Spring Design was poised to take the official wraps off of its dual-screen,
Android-based ereader this Thursday, but we were able to catch an up close and personal glance at the device today here at CES Unveiled. Highlighted over at the Marvell booth (understandable given the
choice of processor), the reader was intensely thin and remarkably snappy. We had some gripes
with the speed of the Nook, but every action we took on the
Alex was relatively lag free. We even downloaded a book and watched it open up immediately, and the touchscreen response was also satisfactory. Spring Design also opted to expose the microSD card slot on the rear; you simple mash your card into the slot and listen for the click, and mash it once more to eject it. You better hope nothing pushes it by mistake, but hey, at least you're not stuck removing some rear cover just to swap cards. We've gotta say -- we're digging this thing based on our brief time with it, and we'd invite you to have a peek at the gallery below till our demo video is prepped.
Update: Video is after the break!
posted January 5th 2010 7:39PM
Please be $150.
@Kero I say NO WAY. Far too expensive, and I really was interested in this one. If they had it at $299 I'd think about it... maybe. But $399 is just way, way too much - I'd rather buy a netbook.
Opinions: http://bit.ly/spring-design-alex-reactions
$100 please
I guess I'll keep the price train rolling...
50 bucks!
@ch3burashka For Free?
@ch3burashka
For meeee?
cant seem to see the video, anybody else out there having the same issue?
@benrola
it says "...till our demo video is prepped."
Looks quite nice.
I'd say we all are. "and we'd invite you to have a peek at the gallery below till our demo video is prepped." That might have something to do with it though.
I hope it works better than it looks. The bezel sizes are all different, the buttons aren't in line with the touch screen edges, the little middle button is off center. The nice thing about the nook is they paid attention to things like that. They should also take advantage of the ability to throw a new UI ontop of Android to craft something that suits the product better than just the generic UI they are using now. And the microSD decision leaves a lot to be desired. It really should have some kind of cover to prevent accidental ejects if its not going to be slot loading.
@krizoitz Agreed. That this is ugly. Damn ugly. And I'm not an ebook hater everyone, I own a nook and a Kindle DX.
@krizoitz I like how it looks. I'm all for simplistic, especially if it keeps the cost down!
@cayton
Simplistic is fine, but look at the nook for a better example of a simple, yet elegant design. I'm not saying they need to plaster all over the device with dozens of buttons (one reason I dislike the kindle actually), but paying attention to things like proportions and alignment of elements would show that they pay attention to details.
Getting away from their apparent lack of a ruler during the design phase, another problem tht immediately jumps out at me is that the page turn buttons are located at the very bottom of the device and are on opposite sides. If you are replicating the use of a book you replicate how one is held. Few people hold a book by the very bottom, the same with e-readers (its actually awkward to do so). The nook and Kindle both have a good page turn design, the buttons are located towards the middle of the device vertically, for easy access, and you have page forward (and on the nook, page back) buttons on BOTH sides for ease of use depending on whether you hold your book left or right handed.
Considering the feature set and compared to other ereaders i can't see this being less than $300ish. but i do know they have designs that are aimed at $100 mark and that's what i'm really looking forward too. I don't care much about the bottom screen it doesn't seem particularly useful given the types of devices people carry around (who would be an early adopter for this as well)
too bad that thing is @$$ ugly
wow where to start?
different size bezels
ugly buttons
stubby mini-usb
ugh, no thx
Exactly what the nook should have been, Paul.
I'll take it. Just add some proper page turning buttons to it. Oh and ANdroid Marketplace.
And please don't charge me something ridiculous.
I'm surprised no one else has commented on the glare from the e-ink screen.
@Rick James
Looks like standard e-ink. No touch screen glare, just standard screen coating. All devices have this, even the famous Sony 505.
hehehe it has my name
"Are you sure to download this book?"
(sigh).
Guess I'll have to wait for iteration 2 (or nook v2)
My nook is arriving by UPS TODAY, I will be returning it today, and waiting for the ALEX (looks great) or possible an Apple e-reader (it will probably be a tablet priced to high though). Got to love CES.
@TheRealB: Well that thing was announced quite some time ago. You could have spared yourself the order ;)
Alex looks nice, Nook looks better, Kindle works better. As for performance? I think I can wait a few milliseconds for pages to turn, but what I can't abide by is the lack of a soft back-light for any of the readers. And don't give me the "well, that would alter the reads-like-a-real-book experience, these are not real books so give us more of a reason to want one over a real book... I like to read at night, in bed while my wife sleeps, but I can't because if I read a real book I have to have some stupid dinky light on that strains my eyes - give me a gentle back-lit display on one of these e-readers and I'll buy it... who cares if it drains the battery so it only lasts 16 hours versus 48.
'nuf-said
@AniMill Buy a Netbook.
Alex reader is so 2009... move along... nothing to see here. Bring on the Apple Tablet plz.
Please please please have a UK release soon...
I also saw this unit at CES, here is my short video of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA0IG9KhCFU
Thanks,
Fabian.
That thing is FUGLY! It's really incredible how this Alex reader features the same concept as the Nook, yet looks so much worse.
Oh, balls. Android? I SO want one.