ASUS makes DR-900 e-reader official

We've spent all our time hearing about a DR-950, but today at CeBIT ASUS has trotted out a DR-900 as its first 9-inch ebook reader. It doesn't appear manifestly different from what we've heard and seen already, with WiFi connectivity augmented with a 3G option, and a battery life rated to last a pretty radical 10,000 pages on a single charge. The interface on show clearly invites touch interaction, and we can fill in a few gaps with what we know of the DR-950, namely a 1024 x 768 resolution on a Sipix panel, 4GB of integrated storage, 3.5mm headphone jack, and support for PDF, TXT, MP3 and ePUB files. We'll be tracking down an official price and release date shortly, as well as smudging a few fingerprints on these before the day is through.

[Trax Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:04AM]

Best looking e-reader hands down.

[O Gil Posted Mar 2nd 2010 6:08AM]

@Trax True.

[Information Central Posted Mar 2nd 2010 6:45AM]

Except for the dumb-ass glossy screen.

[aeth Posted Mar 2nd 2010 9:06AM]

@Trax
This is how you make a sexy e-reader

[BeniRose Posted Mar 2nd 2010 10:41AM]

@Trax except that's the saddest looking heart I've ever seen in my life.

[LordSauron Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:11AM]

Looks good, i am qurious about the div between the 900 and 950.
hope it has a decent price, and then one of the pupies is gona be mine :D

[Daveyk Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:14AM]

Gimme gimme gimme!

[NewL Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:16AM]

Oh let this be priced reasonable!

[BubbaJ Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:29AM]

One of the better hardware designs so far. Too bad about the display.

[NewL Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:46AM]

@BubbaJ - it's an eBook reader. The screen is fantastic for that, plain and simple.

[BubbaJ Posted Mar 2nd 2010 6:25AM]

@NewL No, it's not. If it is in fact Sipix, it's even more mediocre than E-Ink.

I just hope their smaller device is announced soon and is less disappointing.

[Information Central Posted Mar 2nd 2010 7:40AM]

So far this is the only E-book vendor (unless you count Apple) to make the mistake of using a glossy screen (at least according to this picture).

So you'll be doing less reading and more admiring of the lights above you on the train, or the window behind you, or... your own lovely face.

[RandomGuy Posted Mar 2nd 2010 11:08AM]

@Information Central Sony's touchscreen readers have horrible screens. It has to do with the touch layer being a plastic sheet over the e-ink. Plastic logic is the only company to my knowledge that has a full resisitive touchscreen under the e-ink. All other attmeptsat "touch" require Wacom Stylii and don't work with fingers..

[ChillyCat Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:29AM]

Being that it's made by ASUS , I'd expect this reader
to be the finest one available.

[Cy Starkman Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:37AM]

@ChillyCat

ASUS was certainly known for being a quality engineering company. Back when
building boxes was something I did it was ASUS or nothing.

I think their "branded" systems are a bit lesser in the quality department. This looks quite sweet, interface very very clean, buttons on bezel not so good (from the pic)

[ChillyCat Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:41AM]

@Cy Starkman

You possibly might be correct...why I said: "I'd expect"

[kyphem Posted Mar 2nd 2010 12:22PM]

@ChillyCat ASUStek is not the company it used to be. I doubt "quality" will be the main feature of this.

[ChillyCat Posted Mar 2nd 2010 12:30PM]

@kyphem

The " I'd expect " & " I doubt " are just speculative, cause we ain't
seen the product yet.

This whole E-Book thangy looks like it's gonna be huge.
Me thinks Asus will position themselves top tier.

[Bones13 Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:39AM]

It looks great. But whats the point of all these e-readers if you can't get any content? If they won't work with Amazon, B&N or even the upcoming iTunes they will be useless. How are you doing to get a new release book on to this thing legally?

[mrqs Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:44AM]

@Bones13

perhaps the button that says "settings" takes you to a kind of bookstore?

[mrqs Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:45AM]

ahem, *setup* - fml

[NewL Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:48AM]

@mrqs - or, you know, the button that says "Bookstore", maybe?

[savagemike Posted Mar 2nd 2010 9:13AM]

@Bones13

Well... you could access the huge horde of epub books available in libraries, which I suspect will only continue to grow.
I also, as these things become more common, wouldn't be surprised to see blogs begin to offer daily 'printings' in epub format, or possibly pdf.
You could actually probably whip up a pdf version yourself with some combo of site saving and pdf printing software - and work out a decently usable work-flow.
Is all that ideal as compared to full time live internet? No.
But then it is a hell of a lot cheaper and the fact is that even if you're willing to pay, there are still a good number of places in the country that you won't get signal anyway.
I could find plenty to read on this thing for a couple years until something new comes along.

[Howzer Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:57AM]

They've missed the space between the words "people" and "comes" on the display...unless there is a word called "peoplecomes"? I hope the books are edited a bit better!

[Howzer Posted Mar 2nd 2010 5:58AM]

...and what's "strengthand"?

[Brother Unit No 4 Posted Mar 2nd 2010 9:40AM]

@Howzer

A strong grip?

[RM79 Posted Mar 2nd 2010 6:00AM]

Price is going to be £249 Inc VAT

[kyphem Posted Mar 2nd 2010 12:16PM]

@RM79 way way way way too expensive

[Jono20 Posted Mar 2nd 2010 6:12AM]

that is super super sexy. bye bye kindle?

[KIVan Posted Mar 2nd 2010 7:05AM]

A recently got very disappointed with Sony PRS-600 (the software part when it comes educational books in PDF files, especially if they are on programing), and I am now waiting for this to restore my face in books and e-books.

[wmac Posted Mar 2nd 2010 7:22AM]

@KIVan

I worry this one is also small for your purpose (and mine).

I read tons of computer related books and technical papers. I hate to print hundreds of papers (6-12 pages each) to just have a look into their content and then throw away.

[KIVan Posted Mar 2nd 2010 8:24AM]

@wmac Yep, even got myself one of this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_ink_system
to keep expanses down, but now I'm drowning in paper.

[quobeats Posted Mar 2nd 2010 8:39AM]

Best looking ebook reader so far.

[MrN1ce Posted Mar 2nd 2010 9:19AM]

How is Sipix different from other e-Ink displays? Are there any Reviews about the display quality?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 2nd 2010 11:11AM]

Hopefully the device is able to zoom a PDF file. That's a must have. Otherwise it's DOA.

[kyphem Posted Mar 2nd 2010 12:12PM]

I want to buy this but I already know that the price will be not much less than the iPad whats the reason then? At least iPad does more stuff for your money.
If its less than $200 which I doubt, I will get it.

[kyphem Posted Mar 2nd 2010 12:23PM]

glossy screen, really?

[aniym Posted Mar 2nd 2010 12:29PM]

boom, exactly what i was looking for. something big enough to read PDFs and documents without reformatting graphics and fonts unncessarily, but without the bells and whistles and the forced-on-you ecosystem of the Kindle

[sweetholymosiah Posted Mar 3rd 2010 9:53PM]

the glossy screen makes it useless for me... And now they are pushing color Sipix? All I want to do is read books. No comics, no children's stories, no illustrated dictionaries. Text, with no reflections in bright sunlight. People, an e-reader is not for websurfing or email or video or flash. Honestly people just want gadgets that will do everything, just to buy whatever subsequently does one more thing. I like reading text.

[onproxy Posted Mar 7th 2010 10:00PM]

@sweetholymosiah

But that's the thing... with Sipix/AUO having In-cell touch(capacitive) (http://www.sidchapters.org/ba/Archives/2009/LCD In-Cell Touch - Geoff Walker (17-Nov-09).pdf) it won't be as bad as Sony PRS.........
(kindle probably doesn't have a touchscreen for that reason.... )

[bloater333 Posted Mar 23rd 2010 12:03PM]

Been trying to find as much info on this as poss, so reading this was useful. Did find bit more info though: http://techinstyle.tv/trends/desired/asus-unveils-the-dr-950-ebook-reader/