Updated: Spring Design entered the e-book market today with “Alex,” a dual-screen device running Android and boasting a full-blown mobile web browser. But is this the gadget Barnes & Noble is expected to trot out tomorrow?
As outlined by James over at jkOnTheRun, Alex rocks a 6-inch e-Ink screen for book content as well as a 3.5-inch color touchscreen for multimedia. It has 3G connectivity (EVDO/CDMA/GSM) and the ability to cache web content for later reading on the larger screen. Spring, a Fremont, Calif.-based firm, said it has been working with “major book stores, newspapers and publishers” over the last two years to bring the device to market. Meanwhile — as we’ve noted before — Barnes & Noble needs an e-reader to move beyond brick-and-mortar retailing into the digital age. But it looks like we’ll have to wait until tomorrow — at the earliest — to know whether Spring’s device is the rumored B&N device. Update: Well, unless Barnes & Noble has decided not to go with the Plastic Logic e-Reader, it looks like Alex isn’t the new e-reader from the bookseller. Plastic Logic just announced that its e-Reader will be called the Que, and it will launch tomorrow, the same day Barnes & Noble plans its device. Coincidence? Sorry, Alex, we think not.
Is it just me or does everyone else think the color screen on this thing is too big? If it’s purpose is to a virtual keyboard and show the occasional color photo… why is it almost as big as the main display?
I mean why not grab one of those dual purpose eink/color switchable displays due to ship to OEMs in Nov?
yeah, the color screen doesn’t look quite right on the device, the gizmodo mockups looked much better …
what do they mean by the QUE launching tomorrow? officially announced or ready for sale? the website claims january 7th, 2010 @ CES for the availability & pricing details…
You’ve got some wires crossed. Plastic Logic just said it won’t have more details to share about the Que until Jan 7, so it has nothing to do with Barnes and Noble’s announcement tomorrow. I think it is also unlikely that Spring pre-announced Barnes and Noble’s reader in advance of tomorrow’s news.
Barnes is not so noble if you look in its windows from inside