(Credit:
Fujitsu)
We've had a lot of CNET readers tell us they're waiting for a little color before they jump onto the e-book reader bandwagon. Well, as one might expect, a little color is going to cost you a lot of dough, as Fujitsu gets set to release its Flepia color e-book reader in Japan with a $1,000 price tag.
In the works for several years, the Flepia has a bigger display than does Amazon's Kindle 2--it has an 8-inch 1,024x768-pixel XGA touch screen that can display 260,000 colors (Fujitsu refers to its e-ink technology as "color e-paper").
The unit also has built-in wireless Bluetooth and Wi-Fi options, an SD card slot capable of holding up to 4GB of storage, and a battery that, according to Fujitsu, is rated at 40 hours of continuous use (we assume that using Wi-Fi would drain it quicker, however). The Flepia runs on Windows CE 5.0.
A lot of e-book reader manufacturers are looking to Bluetooth connectivity as a way to counter the Kindle's built-in cell service (and Amazon is perhaps looking at a Bluetooth-equipped version of the Kindle for Europe to avoid country-to-country roaming-charge issues). You link your cell phone to the e-book via Bluetooth to access an online e-book store and a Web browser.
While the Google translation of the original post on Engadget Japanese is pretty garbled, the Flepia appears to have these features.
No word on when Fujitsu's color e-book reader might hit North America or Europe, but it's available for preorder now in Japan and is scheduled to ship on April 20. From the pictures, it appears that you'll get the choice of a black or white finish.
Anybody excited about this?
Link: English news release
(Source: Engadget Japanese via Gizmodo)
E-readers are all the rage (this week at least), so it should come as no surprise that another e-reader story is appearing on Crave.
Tech-On reports that Fujitsu is currently conducting a test of the Kindle-like Flepia mobile information terminal in Tokyo at the Termina Kinshicho Fujiya Restaurant.
The test is being conducted as a joint venture between SoftBank Telecom and Mainichi Newspapers.
I get the feeling that in the U.S. they'd have to chain these to the wall.
(Credit: Tech-On)Customers of the restaurant will be able to use the Flepia's (maybe Flepia is the plural?) to browse newspapers and advertisements wirelessly sent to the terminals.
Accoring to Tech-ON, the companies will verify whether the electronic paper module can be accepted as a terminal for reading newspapers, train schedules and weather reports, and whether the service can promote sales and boost customer satisfaction.
This system uses the "BB Mobile Point" wireless LAN service to deliver the content and to regularly update the content being displayed on the Flepia.
The Flepia uses electricity only when the displayed information is switched. As they don't need to be charged during business hours, there is no need to provide electricity to the table. LCD panel-based terminals, which have been used on tables (in japan), require an electrical supply at the table.
Hopefully someone had the foresight to serve the menu through the service as well. That seems like a given to me, but what do I know about quirky Japanese gizmos?
- prev
- 1
- next
