With all the buzz about forthcoming E Ink devices, it's easy to ignore the alternatives. David of TeleRead reviewed (http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=5076) the UMPC-style Pepper Pad 2 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009AFX0S/mobileread-20/102-0553922-3212949?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&link%5Fcode=xm2) and he tested it for its capabilities as an e-book reader. To recap briefly, the Pepper Pad is powered with an Intel XScale 624 Mhz CPU, has a 8.4 inch 800x600 touch screen and is equipped with a 20GB harddisk.

On the plus side, David notes, the screen of the Pepper Pad is usable for reading e-books with enough brightness and sufficient sharpness. What he didn't like: keyboard, weight, short battery life, deep integration with Mobipocket (could be considered either good and bad, depending how much you like the Mobipocket format).

Although the market for ultra-mobile PCs is still in its infancy, I expect it to heat up fast with the emergence of the first UMPC devices. And personally, at a price of $670 (after a $150 rebate), I very much doubt that the Pepper Pad will win any hearts among e-book fans.

Related: Revamped Pepper Pad may be coming soon (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6430), Pepper Pad 2 - suitable for reading e-books? (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2250)

With all the buzz about forthcoming E Ink devices, it's easy to ignore the alternatives. David of TeleRead reviewed (http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=5076) the UMPC-style Pepper Pad 2 (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009AFX0S/mobileread-20/102-0553922-3212949?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&link%5Fcode=xm2) and he tested it for its capabilities as an e-book reader. To recap briefly, the Pepper Pad is powered with an Intel XScale 624 Mhz CPU, has a 8.4 inch 800x600 touch screen and is equipped with a 20GB harddisk.

On the plus side, David notes, the screen of the Pepper Pad is usable for reading e-books with enough brightness and sufficient sharpness. What he didn't like: keyboard, weight, short battery life...

So short they don't even put a time on it? Three hours might be ok for flights within Europe, but even though this looks nice, I still can't get too excited by something without at least 15 hours of life.

And its still has a shining LCD screen which tires my eyes :rolleyes5

I think thats the worst fact about UMPC's for ebook reading ... (could also stay then with my Nokia 770 which is much cheaper)

Sitting the whole day in front of a monitor i want some nice relaxing reading experience in the evening and not some tireing light show :bulb2: