Alex eReader
At $399.00, Spring Design’s Alex is priced higher than both the Amazon Kindle, and the Barnes & Noble nook, however, there are features that may make it worth the extra cash for many customers:
- Alex promises extra flexibility not present in the current version of nook
- 8.9 x 4.7 x 0.4 inches overall
- 6 inch, 600×800 eInk display, capable of showing 8 levels of grayscale in the current implementation. (Look for an upgrade here, as the device can actually support 16.)
- 3.5 inch 320×480 color LCD panel touchscreen
- The 624mhz Processor with 256mb of memory runs Android 1.5
Device includes mini-USB, WIFI, micro-SD card slot (card included), headphone jack, stereo speakers, and built in microphone - The battery life is estimated at 7500 page turns or 6 hours multimedia use
Additional features include:
- Larger page turn buttons with dual function as the Back, Home, and Menu shortcut
- Android email app
- Media Player(3GP, FLV, & MP4)
- YouTube Calculator and Gallery
- Spring Design’s own BookStore app, which has shortcuts to several online ebook stores & libraries (Google, ePub, Gutenberg, Web Books, Feed Books, and SMash Words), with a partnership with Borders later this year opening up the market even further.
- The device supports 5 font sizes, annotation, bookmarking, etc., much like other eReaders on the market.
- Supports ePub, Txt, HTML and pdf file formats
Slated for a 3G update later this summer, and an Android update, with further functionality already in the works.
