Samsung partners with Barnes & Noble on new e-reader

The $299 Samsung E6 eReader is due to arrive in April or May.

(Credit: Samsung)

Samsung's new e-reader devices have been kicking around for several months, but now we've gotten word that the 6-inch model--the E60--will be released in the U.S. in the April-May time frame with a MSRP of $299 and a tie-in to the Barnes & Noble's eBookstore.

The E60's claim to fame is that you can use it to take notes and you can mark up documents using a special electromagnetic resonance (EMR) stylus pen that's included with the device. Lose the stylus, though, and the touch features disappear, because you can't use your finger with this type of touch-screen display.

The E60's other distinguishing features are a slide-out control panel for when you don't want to use the stylus, expandable memory (2GB built-in), Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) wireless connectivity, and Bluetooth for audio transmission to wireless headphones. Samsung says its "unique" EmoLink technology enables users to share content wirelessly between Samsung eReader devices.

I had a chance to play around with the E60 and it has definitely got some intriguing features. However, the stylus interaction with the monochrome display feels a bit retro, as if I were using an old iPaq PDA circa 1998. With the arrival of the iPad, I'm just not sure it's got enough pizazz to compete at $299, but it will be interesting to see how it fares against Barnes & Noble's own Nook, which costs $40 less.

According to Samsung, the E60 will offer users some of same Barnes & Noble features found on the Nook, including the capability to lend out certain ebooks to friends free of charge for up to 14 days (big emphasis on "certain"). We've yet to confirm whether you'll be able to stream ebooks wirelessly to the E60 if you're inside a Barnes & Noble brick-and-mortar store, and B&N still hasn't released this feature to Nook users, so we'll have to get back to you on that.

Comments?

See more upcoming e-readers:

CES: 2010 new e-book readers galore (photos)

[chipotlecoyote]

"EmoLink"? Really? Was Samsung's marketing department scratching their heads and saying, "After all those stupid jokes about the name 'iPad,' we need to compete in the easily mockable names department. But how? Wait, I know!"

[gwailo247]

That made me think, a good business promotion would be to offer free e-books within a certain wi-fi radius. Say Starbucks lets you read certain e-books as long as you're in one of their stores. If you're in the store, you buy coffee, etc. If you really like the book, you have the option to buy it when you're about to leave the store and lose the connection, which would cut off access to the book. The publisher and vendor come up with some kind of profit sharing scheme should the book be read in its entirety in the vendor's store, as you'd assume the reader would purchase food and beverages while reading the entire book. This would work for airports and other such places.

[mrmuppet]

EmoLink (which sounds like a group of introspective teenagers with black fingernails holding hands) will only work if lots of these devices sell and you actually know someone who has one of them.

And we all know that they won't because fickle customers will ignore all mono screens once the iPad comes out.

Shame though, I quite like the retro look.

[Goodbye Helicopter]

FAIL.
That's a HandSpring Visor. with a slide out nothing button.

[mrmuppet]

"FAIL" really has to stop now.

It's as tedious and ridiculous as other forum favourites, "pwned!" and "troll!".

(Not intending to attack you personally, Goodbye Helicopter, you've just triggered a random moan).

[42istheanswer]

I like the term 'FAIL'. It's concise. It's quicker and more politically correct around those sensitive office ears that would find 'F**k, that is a piece of s**t." a bit repulsive.

[mrmuppet]

I think something along the lines of TURD would be more amusing and creative though.

[CupertinoBill]

gwailo
Great idea. Read a book for the price of a cup of coffee. Spend 3 hours taking up space in Starbucks. How long would starbucks last with all the chairs and table occupied by a bunch of slow reading cheapskates? Yeah, great business plan.

[disco-legend-zeke]

The key data here: Barnes & Noble has the inside track to publeshers.

[windooor7]

WEll ,soon and very soon ,maybe one year away, apple wil drop ipad prices to 299,199 and with that said, it will be imposssible for any other e reader to survive. Its its time all other e-leaders find something else to make. Apple does not compromise!!

[MaxZK]

Who will buy this Samsung for $299.99 if jetBook-Lite (with much faster TFT screen) available for $129.95 from NewEgg.com and it has support for B&N Books?

[lantern007]

It is an expensive machine, and as of now i think the market is still situated toward price. As MaxZK wrote, the jetBook LITE is a very interesting device and at that price point it's very difficult to beat when looking to read books while making technology affordable. It sounds like a good plan to me and i don't think any other reader can top it.