Ebook readers have become popular since the introduction of Amazon’s Kindle. Amazon’s Kindle 2 will be released next week. There are however other ebook readers that might make more sense for some users. One of the major points of criticism that Amazon’s Kindle has to face is its digital rights management. Ebooks that are purchased to be read on the Kindle come with DRM that makes it impossible to read them on other devices. That also means that you cannot sell the ebook or give or lend it to a friend. Another problem that arises is that Kindle 2 can only read pdf or doc files after they have been converted to another format. Not very practical for users who want to use the ebook reader mainly for reading pdf or doc files.
A viable alternative was announced some time ago in 2008 in the form of the Txtr Ebook Reader. The reader does not use DRM, supports a much broader format spectrum including pdf, html, Office and ePub formats, provides an Open Software architecture and uses a Linux kernel. It offers the same screen resolution as the Amazon Kindle 2 which is 600×800 pixels. The device makes use of an integrated accelerometer to automatically detect the orientation of the device and display the text accordingly.
Another difference is the design of the Txtr ebook reader which has been streamlined to be usable with one hand. Other specs of the device are:
- eInk Vizplex 6″ display at 600×800 pixels
- 146mm x 128.2mm x 8mm, 260g
- Freescale ARM11 CPU 532MHz
- 64MB SDRAM onboard
- MicroSD memory card slot
- 8GB MicroSD card included
- internal 3G/GPRS modem
- USB 2.0 cable connection
- Bluetooth 2.1 for audio, external keyboard and future enhancements
- WiFi
The device will be released in the third quarter of 2009 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The price is unknown at this point in time. If you are looking for an ebook reader that supports a wide range of document formats out of the box and does not come with DRM then it might be a device to recon with. The main drawbacks are the missing “ebook library” that Amazon supplies and the availability and price.
Update: The web page is no longer available. It seems that the project has been discontinued.
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nice… an option for kindle2
Any e reader is available in INDIA?
this is weird, ghacks having an image on the homepage =))
yes that’s a rather rare occurrence ;)
OMG I live in Austria!! WOOOOOW!!!
It seems that soon there will be plenty of e-books. We here in Ukraine don’t see any Kindle (and don’t need it in fact), and companies have trouble selling SONY and Ectaco books because of 2 custom e-book versions.
I use lBook® eReader V3
6”
800 x 600 pixels 4 shade of gray
Lithium-ion battery 950 mAh
SD/MMC (up to 4.0 Gb)
PDF, RTF, WOLF (own format), HTML, XML (FB2), TXT and DOC, and my reads DJVU too. I tested all except WOLF, there are some issues with particular files or encodings, but most are readable.
Available in EU.
Here is the link: http://www.lbook.com.ua/en/Products/lBook%20eReader%20V3
The Kindle is actually quite classy; it’s like a convergence of old school and new school technology
the main thing that will stop kindle or kindle2 is that it ONLY works and sells in the US. so for most of the rest of the world, it is not viable.i wish other e-book readers had wireless, but usb for charging/loading will work just fine to.
I like the very simple design. It seems to look like a futuristic ebook reader
i would iike to know the Txtr ebook reader price and when will it be sell?