Although the Kindle is the go-to portable reading device for celebrities and non-celebs alike, we may have a serious competitor in the e-reader circle in the near future. California-based Plastic Logic is introducing its own reader next year (something the Woz is really excited about — he Twittered about it earlier), and it's coming packed with some specs that may make the Kindle shiver in its boots.
What kind of specs? I thought you'd never ask. Reviewed at this year's All Things D conference (taking place right now in Southern California), the Plastic Logic device will come sans keyboard (which means all touchscreen, all the time), making it a little reminiscent of the iPhone as you swipe to turn the page.
The new device is good for business and pleasure — you can use Powerpoint, Excel, Word, and read PDFs, and there will soon be an online store to buy books, magazines, and newspapers. There are even rumors that the PL device will come with 3G compatibility. Sure, it looks bigger than the Kindle 2, but would you consider picking up a Plastic Logic reader?
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i wonder how much it costs,
1because the price of the kindle is why i don't have one yet.
It looks okay. The transition pages look kind of low-tech...I though they would have been able to get super high-res pictures on ALL of these readers by now.
And I also wonder if the price will be competitive with the Kindle 2. That's going to be a major selling point, and especially coupled with the price of downloading content, and if it DOES have 3G capability, how much would it cost to use it [if you have to pay for it, do you have to get a monthly plan? That adds up REALLY quick].
2The Kindle has 3G compatibility and doesn't charge a monthly fee to use it, which is part of the reason why it's expensive. Also, all this stuff you can do with the Kindle 2 and the Kindle DX which is releasing this summer. The DX is going to have a bigger screen and be able to support pdf's without converting them first.
3It's probably not coming out until 2010. Guess I'll be ordering a kindle next week.
4There is such a long, tragic list of gadgets with great tech but a poor library of content.
The one and only reason to get a Kindle is it's stupidly large library of content. When Apple releases the MacPad, I have no doubt they'll have the clout to catch up - but those two are the only products I'd consider.
5That looks almost as big as my Air — no thanks!
6I love ebooks, but this e-Reader is ugly, very big.
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