STAReBOOK e-book reader to hit China, US next month

We're still not sure exactly how successful this whole eBook thing will be. That said, if you believe Sony, "overwhelming demand" delayed the release of the PRS-500 until November, meaning that surely people will be rushing the streets to get their paws on an eBook. However if you don't want to wait until Sony gets its act together, you may want to check out Staretek's "STAReBOOK e-book reader," which is slated to be released for $440 in November, with two Chinese versions and one in English. MobileRead tells us that this new e-reader will bring a 6-inch SVGA 800 x 600 four-color grayscale e-ink display, 250MHz Samsung processor, 64MB SDRAM, USB 2.0, mono speaker, and it all runs on Linux 2.4.1 (including an MP3 player, apparently). If Staretek plays its cards right, it may just be able to stave off some of Sony's frustrated masses before they turn into an unruly mob.

[guilt+1 @ Oct 14th 2006 11:23AM]

I don't know where you got your info from on the Sony delay but since people have been and still are buying them, from Sony style shops, some Borders, Ebay and enterprising capitalists. It's not really much of a delay, is it ?. They've been on sale for 2 weeks. However finding a shop that hasn't sold out could be a challenge. Shops that have 12 in stock in the morning often don't have any by the evening by all accounts.

[Eric @ Oct 14th 2006 11:37AM]

It even looks better than the sony junk

[Anthony @ Oct 14th 2006 12:10PM]

I must say that I'm a Sony fan, but after buying mine -before- the date shift announcement & still seeing "scheduled to ship December 4" when I log in I am not a happy Sony supporter. Additionally, all Bay Area stores are out, so buying locally isn't an option.

[Chris @ Oct 14th 2006 2:06PM]

There wasn't a delay on the Sony Reader. I have one sitting on my desk right now-- they simply sold out of the first allotment to the Sony Style online store.

Kinda like when consoles sell out their first shipment...

[Chris @ Oct 14th 2006 2:11PM]

Oh, and Cyrus-- just to nitpick-- why does every one of your posts start with "we"? Are you really speaking for everyone there? :)

[Tony Rayo @ Oct 14th 2006 2:57PM]

This price seems a little steep to me. I would rather have seen the mp3 player and the mono-speaker for that matter (I guess it's ment for audio-books?) thrown out and the price dip into the 3xx$ range. I really do want an eBook reader, assuming you can read them in the dark (this one doesn't mention any kind of backlight and I don't know how bright the e-ink would be), as I have a large eBook collection and it'd be much more enjoyable to read them as real books (my collection on contains free eBooks or eBooks that have come with real books I've bought, such as a series of O'Reilly pdfs). I have never bought an eBook by itself, but this would be what could get me interested in doing such that (assuming I could find a source that wouldn't lock out my content after I paid if they were to go out of business or change their policy).

Honestly right now I am carrying a few important O'Reilly pdf's on my PSP and view them with a homebrew (none of this is illegal btw Engadget, so please don't trash this post) piece of software. It has helped me countless times when I needed to look something up quickly (well, kind of quickly... takes a few seconds to jump multiple pages), but I much rather have an eBook solution such as this/Sony's product.

- Tony R.

[BiG� @ Oct 15th 2006 9:11PM]

I think the eBook reader people could make better inroads aiming them at educational institutes. Given that my backpack in high school probably weighed about 35lbs, this would have been a godsend. Just gotta ruggedize it.

[Dhamu @ Oct 14th 2006 6:45PM]

E-ink can't have backlights, Tony. They display things with little balls containing black and white pellets. White can be on the top, or black, or a mix, but however they're oriented, the black pellets are there, and block light from behind. It's like playing Othello/Reversi on a glass coffee table. With e-ink you need external light, like regular lamps, or the clip-ons used with paper books. The closest to a backlight e-ink could manage would be a LightWedge ( http://www.lightwedge.com/ ) scaled to fit the display, or integral sidelighting in a the reading device.

[John Radi @ Oct 14th 2006 6:54PM]

I want to second guilt+1. I've been playing with the sony ereader at sony style stores for quite a while now. The only reason I don't own one is I can't get to the store fast enough when they come in...

[John Radi @ Oct 14th 2006 6:54PM]

Re: the whole backlight issue

I think what they could do though is something along the lines of lightwedge. LED light across the plexiglass cover - integrate it into the device.

But until they do, I throw it out there that if reading in the dark is so important to you, can always get a lightwedge at B&N for $2-30 and put it on top of your ereader...

[Dhamu @ Oct 14th 2006 7:59PM]

To work, a lightwedge has to lie flat on the page/screen (or be built into the glass). Current lightwedges can't lie flat on any ereading device's screen because of the bezels.

[PhoboX @ Oct 15th 2006 6:24AM]

I admit I havent really looked into these ebook devices very much, and therefore my comments may be unjustified. However I just cannot, at the moment anyway, see much point in shelling out that kind of cash for a device which for all intents and purposes does nothing more than read ebooks. I might as well go out and pay the same or less money for Pocket PC, which with the right software will read just about every ebook format known to man and do a hell of a lot more besides.. with a backlight and a host of other features that these ebook devices dont seem to have. Maybe Im totally off the mark here, and if so then I'd be grateful if someone could enlighten me.

[Joyce Gravino @ Oct 15th 2006 11:07AM]

As someone who has bought e-book readers before, I am hesitant to buy another one. I love the idea of it but don't like the fact that I am stuck with only one format. I have bought the Rocket E-book reader, the RCA REB1200, as well as a pocket PC. While the pocket PC is great for more formats, I find the display a bit tough on the eyes for any long term reading. The dedicated e-book readers are easier on the eyes but you are locked into their format. Then there is the whole price issue of e-books. They are just as expensive as a paperback or just a little bit less. Or they don't have what I want to read. I would also like the ability to add content perhaps in pdf format.

Does anyone one know what format the new e-book readers will have? If it is pdf I will probably buy because at least that format seems to have a lot of choice.

Of course my ideal would be that you buy a physical book and get a free download of it or if not free maybe a dollar or extra.

[Dhamu @ Oct 15th 2006 3:48PM]

The Sony Reader (and the larger-screened IRex iLiad) can do PDF, Joyce, but it's iffy on both sice PDFs are usually made for letter-size/A4-size paper printing. To display on a Sony, with its screen less than a quarter that size, the PDF is shrunk, making for truly tiny print, or shrunk less and rotated for half-page display in landscape mode. If the PDF is pre-made for the correct screen size, it's okay, but most aren't, and most don't have reflow capability turned on.

What I really want, tlc, is a consumer OLPC. It would be sunlight readable in black-and-white mode, like e-ink. It could be read without (thought-by-some-to-be-eye-straining) backlight, like e-ink. It's low-power, like e-ink. Its 1200x900 screen has a higher pixel count than Sony/Amazon/etc's 800x600 or iLiad's 1024x768, and its 200dpi beats their 166 and 158 numbers. While essentially beating e-ink at its own game, the screen can _also_ have a backlight (which some quite like in an ereader), can do color, and is an actual computer that can do web browsing, email, and other stuff. And it can do it all for less than Sony's price.
THIS is the ereader-plus I want to replace my eBookwise with.

[john @ Oct 15th 2006 11:02AM]

Phobox - go to a sony style store and play with one, then tell me its even remotely comparable to a ppc for ebooks.

I've owned a lot of ebook devices (franklin, franklin, etc...). I currently used a ppc because I had it with me, but now I'm a crackberry user so I don't have that anymore.

Anyway, it's not going to appeal to everyone - that's for sure. But some of us are hardcore readers - we like to have several books with us at a time - not to mention need to carry multiple reference documents, etc...

My only hold back would be content availability, I'll wait for the major rollout to see what people say...

As for the light wedge, I think it'd still work - regardless of the bezel, but until I get my hands on one I won't know for sure. Maybe they'll let me test it out at sonystyle...

[Joyce Gravino @ Oct 15th 2006 11:18AM]

Also the ability to add magazines to it would be great as well. Right now the Zinio reader is not pocket pc compliant and probably won't be compliant to the new e-book readers.

[tlc @ Oct 15th 2006 11:24AM]

I have no doubt that the e-readers are superior to current PDAs for reading. But that just means there is a need for integration of e-reader and PDA functionality. Who wants to pay that much for a single-purpose device? Who wants to carry another device?

[mcaycedo @ Oct 16th 2006 12:52AM]

Well, I'm not a Sony fan at all, but I really can't believe that somenody will buy this chinesse reader instead of the Sony one.

Both use the same screen, but the chinese and unknown brand is more expensive than the sony branded

[cagilaba @ Oct 16th 2006 2:12PM]

If you want an ebook reader with a great screen and quite good ergonomics that runs Linux and also does a bunch of other stuff, try a Nokia 770 with FBReader. There are also a couple of PDF reader options for the 770.