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Android e-reader coming from Netronix and Texas Instruments
November 27, 2009 | 6:31 am
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By David Rothman
Suppose your Android e-reader could talk to your cellphone? Just what would the two have to say? Damn if I know.
But a reader developed by Netronix and Texas Instruments is supposed to interoperate with Android phones in one way or another. Use the handsets to download books? Maybe, I’m guessing. Goal is to ship more than a million units next year.
"Additionally,” reports Digitimes, based on a chat with Netronix chairman Arthur Lu, “Netronix plans to incorporate 3G or 3.5G modules into e-book readers, transforming the digital reading devices also into personal communications devices” appearing next year. Will these readers double as cellphones? E-mail machines?
From Digitimes: “Netronix is currently shipping e-book readers at a rate of 30,000-60,000 a month in the fourth quarter of 2009 and expects total shipments for the quarter to reach 140,000 units, Lu stated.”
The reader in the photo isn’t the planned Android model, but rather the current Pocket 360 made by Netronix. (Via Slashgear.)
Related: Netronix’s current e-reader line.
Technorati Tags: Netronix
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Comments:
Interesting choice of reader for the pic.
As I understand it, that particular reader is supposed to be a Pocketbook exclusive for a very robust and flexible software package that allows end-user installation of applications (games, calculators, calendars, text editors!) much as an Android gizmo would. The pre-installed chess game in particular is pretty interesting all by itself.
A nice preview of what an Android based reader might have to offer without becoming a PDA or WebPad, although I suspect most of the wireless models that actually make it into production will be webpads in all but name.
I just took delivery on a Pocketbook 360 this week and I’m very impressed both by the hardware as the software (well, the non-Adobe portion–ADE is ADE everywhere and it seems the annoyances it comes with aren’t limited to the Hanlin line). The hardware is solid and ergonomically sound–most comfortable to hold and use this side of the Ebookwise 1150–and the software is comparable to OpenInkpot; in some aspects it does less, in others more.
(I wanted a 5″ reader to complement the Kindle and absent OI on the Hanlin V5 or a Kindle Mini, I went with Pocketbook. So far I’m happy with what I see.)
For anybody interested in just how much functionality can be packed in a reader the size of a CD case, check out the extensive and screen-capture filled review in the Pocketbook Forum on Mobileread. (It comes with a built-in screen capture feature and the reviewer went to town on it.
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Taking advantage of the LCD screen to display colourful images for example.