Looks like Panasonic have taken a few steps closer to rejoining
the ebook posse with the introduction of their 5.6-inch Words Gear reader. The
touch-sensitive display brings a 1024x600 resolution and appears to be the same
5.6-inch full-color panel they were working on last year. The 105 × 18.5~28.4 × 152-mm / 325-gram Words Gear is capable of playing back a variety of SD-ePublish protected content off SD cards loaded with e-books, music, photographs, and video with a continuous e-book playback battery life of about 6 hours. No real details yet or pricing / ship date, but they'll certainly be limited to Japan whenever launched.
Update: This just in from
Engadget Japan: Words Gear has touch-sensitive navigation on the grip, not the display itself, and will cost ¥40,000 or about $340 when they hit the streets "later this year."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Snesgirl @ Sep 26th 2006 9:26AM
gah!
why do the japanese get all the best stuff?
That looks way better than the sony reader !
General Public @ Sep 26th 2006 9:34AM
beacuse over there they spend their billions on R&D in civilian technology, rather than weapons of mass destruction.
strider_mt2k @ Sep 26th 2006 9:30AM
Beautiful.
And that Panasonic piece is nice too.
zoara @ Sep 26th 2006 9:32AM
I hope that all the people shouting down the eBook readers with their 'old-fashioned' black-and-white screens are happy with this product.
I presume they'll be equally happy with its six-hour battery life. I mean, months of use without recharging is so old-fashioned.
boolean22 @ Sep 26th 2006 9:32AM
any word on internal storage?
The translated link doesn't work, still in japanese.
boolean22 @ Sep 26th 2006 9:33AM
I guess I've gotta translate it myself... :P
Rick Lyon @ Sep 26th 2006 9:39AM
Why couldn't the model pose with the actual device rather than photoshopping it in?
Kassidy @ Sep 26th 2006 10:14AM
This is not a product that uses e-ink, so there really is no point in purchasing it. I'd rather have an ebook reader that can last >7,500 page turns, has a screen that reads like a real book, and isn't limited to the Japanese market.
BT Hathaway @ Sep 26th 2006 10:17AM
One of these days I will buy an ebook reader. I would love to carry around books this way. Only it needs to last more than six hours and it has to work outside in bright light. Don't think they have the right combination with this one either.
vince @ Sep 26th 2006 10:47AM
Boolean, There doesn't appear to be any user-accessible internal memory. Media files are all stored on a SD card...
Chuckles McGee @ Sep 26th 2006 12:40PM
Does the model come with the Ebook?
Suggestion Box @ Sep 26th 2006 1:31PM
Hey Mr. Ricker, it should be Panasonic has (not have), unless you're talking about all the Panasonic employees. But I'm pretty sure you're talking about Panasonic the company. Don't let all the slashdot commenters confuse you.
Michael @ Sep 26th 2006 4:13PM
Some kinds of english (namely UK english) refers to companies as composite entities, so "Microsoft has" becomes "Microsoft have".
Just saying.
Alexander @ Sep 26th 2006 7:35PM
There is some more to it.
Matsushita Electric and two other Japanese cos are forming a joint-venture to start an e-book biz. They will launch the Words Gear reader in November. Press release:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetnews&storyID=2006-09-26T064451Z_01_T349200_RTRUKOC_0_US-JAPAN-MATSUSHITA.xml
William @ Sep 27th 2006 9:40AM
Nice, hows it compared to Sony when evrything is known.
jane @ Jun 9th 2007 10:57AM
It's in the middle of the year 2007 and I still haven't seen it in the market.... When will it hit the US market?
Craig @ Jun 20th 2007 7:20PM
Hi ,
I will wait for a panasonic ebook if I may know
when ,how ,and ,the cost of obtaining one from Australia.
Thank you very much,
from Craig.