fortunate enough to traverse the halls of Embedded Technology 2007 could've seen Seiko Epson's latest wonder up close and in person, but for the rest of us, we'll have to settle for the above picture and a drool-worthy description. The prototype e-paper terminal measures in at just 3-millimeters thick and weighs only 57-grams, and it's even equipped with a USB port. Furthermore, it features a 6.7-inch display with a luscious 1,600 x 1,200 resolution, but the unit on display could only handle grayscale imagery. Also of note, the entire unit was powered by a single button cell battery, which enabled the screen to be redrawn upwards of 1,400 times (at 0.7-seconds per redraw) before running out of juice. Details surrounding its eventual commercialization were pretty much par for the course, meaning your guess is as good as ours at this point. Two more snapshots after the jump.

The terminal is driven by a button cell (CR1220). The screen can be redrawn for 1,420 times with one button cell because the electronic paper consumes power only when the display is redrawn. The time required for redrawing is 0.7 seconds. While the Seiko Epson's existing e-paper takes 5 seconds to redraw the screen, the company enhanced the redraw speed by improving the drive circuit, etc.