A summary of CNet's E-Reader Comparison

Atomictown, part of tricityherald.com, provides a good summary of CNet's comparison of e-book readers.  This includes (with 5-star based ratings) the Cool-er e-book reader (3-stars); the Sony PRS-700BC (3 stars); the Amazon Kindle 2 (4 stars) and the Kindle DX (3.5 stars).

More to the point, they give the main reasons along with links to the actual reviews with much more detail.

  As usual, reviews don't take into consideration, though, the very high cost of unlimited wireless access (which is not for only the Amazon store as too many have thought), but that's been covered here quite a bit already.

Also, Gizmodo has a detailed review of the Cool-er eBook Reader.  Many photos and a clean, clear looking screen but, like other reviewers, they find it awkward to use, and they recommend the Kindle 2 and Sony PRS-505 over this reader. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

News in the Kindle world - Wk of 6/20/09

These are the more unusual headlines.
    (To those reading this on the Kindle edition of the blog, links actually can be followed with the Kindle's web browser.  You can save battery juice by having the Kindle plugged in while using the Kindle browser at home, but the computer will of course be faster for that.
    The Kindle browser's narrow screen can lead to awkward web-browsing and it's slow, as cell phone network speeds are often throttled.   To make it more doable and sometimes even enjoyable, try my Tips for using the Kindle web-browser.)

  1.  Amazon didn't open source the Kindle although that was implied when Amazon posted source code for each version of the Kindle, including the DX.  This raised hopes because Bezos had said at the Wired magazine conference on Monday that, as reported by cmswire, 'he intended to to give the Kindle device team competition by making the Kindle books available on even more mobile and computing devices."  But the code is just the GPL'd Linux libraries and drivers.  A bit more detail is available in the Internet News story.

  2.  UK - The Guardian takes a tougher look at the Cool-er and BeBook e-reader offerings in the UK, where the Amazon Kindle isn't sold yet.  Many reviewers looking only at the surface but not understanding what the Kindle can do have not made apt comparisons to the Kindle or Sony readers, but this article does.

  The Cool-er reader: "Navigating an interface on e-paper can be sluggish at the best of times. When you have to scroll through menus click by click, it's worse. There are additional buttons on the sides for some options – call up main menu, flip page from portrait to landscape, volume controls. But to change text size you have to burrow down to the bottom of a menu labelled font family...You can sort your books by file name, file type or date, but seemingly not by book title or author, and options for skipping through a long list are limited."
  The BeBook: "Unless you are a die-hard MobiPocket fan, however, there's little to make it a compelling offer at the current £249 UK price tag. The Cool-er, by way of contrast, is £189.

  ...Until Amazon manages to bring the Kindle over here – if it ever does – the Sony remains the one to beat."

    Earlier postings on Cool-er Reader:
        Cnet Review, June 7, 2009
        Cool-er reader debuts, May 15, 2009.

  3.  The San Francisco Examiner's Scott Fogelson (Classical Music) sees the Kindle DX as a  "potential new musical tool."

"But even apart from musical considerations, the Kindle DX is a wonderful piece of gear; I haven't bonded with a device this thoroughly in a good long time. Easy to use, comfortable to handle, capacious (4 GB of memory), and with a sharp, attractive eInk screen, I'm finding in the Kindle a sense of rightness that I encountered with the iPhone, another device that became an integral part of my life almost instantaneously."

  4.  "Why E-Books Are Stuck in a Black-and-White World."   Priya Ganapati goes into the technical details that explain the absence of color in the current e-reader scene.  Good explanations, with an accompanying chart that compares the current state of E-Ink , Kent Displays (Flepia), Pixel Qi, and Qualcomm's MEMS system. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

CNet review of Cool-er Reader

I made an earlier report on the UK's Cool-er Reader, with blog updates added to it afterward.

Several columnists who don't mention the basic features of the Kindle units have referred to the Kindle pricing as "ridiculous" while not pointing out that the Cool-er Reader has virtually none of the Kindle's basic features (especially for a student who would want to search, highlight and add notes to books) -- and definitely not the free 24/7 wireless access almost anywhere that there's a cell phone signal, as the Kindles do, allowing free access to Wikipedia and Google.
  But I've thought for awhile that Amazon should make a budget Kindle without the wireless, to compete in areas (Europe, Canada, etc.) where there is no wireless Amazon has no wireless contracts yet like the one with Sprint for the U.S., since many would appreciate its research features at a more affordable price.

Here's CNet's review by David Carnoy, edited by John P. Falcone.  It includes a videoclip of the Cool-er Reader and is mainly an itemization of drawbacks, while it duly credits the native PDF-support, screen rotation, replaceable inexpensive battery, and SD slot features.  They summarize that it's not quite the bargain they'd hope it'd be.  One notable drawback:

' ...its interface lacks polish and its buttons aren't designed all that well, both in terms of placement and mechanical function (the biggest issue is that they're stiff).  Adjusting the font size, for example is a much more tedious process than it should be;  a dedicated font button like there is on the Kindle would have been nice.  You often end up dealing with menus within menus and check boxes you have to click.  It's just a bit cumbersome...'

They end the article with "At this point, the safer buy in this price range is the Sony PRS-505"... (which also does not have inline dictionary, searching, highlighting, note-adding features either -- nor the 24/7 wireless with web browser).

UPDATE 6/8/09 - Ken Hess writes about the Cool-er and wants feedback.
He asks "I'm wondering if a USB network interface (NIC) would make it wireless capable?  It would be bulkier and a bit clumsier to use but certainly a $249 initial purchase price and a $10 USB NIC still comes in at $100 less than the Kindle."

It wouldn't be actively wireless (even if a USB NIC worked with it) without a wireless contract, which nowadays is about $60/month.  So that margin is eaten up very quickly.

  Kindle pricing is $360 because Amazon advertises that there are no monthly wireless charges though it's available in the U.S. 24/7 almost anywhere and there is even a built-in web browser for the Kindle.  But I didn't want to join yet another discussion circle to merely write that.  I don't think most reviewers are aware of the lack of an inline dictionary, highlighting and note-taking, and searches. He's one of the few who realize the always accessible wireless feature can make a difference although Cool-er has no competition from Amazon outside the U.S. since Amazon has no wireless contracts in those countries.  There's no interactivity with this unit, for $250 though.  I think it will do better when their price is lowered some.  But I think I would personally try it over the Sony PRS-505 if I lived outside the U.S.

  Amazon offers a trial period up to 30 days for the Kindles, with full refund if the device is just not suitable or enjoyable.  Few companies seem to do that.

  Oh, re the paragraph that the USB port allows one to be free of having to buy from one vendor, Kindle users are free to get books from anywhere, unless they're copy-protected -- as long as they're in the common MOBI/prc format (Project Gutenberg, Fictionwise.com, Feedbooks.com, Mobileread.com, mnybks.net etc etc) and just about all direct to the Kindle without needing a cable, but the Kindle has the USB cable too. Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

UK's budget 'Cool-er E-book' reader debuts in June

Interead's Cool-er E-book will be released in June.  At $250~ it'll be, at 6 oz., 40% lighter than the small Sony reader, have an e-ink screen like the smaller Kindle's, and will have 1-gig of storage plus an SD slot.  It handles EPUB and PDF files (are you watching, Amazon?), supports 8 languages, and has mp3 playback for audiobooks.

  Summary of PC World's Melissa J. Perenson:  featherweight but somewhat inelegant, with stiff buttons;  an update with information on how it works is planned.  Interead has launched an e-book store with over 250,000 e-books, with plans to sell these at 25% discount to Cool-er Reader owners (what an oddball name) and 20% off for others.  The Kindle versions of NYTimes's bestseller list notables are usually 40 to 60% lower but prices on other Kindle books have been inching up.  The player will come in several colors.

  No wireless, of course.
  No keyboard input (no searches, dictionary, highlighting, or notes) but at $250, intriguing with the file types supported and pocketable size/weight if you don't care about the rest.

Wired's Priya Ganapati notes that the reader offers the choice of portrait or landscape mode.  She adds that Interead is "also open to working with software developers to create apps for the device which runs the Linux OS..."

UPDATE - 5/19/09: Forbes reports on how quickly Cool-er Reader's founder put this together.  I would look at warranty, servicing or replacement possibilities, and would look for a period of reported reliability.

  The article points out that this product and Bookeen's Cybook Opus both put pressure on Amazon to upgrade its file-format reading capabilities on the Kindle 2, wihch is larger than either of the new models.  Both read PDFs and ePub files.  The Cool-er Reader rotates the screen, allowing landscape mode and has an SD slot, while the Cybook Opus supports folders.

  Both are lacking serious book-reader benefits such as Searches, highlighting, note-adding, dictionary lookup, as well as the 24/7 wireless though.

  In the UK where Amazon does not have wireless, I can see the draw although a price like the one that Cool-er Ebook has set is steep for what both of these units don't do.

UPDATE - 6/7/09: CNet review of Cool Reader, June 2009 Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!