Panasonic's Word Gear e-book reader in the wild

Now that Sony has run out of its PRS-500 Portable Readers (online, at least), it seems like we'll have to look elsewhere to feed our e-reading jones, and since we're not quite ready to shell out the big bucks for iRex's iLiad, we have may have to resort to a little import action. We first spotted Panasonic's so-called "Word Gear" reader last week, and at $350, it's priced comparably to Sony's offering -- though you're not getting any of that sweet e-ink nor the massive battery life that goes with it. Still, these "in the wild" shots from CEATEC prove that the 1,024 x 600 Word Gear is definitely quite readable, and the multimedia functionality makes it a great alternative to DAPs or portable DVD players as a trusty travel companion. Our only complaint is the use of scantily-clad women to try and make this product more appealing; if you really wanted to catch our attention, Panasonic, you'd use that screen real estate to feature even more sexy gadgets -- like your latest AVCHD camcorder, for instance. Luckily the other pics are a little more on point, as you'll see after the break...

[Branko Collin @ Oct 3rd 2006 3:34PM]

Goomba, your eyes must weak. I have no problem reading from an LCD screen outdoors. Don't assume everybody has your disability.

Last week I was sitting in the park in full sunlight, reading Henry Carey's "Letters on International Copyright" (Gutenberg e-etext #14295) on my Palm Zire. I felt the sun on my skin, which reminded me that allegedly some very few people cannot read from LCD screens when sitting outdoors. So I tried to hold my Zire at an angle that would make the text unreadable. I could not.

The only way to make the screen unreadable was to reflect the sun directly on the plastic protective screen of the Zire. But of course any E-ink device will have the same problem. E-ink can be damaged by contact with water, so it needs a plastic or glass screen on top of the e-paper layer.

[Ndric @ Oct 3rd 2006 2:16PM]

Pretty much the perfect use isn't it.. Jap hentai and porn on the go.

Ugh.

[General Public @ Oct 3rd 2006 10:55AM]

I've been patiently waiting for the Sony since last year, but now that I see rather serious issue with handling of PDF documents, it's a huge dealbreaker. The Word Gear might be a serious contender. Battery life is obviously inferior to Sony, but it still beats a paltry 90 minures on a tablet PC.

[Kelly Nair @ Oct 3rd 2006 11:00AM]

That dude's got some hair just itching to bust out. Just look at it!

[rob @ Oct 3rd 2006 11:10AM]

i don't even want to know what hes doing with his other hand....

[icerabbit @ Oct 3rd 2006 2:34PM]

And, exactly what type of e-book is he reading in the first photo?

Could this be another case of adult content fueling technological progress???

;)

[yubastard @ Oct 3rd 2006 12:08PM]

you don't like scantily clad women? Engadget, tell me it ain't so...

any device with scantily clad women is more appealing than a device with a mac mini, ipod or cellphone pic in it.

[whatever7 @ Oct 3rd 2006 12:24PM]

I hope the screen of the ebook is easy to clean up.... :)

[Evan @ Oct 3rd 2006 1:34PM]

Is that porn the dude is looking at? Why does it say 'model' on it? :p

And the world is just.. too smart for its own good. keep on inventing on the smallest unecessary things.

[Jeff @ Oct 3rd 2006 1:49PM]

I totally thought that said "Wood Gear", and not "Word Gear".

[OtakuCODE @ Oct 3rd 2006 3:39PM]

I want this hard. Luckily I'm not a psychologically crippled sex-o-phobic spastic like most of the commenters here, so I'm able to see that this gadget looks awesome.

One question: Formats? Will it read PDFs? DJVU files? CHM? What? Guess I'll have to do all the research myself.

[Mark D. @ Oct 3rd 2006 4:52PM]

Well the official site [http://saidoku.com/] won't easily translate in babel fish (embedded text in images) but it does mention it plays AAC audio and MPEG4 video, but avoids any extensions when it comes to other file formats.

[telepheedian @ Oct 3rd 2006 6:15PM]

Mostly a killer video player with a large screen and ebook software. Not bad as long as you don't follow marketing materials.

[Azania @ Oct 3rd 2006 6:55PM]

In the last photo particularly, it is apparent that this device has a bit of bulge. Does it use C cells? Does it take V iA.garA? I think I prefer my Nokia 770 - it happily slips into any crevice...

[Michelle @ Oct 3rd 2006 8:01PM]

Hmm... this is pretty decent looking. Could use longer battery life though. No internal storage and very limited format support... hope they'll upgrade that part when selling it here.

For those of your ignorant of Japan, the book with the bikini gal is an idol photo book. Usually no nudity, just a lot of semi-nude pose. Perfectly legal for anyone under age of 13. Oh yeah, the Japanese aren't prudes like Engadget; no one cares if there's a little skin here and there. Nn hentai porn for the sexually-confused commenters here; sorry.

Going to the official site you can see that they've listed the Kiminozo light novel as an launch title... very nice. This will definately get the gadget otaku buying the device. Just that one title will gaurantee buzz for the device. The rest are okay.. mostly Otaku manga titles and Japanese prose best sellers. They need a killer-app for this device, and it's probably going to be some major language studying title; the Japanese love to spend their free time on useful things like learning. But from the zashinhon and light novel titles, they are gearing this thing squarely at the Otakus. Might as well have that girl on the cover wear a maid uniform.

[whatevas @ Oct 3rd 2006 9:33PM]

@Branko Collin

haha gotto love these kinda dudes, can write a whole para with no meaningful point in it.