Onyx International to unveil the Boox e-reader at CeBIT
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Feb 27th 2009 5:34PM
posted Feb 27th 2009 5:34PM
Look out, Amazon -- Onyx International has your number. Among the electronic bounty we'll be checking out at CeBIT will be the Boox e-reader. The device boasts a 6-inch e-ink touchscreen with 16 shades of gray, 512MB storage, WiFi, support for various formats (including EPUB / PDF / HTML / TXT / CHM / MOBI / JPG / BMP / PNG / GIF / TIFF / MP3), and text to speech (but sadly, no Tom). We don't have a price yet, so we're not entirely sure how threatened you should feel, but if we had to wager we'd probably bet on "not very."
whats the author's guild going to say about this one?
It's only worth them pretending that they were planning to sell recordings of computers to people if the device that they'll skim off will be more successful than something coming out in 2009 which includes a stylus.
When they come out with a color version that is efficient and can store/read comics (.CBR), then you can damn sure believe I'll buy one.
Reading comics on a 6" screen? Ugh, no thanks. That's what my 15" laptop turned sideways is for; but a paperback-sized screen isn't worth it for anything with more complex art than Family Circus.
And by the way, you guys do know that .CBR and .CBZ files are simply .RAR and .ZIP archives with a different extension, right? Unpack them with your program of choice and you'll get a nice folder full of regular JPG/PNG/etc. images that don't need a dedicated reader.
The reader is a really nice little program, though. Zoom features, it remembers where you left off, and it has keyboard shortcuts to go to the next book or previous book or anything
In the meantime you can read Manga scans, its small format and black and white!
see here for manga on the Sony Prs-505 (269$):
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2224/2437286312_f2474c62d9.jpg?v=0
http://www.pdasoft.cz/files/root/obrazky_k_clankum/2007/SonyPRS505/manga.jpg
Ehhh. Manga are not comics. While I will admit there are some good Manga out there, there's nothing like Sandman or Hellblazer in Japan.
Manga is not comics ? Prob...
Who cares about Sandman or HellBlazer if you have DragonBall, Naruto, One Piece, Berserk, Vagabond, Rurouni Kenshin, Bleach, Akira, Eyeshield21, Ghost in the Shell, Full Metal Alchemist, ... just to name some.
Open your eyes, Japan is the leader for comics and their trend. Even Marvel and DC artists admitted that.
el oh el.
1. manga has wider variety of themes, not just typical american superheroes save the day.. yet again!
2. manga has been accepted as a part of society in many different asian countries, where american comics are still geared towards nerds and dorks; niche market.
3. manga in asian countries are a norm, and it is rapidly penetrating in the western world where you cannot say the same thing about american comics in asian countries.
el oh el.
and yes, manga is more comic than american comics.
Remove that circle at the bottom and it looks like a nice device. Will be nice to see how good the pen functionality is.
Read MY book, you heathen pigs.
If you can draw on the screen, then consider me interested.
However, I wouldn't pay more than $99 on any e-book reader.
+1
Touchscreen is a nice feature. Unlike wifi.
$99 is a very good price point, IMO.
And a very unrealistic one as well. Look at the prices of currently available e-book readers, they're all $300-$500.
It is _very_ unlikely that a newcomer like this will be able to offer this at such a low price (especially since it's got touch screen functionality).
I expect this to cost around $400.
The Kindle is already getting the iPod treatment by the press and blogs, anything else released is immediately mocked despite features or improvements.. no one's going to have an easy road getting into the market.
If they undercut the Kindle's $350+ price point substantially, I think people will take a good long look at any alternative. Amazon does have the advantage of a delivery system, which is the tough part to replicate.
This looks like a Kindle-killer to me. But it looks pretty expensive.
The other similarity the Kindle has to the iPod is that it has a full ecosystem going.
It's not just hardware, it's content and delivery, as well as name recognition.
It's that whole package that gives them the market.
I agree. The Kindle is getting over hyped. I bought the Sony PRS-505 for NOT having the very thing that the Kindle keeps getting hyped for!! I didn't want to have access to a wireless connection that only goes to there store. I've bought tons of e-books over the years for my Palm but even so 90% of what I read and own was either free or I've converted from another format myself. I don't want anyone having control over what I have access to or what format it's in. With the Sony PRS-505 I can read almost any format under the sun using third party software like Calibre (http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/download). I really do not understand the appeal of the Kindle whatsoever. A reader where the only thing I can read is what's available on Amazon? I already own thousands of e-books. Why would I want to re-buy any of them? And the ones I can get for free, why would I want to buy those? Asinine.
E-book reader for Christmas gift 2009.
I'm a big fan of young, friendly and strong technology companies, whatever the hell that means.
Onyx also loves writing poetry and taking long walks on the beach.
probably the same as they do about the Kindle 2. They do have a valid argument that it takes away from audio book sales, but to be honest it would be no different then my downloading a book to my computer/laptop or Netbook for that matter and then having a text to speech software program read it to me. I guess they are worried about it because of how portable the Kindle is and how it can access books from almost anywhere with the built in WiFi.
They should try and come to a resolution that keeps both sides happy, like maybe paying a small royalty fee for each book sold that covers an optional text to speech version of each book. All it would take is a little checkbox in the Amazon checkout that says (text version) or (audio version). Maybe something like $1-2 extra for the speech option. Amazon could easily change the text to speech software via. and update so it complies with looking for what version is owned. I would say that it should only be based off of new purchases and not books that you had prior to the release of the new Kindle 2. Since all of your downloads are dated this should be easy to accomplish.
Is PDF one of the formats it supports? The image doesn't list it 3 times so I wasn't sure.
The 3rd one is PNG, but yea I loled when I saw that.
I'll keep waiting until somebody releases one that's in color and can read .cbr files. Ahhh to dream.
I hold my laptop tilted 90 degrees and start "turning the pages". Yeah a CBR reader is a must.
Hmm. Looks promising. One of the biggest problems I hoped eBook readers would solve is the replacement of textbooks / reference books. If I can write notes and come back to them later, they've got me sold.
Looks like a huge Zune.
I really do NOT want WiFi in a device to read books, it will go to waste. I don't need RSS reader or news reader or mp3 player in it either, because in 99% cases I already have all that in other devices, I just want plain boring and ultra-cheap device to read books. Like $50 device. Or $100 device. But not $400+ device!
You know why I like books? Because they don't have giant blank spaces hanging underneath them. But I really hope that an ereader comes out that fits the bill for me, it's just definitely not this one. Maybe the Kindle 3, the next Sony Reader, or if Apple isn't stupid, whatever they have going on.
Slam! Duh Dutta, let the boys be boys.
I have been looking at the Amazon Kindle for a while now and the only reason that I have been saying no is because I live in Canada and the Kindle is not available in Canada due to the lack of Sprint. This device really looks promising due to the fact that it uses Wifi instead of a 3G connection. I hope that I will be able to purchase this device in Canada because it looks promising.
I am speechless
We need more version of those things;
A basic model with no wifi or touchscreen for just read books, can be 8 shades only but cheap (79$)
A better one with wifi, download your newspapers, check your emails. 16 shades. (169$)
A pro one with wifi+touchscreen. (270$)
And a 6", 9" and 12" iteration of each of those.
The company doing this first will make tons of money. Actually the kindle should be less expensive as it promote buying books online on Amazon... They should sell the razor cheap and compensate on the blades.
I wish Asus would enter the Ebook game.
Product makers want huge prices and small sales instead of huge sales for low prices.
Well, its their problem. Lets hope others understand their mistakes when they go bankrupt.
Hm... I see many comments like "...when ebook readers have this or that functionality and sub-$100 price, then I will get one..."
Fair enough, but my personal experience is the following. I bought Sony Reader 505 (my first e-ink reader) in 2007, and frankly, I don't wish it to be better. I think screen contrast is great and it really feels like a paper book to me (I even tried to turn a non-existent page for a couple of times). I read many technical manuals in PDF format, and after the last update, Sony reader handles PDFs perfectly.
The only thing I wish Sony had is an instant cellular connection, like Kindle. This is why I started thinking of purchasing Kindle, but I will still keep Sony Reader for PDFs.
So I think eBook readers like Sony and Kindle are perfect as they are, and I am a happy camper.
It doesn't handle the DOC format?
I consider that a plus.
Electronic Ink AND Touchscreen, too sweet!
A link to the manufacturer's website (incorrectly posting in the click-through):
http://www.onyx-international.com/cms/product-boox.html
and then a typo in the correction. Ha!
the video doesn't show up!..looks like an ambitious spec..has any one seen the video to believe!
I have a feeling that the E-Book will not really take off as a piece of viable technology until Apple designs one (iBook?)
This coming from someone who owns a Samsung MP3 player. an HP laptop, and a Sony Erricson phone. So no bias.
Functionality, shmunctionality. Gimmie a USB 2.0 and FOUR shades of gray, give it a 6" screen with a home button and two turn page buttons, and sell THAT to me. For $50
Oh, and EPUB, PDF, and TXT files are all that's really necessary.
One would really have to know the price. 6" is small, but the overall device is small too. Looks like it would fit a coat pocket. Check out the video, the screen refresh is quite fast. Nice stuff!
So, yay, it's only a little bit ugly?
I'd be a bit concerned about the touchscreen angle - reviews of Sony's touchscreen reader suggested that the touchscreen layer reduced the contrast slightly, something e-ink screens really don't need.
Incidentally, I like the 'American-registered' (= basically Chinese). Nothing wrong with Chinese companies selling ebook readers, but amusing that they're trying to spin it...
I really don't get how advertising agencies can sometimes forget to turn on something as basic as font-smoothing on their money-making programs. Even if you type on Gimp, the fonts are naturally anti-aliased. Makes you wonder just what two-bit art program they must be using. MS Paint?
You might want to check this:
http://www.nuutbook.com/
The Nuut ver. 1 is sold at 231,000 won, which is pretty reasonable. I am inquiring further to the company and product. Any info on this will be gratefully welcomed.