What is ebook Reader and "Amazon Kindle"
About ebook readers (Electronic Textbooks)
Electronic books has become top selling gadget nowadays and slowly growing in demand. It is touted as one of the break through technologies that is revolutionizing the way books and newspapers are read. Imagine reading a document on computer (you are doing that now). Now replace that with reading the same document in printed paper, this definitely feels better. Now imagine holding a sleek device that displays virtual papers to you with reading experience as comfortable as reading the printed paper itself. Now also imagine replacing that school bag or that paper-ware on your desk with a single e-book slate. That is e-book.Almost all e-readers are on grayscale, very few support color displays. Devices have screen sizes from 6-inches to A4. Today's phones and PDA can also be considered as ebooks, but ebook devices in true sense will give you natural paper-quality viewing and do not require backlit displays (display technology is different for longer reading hours). E-book is a green technology - adopting e-books will reduce the paper usage, that indirectly reduces the chopping of trees.
Most current ebooks come with 6-inches screen. Some other have 8 to 10-inches also.
Ebooks will replace the traditional textbooks in the long run. With the ever growing demand in these devices, this may happen sooner than expected.
Amazon Kindle DX
Amazon Kindle is considered the ipod of ebooks. This is a simple device that allows you to store, download and read books with real paper-like reading experience. The device does not have an LCD display with backlight adjustments. It is just a screen that uses glue e-ink concept to display data to users and has to be read in normal lights, just the way you would read a book. The device can store from 1500 to 3500 book titles!! Electronic newspapers and magazines can automatically be downloaded every morning.
Kindle runs on Linux 2.6.10. The Display is based on e-ink technology that holds millions of tiny microcapsules, each holding +ve and –ve charge ink particles in fluid. This allows for flexible displays also (http://www.eink.com/technology/howitworks.html). Kindle never gets warm, so you can comfortably read as long as you like.
The device comes with Amazon supported 3G/EVDO wireless connection that allows you to download contents free of cost on the device (at this time this option is available only in US, it will not be not of much use outside US but I haven't personally tried this). You do not actually need a computer to manage this device, but USB cable is provided.
Single charging can allow you to read for 2 weeks (without wireless usage).
Other ebook Companies
It is not mandatory to go for Amazon Kindle only, there are many other companies producing ebooks now and each have something to offer. So evaluate the products and buy a book that suites your needs. I recommend making use of www.youtube.com to watch videos of all these products so that you can make a better choice.It is to be noted that all ebook devices currently use the same technology = e-ink. It means that the hardware is basically the same, no matter which device you buy. The differences primarily lie in the design, features, firmware, grayscale shades and supported formats. Some even provide the option of playing mp3 music and probably perform wireless downloads, but my main priority is on the actual usage of device as ebook, other options are secondary to me.
iRex Technologies iliad devices (http://www.irextechnologies.com/products) are not only readers but also come equiped with stylus for writing notes. Cost ranges between EUR 499 to 699. This device is actually useful for people who not only want to read but also write lot of notes.
BEBook (http://mybebook.com) is manufactured by Dutch company Endless Ideas and is known for good number of supported formats. It is actually a representation of Hanlin V3 devices that is manufactured by chinese firm Jinke (http://www.jinke.com). You will get a device for about $300. From what I gather from various forums, the BeBook firmware updates are actually fixing and improving on lot of features.
Amazon Kindle 1,2 and DX will cost between $300 and $500.
Booken Cybook (http://www.bookeen.com/ebook/ebook-reading-device.aspx) comes with Windows CE software. These would cost about $350 to $450.
All devices, except Cybook, are running Linux OS. I found a good site for comparing the various devices - http://www.electronicbookreaders.co.uk/compare-ebook-readers/compare#compare_ebk
Followup
After some indepth analysis in terms of Cost, value-for-money, battery life, format support and just reading features, I decided to go for BeBook (http://mybebook.com). I so decided not because it is cheaper than the lot, but because of its versatile nature and is closely aligned to the concept of an open source market. Note, this is just my choice and should not blindly be yours. Survey and analyze for your own needs.
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This page was created on 30-May-09. Last updated on 30-May-09.
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