Pixelar e-Reader reviewed -- not too shabby, also "not a Kindle"
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted March 5th 2009 7:04PM
posted March 5th 2009 7:04PM
Slash Gear starts its hands-on review of Pixelar's e-book reader by stating the obvious: "this is no Amazon Kindle 2." And while there may be no integrated WiFi, no hardware keyboard, no Tom, and no Oprah, this device is not without its charms. It supports a generous helping of file types (including PDF, DOC, MP3, HTML, TXT, CHM, and at least a dozen others), comes with 512MB internal memory, supports USB and SD cards, and the reviewer found build quality to be "reasonable." The e-ink display shows some intermediate flicker, however, and the page turn speed "is just a little too long" for the reviewer's tastes. Probably the most off-putting thing about the device is its cost: in the UK (where the Kindle isn't available) it's going for a base price of £229.99 ($324), while Sony's Reader, for instance, is currently priced at £224 ($317). Intrigued? We bet you are -- check out the video after the break for even more e-book excitement.
I WANT PRICING AND AVAILABILITY ON THE PALM PRE
STOP SHOUTING, and maybe we'll help you. :)
The main draw of the kindle is the ability to buy books over the air, and the fact that the wireless connectivity is included without additional monthly charge. That makes it a truer portable device. I don't expect any of the competitors could do the same thing at cheaper price.
Yea I agree. And if i'm paying that much money, it better at least look Decent, and not a rip off. Me buying that would be the same as me buying a Meizu M8.
Actually the main draw of e-paper devices is being able to read text as if it were physically printed, instead of constantly irradiating your pupils. For people like me who stare at monitors all day, this is a very welcome device. I love to read but I haven't gone to digital books because I just don't want to relax by staring at a screen after a long day of staring at screens.
The only thing the Kindle brings to the table is being able to buy books from anywhere. To be honest, do I really need to be able to purchase products at a whim which may take me weeks to consume? Plus I think I'd probably wind up getting my e-books by, ahem, *other* means.
Granted the Kindle isn't as unaffordable as it used to be, so this distinction isn't as important as it was. When the Kindle was $500 and other e-paper readers were $300, that was a different story.
This thing looks EXACTLY like Hanlin eReader V3 (by chineese company Jinke):
http://www.jinke.com.cn/Compagesql/English/embedpro/prodetail.asp?id=41
Since Hanlin eReader V3 was on the market for years, I guess Pixelar is a rebranded Hanlin.
Lol, it IS.
The manual cover in the video says "Hanlin V3". I think they forgot rebranding the manual as well.
It is...
Also same as the Aztak EZ Reader sold by Fry's...
:o)
Make this thing $100 or less or even better $50 and add a screen 8.5x11 and keep what is already stated it would be a hit. Without those things I am not going to buy an e-reader period. I do not care if the battery life is longer than a netbook I would buy that or a smartphone before any e-reader. The just is not enough benefit to cost ratio in there.
Well, If you want it cheaper ... It is also rebadged by Astak, and it is sold by Fry's for $299 (regular price). However, if you keep checking Fry's you can find it for $269 on sale.
http://shop4.frys.com/product/5834633?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
rofl, a bag containing nothing... Why does it come with a screwdriver? its really cool though, but I still prefer my kindle 2
Unlike with the Kindle, you can change batteries with this. That's what the screwdriver is for (to unscrew the battery door so you can swap out the battery with another one).
The reader uses standard, generic Nokia phone batteries (which you can buy on Ebay for like $5 or something).
"And while there may be no integrated WiFi, no hardware keyboard, no Tom, and no Oprah,"
For the price difference I think I would get the Kindle. I need my Tom and Oprah.
Am I mistaken or weren't they also trying to beat Sony's price?
Its still priced $200 too much.
$99 please. Its an e-reader not a netbook.
OK, dude in America.... if that is your real name.
These are expensive to make, that's why they cost so much.
Sure, it will drop in price as the tech evolves. But your argument is ridiculously dumb. That's like going back to 1985 and saying "$10,000 for a laptop? That's $9,500 too much! It's not a DeLorian, it's a fancy typewriter!"
I have two words for Amazon and every other company trying to get e-readers out there:
"LOSS LEADER"
Seriously. Microsoft understood this concept when it came to the 360: Sell it cheaper than it costs to make it, and then make your money back on licensing, accessories and software. Same goes for the PS3 and Wii. They get it. You give the hardware away and get the technology (and the proprietary format) out there, then you make your money back.
But with these e-readers, they're trying to make their money back on the cost AND make a profit on the hardware. That's not the way it works. You won't make much if nobody wants to shell out $350 for your device.
A lot of people are saying "I'd get a Kindle if it were under $200" and I'm with them. I still might get one at the higher price, but they'd sell a ton more of them-- and thus a crapload of books and magazine subs-- if they'd take a small loss on the hardware and get it in the hands of eager readers.
It looks the same as the BeBook.....
http://mybebook.com/index.html
I think it just is a rebranded BeBook. The specs are the same and everything.
Sony prs-505 is 264$, not 317$.
The Bookeen CyBook seems a much better bet. Cheaper (£195, including a case), lighter, and with more font sizes. Available from WH Smiths online in the UK
Sure, it's the eReader V3, I know cause I own one, it's very comfortable
I'd love to see a screen comparison of the PRS505 and the Kindle 2. That's the most important thing imo, everything else is secondary. Except price point.
http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix
Why are ebook readers so damned pricy?
Anyone else remember the days when Eink displays where around the manufacturers said readers would be around the 100$ mark?
These things are priced more than some netbooks more than some PDAs yet they hold less than a quater the computing power and are designed to do 1 or ocationaly 2 things. Display Text and image documents and or MP3 play back... Neather of which is intensive by any means...
The products are simply way to over priced.
I think the big issue is that there is really only one major manufacturer of e-Ink products at the moment: eink's Viziplex
http://eink.com/products/matrix/High_Res.html
From what I am reading, Sony, Amazon, iRex, Hanlin and Aztak all use the eInk Viziplex screens.
I would assume they have a patent on the technology and I would also assume they will be trying to recoup the research costs for the next few years.
With no competition there is no big incentive to lower pricing. It may be a few years before these devices become 'mainstream' and make the $100 price point.
The prs-505 actually sells for £199 in the Sony shops in London - sure, you can pay £224, but why would you?
One of these days someone is going to come out with an ebook reader that is cheaper than a netbook and they will make a bucket of money.
Why are they so expensive? What is the part that justifies the $300+ pricetag? You can get $30 mp3 players that can display ebooks. Are we to believe that the cost of the screen and display driving circuits are over $250?
Two reasons: 1) Volume and 2) Volume.
The screens themselves are specialty screens (eInk) from basically one manufacturer for all of the book readers out there. And the capacity of that manufacturer would be considered rounding error for the big LCD manufacturers.
Then take that total capacity and split it among all the eBook manufacturers (Sony, Amazon, Hanlin, Netronix). They each have custom software and unique hardware configurations. They must recover their design costs across a relatively limited number of units manufactured.
Sony and Amazon do have the ability (if they wish) to cut hardware costs and make it up on the books. However, I really don't want them to do this. It would mean that they would be even more into tieing their devices to their stores and insisting on punitive DRM (as they do today). I'd much rather see them head the other direction to open standards and DRM-free books. Of course, this would suggest that the book readers would need to be profitable on their own merits, and it would keep the cost of the readers somewhat high.
Michael (not you, one of the other ones)
To the Michael who commented about DRM-free books, Sony's reader can read free ebooks from most libraries across the country (at least the libraries that offer digital books for check out). It's not DRM-free but they are "cost-free" as long as you have a library card. Selection varies by library naturally. I have accounts with Pasadena and Los Angeles libraries and have read several books from both for free using Adobe's Digital Editions software. I don't believe the Kindle (1 or 2) supports this format though.
The kindle can read the standard ebook format (through conversion) if it's not DRMed (and the standard itself doesn't have a DRM, it's like Apple's audio that uses proprietary DRM on a standard format).
With the free Sprint 3G link inside of the Kindle, if one assumes some monthly value that one is getting for free, the initial price of the Kindle is paid off by it, and the Kindle itself is "free" in 1~3 years depending what one values the Sprint data link at.