Alpha 700 = 8.9" 1024x600 LCD + E-Reader = $219

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why? I read eBooks for 20+ years on LCD devices before eInk appeared. 5 hours battery life is perfectly adequate for most people - not many people read for more than an hour or two at a stretch.

Of course I prefer eInk, but to say the LCD devices are "horrible" is a gross exageration, I think .

I would certainly prefer this to reading on my phone. If I ran out of battery then I couldn't read. That's unfortunate. If I run out of battery with my phone, I'm out of contact which is generally not wise in my life. The only time 5 hours would be inadequate for me would be when I'm traveling. I still prefer eInk but this doesn't seem to be without use.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Alisa

I would certainly prefer this to reading on my phone. If I ran out of battery then I couldn't read. That's unfortunate. If I run out of battery with my phone, I'm out of contact which is generally not wise in my life. The only time 5 hours would be inadequate for me would be when I'm traveling. I still prefer eInk but this doesn't seem to be without use.

Which is why I also want an e-ink device. Much easier to take with me when I'm going camping (which we do by tent and without power...) Not that I'm reading on my phone (which is generally out of power, as I don't want to be "in contant" always... besides, it's an ancient one ), but my PDA.

I doubt I'll completely switch to an e-ink device if I have one, lack of touch screen and backlight will become inconvenient at times, I think.

[bjkel]

My reasons for preferring the smartq 7 over this is:

1. Weight 720g compared to 480g of smartq 7.

2. Battery life a lot better on q7

3. Buttons on the front of the q7. Just a quirk of mine I guess but I prefer having a button or a joystick toggle to turn pages in a reader.

4. I think 8.9 is getting a bit big for me. For a comfortable ebook reading experience. Again personal preference.

Looks like it comes with a nice cover though, which is cool.

[Faenad]

Seems like a nice device. From the photoshopped picts it's look nice, but lack of buttons would hampers it's use as an ebook reader. Battery like is OK, I guess minimal backlighting and reduced processor speed should allow to extend it quite a while.

[benham]

My Palm TX uses ereader. It is great for reading at night but almost impossible to read outside in the sunlight. Also all ereaders (I think) require the Palm Desktop and these cannot be downloaded to a 64 bit operating system. Otherwise I have really liked it.

[Sonist]

Originally Posted by Gem

...
The touch book is 300 bucks, but has a full keyboard/touchpad upgrade, 10-15 hour battery, and potentially better specs...not sure though, especially not fond of the lack of info on the internal memory...also I hate microSD.
..

If you read the description of the TouchBook, you'll notice that it has one battery in the screen part, and one in the keyboard part. Which means, that in a tablet mode, it hold only one battery, so the battery time would be more comparable to the 700.

Also, if the 700 has the new chip, it may be better than the ARM chip in the TouchBook.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by benham

My Palm TX uses ereader. It is great for reading at night but almost impossible to read outside in the sunlight. Also all ereaders (I think) require the Palm Desktop and these cannot be downloaded to a 64 bit operating system. Otherwise I have really liked it.

Is the transflective display on your TX that bad that you cannot read on it with the backlight off in direct sunlight?

Bummer if that is the case, because my Clie is great in the sunshine when I turn off the backlight and it too has a transflective display. I was just under the impression the TX's display was even more readable than that on the nx73v.

[benham]

Apparently. It is very readable everywhere but in natural light.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Sonist

If you read the description of the TouchBook, you'll notice that it has one battery in the screen part, and one in the keyboard part. Which means, that in a tablet mode, it hold only one battery, so the battery time would be more comparable to the 700.

Also, if the 700 has the new chip, it may be better than the ARM chip in the TouchBook.

Ah...interesting. So I guess the big factor (for me) is going to be how much RAM the touch book has.

Update: Touch Book has 256 Megs.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by benham

Apparently. It is very readable everywhere but in natural light.

wow, now that really sucks. I almost pulled the trigger a year back or so when Staples had the Tx for around $150 on an amazing sale. Short coming of the Clie line and typical of Sony consumer devices, you cannot upgrade the OS and they never released the code into the wild. So, on the nx73v I am stuck at Palm OS 5.0 and a lot of the apps I wanted to run, like Opera Mini which needs a Java runtime, won't work on 5.0. But for $16 I won't complain. Still does most of what I want.

But the display is wonderful in full sun with the backlight off. IN anything but full sun though it needs the backlight for sure. And in that mode it's, well, not great...

[fugazied]

Well it's cheap, but 5hrs is a hell of a limitation for readers who are also travelers.

[Lemurion]

I wouldn't use this as a primary reader - but depending on format support I think it could be great for reading comics.

[gabriel.gdawg]

Will it run WIN CE as well; I want to use the Mobipocket reader.....

Thanks

Originally Posted by Sonist

While reading about the SmartQ 7, I saw the Alpha 700 (A700). It's built by SkyTone, it has a larger screen and higher resolution. It will be available at the end of June, form Eletroworld.

I just received an email from Eletroworld, stating that the A700 will have an E-Reader. I am assuming it will be some version of FBReader (the same email said it "can use" FBReader.)

At $219, it's kind of hard to resist, even though it's LCD, and the battery life is apparently just over 5 hours (not sure how it's measured.)

I am not sure what the MIPS 500 MHz 32bit CPU is going to be exactly, but the only new MIPS 500 MHz chip I found is the RMI XLP832, which was announced in May. If this is the CPU the A700 has inside, it should be plenty fast.

Model Name Alpha 700
Operating System Linux 2.6 Preloaded
Display 8.9” TFT LCD true color
LCD resolution 1024 X 600
CPU MIPS 500 MHz 32bit
Wireless Built-in WiFi (802.11b/g)
Memory 128MB DDR2 (up to 256MB Optional)
Media MPEG1/2/4,H.263,H.264,WMV9,RMVB
Media Storage SD/MMC card slot (support SDHC)
Input Device Touch Panel, Directional keys
S.S.D. Storage (Solid-State Drive) 2GB up to 32GB optional
Audio Built-in Mic/speakers,Mic/earpiece jack
USB Output USB 2.0x1/Mini 2.0x1
Broadband Wireless(Driver Built-in) Optional:3G,EDME,CDMA,HSPDA

__________________

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by gabriel.gdawg

Will it run WIN CE as well; I want to use the Mobipocket reader.....

Thanks

I doubt it. So far as I can tell the current version of WinCE only supports ARM CPUs; htis device has a MIPS CPU.

[gabriel.gdawg]

Does it mean that we will not be able to use the MOBIPOCKET Reader on the A700?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I doubt it. So far as I can tell the current version of WinCE only supports ARM CPUs; htis device has a MIPS CPU.