Samsung E60 and E61 e-readers heading to British digital bookworms in July
By Richard Lai 
posted May 11th 2010 3:32PM
posted May 11th 2010 3:32PM
SAMSUNG E-BOOK READER LAUNCHES IN THE UK
Wi-Fi enabled SNE-60 available for pre-order on the high street in the coming months
London, UK – May 11 2010 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., is set to start the distribution of its new e-Book Readers with partnerships with leading high street retailers later this year. The range will be stocked online and in stores with the new 6", Wi-Fi enabled SNE-60 e-Book Reader, available to pre-order from selected high street retailers in the coming months.
Smaller than a hardback, the Samsung e-Book Reader SNE-60 can store over 1,200 books on the internal memory while giving the option of increasing the capacity thanks to the SD memory card slot. Samsung's e-Book Reader devices are the only devices currently on the market with wireless connectivity. Wi-Fi 802.11b/g allows users to download content such as books and newspapers from a server wirelessly, as well as to share content with other devices.
Unlike other e-Book Reader devices, Samsung's SNE-60 uses handwriting functionality to allow users to annotate their reading selections, calendars and notes with a built-in electromagnetic resonance (EMR) stylus pen. This dedicated pen prevents mistypes caused by hands and other objects that may graze the screen's surface. A variety of pen and eraser thicknesses makes the Samsung e-Book Reader perfect for drawing and writing.
"Samsung's arrival to the e-Book Reader market is significant as we are bringing unique functionality to this developing market. The addition of Wi-Fi and accurate handwriting functionality to e-Book Readers will take the user-experience to a new level and ensure e-Books Readers continue to grow in popularity," said Graham Long, Vice President of Samsung's IT Business Division.
The e-Book Reader is equipped with an e-paper display similar to real paper to enable a clearer display even outdoors. Many other functions are also included to provide an effective reading environment. The global e-Book formats ePub, PDF and TXT are all supported, and the built-in dictionaries can be used just by touching the screen with the stylus.
A built-in MP3 player function allows users to listen to an audio book, or to listen to music whilst reading a book. In addition, Samsung's unique "Text-to-Speech" engine can read a book with accurate pronunciations for users who are driving or in noisy environments.
Wow those things are U G L Y!
@ttringle
I like the idea of being able to write in the books using the stylus.
tell me about it, and a slider without keyboard...
@ttringle
The one on the left does *actually* look like a giant phone.
@ttringle Actually, only the one with the keyboard is UGLY. The other one (at least if you un-slide the slider) is, meh, just not very nice-looking.
If you wanted style in your ebook reader, though, you'd already have bought a Sony. So maybe there's a market still left...
@xxxsam Have you used the sony store for e-books? The kindle "which I own", is by far better at buying books on, that Sony store is barely usable in my opinion. But to each his own.
Emolink?
Does anyone else think the E61 looks like a giant cell phone?
*raises hand*
these don't look too enthralling I have to say..
And " Samsung's e-Book Reader devices are the only devices currently on the market with wireless connectivity."
What? Am I missing something, or have I just been imagining half the e-reader market?
I suppose the drawing stylus makes it a bit different at least.
@safe travels
The Nook and Sony Reader Daily Edition are not available in the UK and the International Kindle has to be imported from the US, so they are technically correct.
There are so many e-books being produced these days that the environmental advantage they had is pretty much gone.
Two problems:
[1] Sony have cheaper, nicer looking products and a contract with Waterstones (our biggest physical bookseller).
[2] iPad and the iBookstore go live at the end of May in the UK, at least month before these ship.
Other than that I expect these to fly off the shelves.
Wow....quite pricey for an unattractive e-reader...For that price, I can buy two sony e-readers and read two books at the same time. :)
I guess this didn't think the ipad looked enough like a giant cell phone.
@dardub
*they
It appears a homage to the Nokia E61, which was a giant cell phone.
Why the hell can't we have an ebook reader that's ... JUST AN EBOOK READER! I don't want to pay hundreds more for all these extraneous bullcrap!
Wow, 300 quid. You can buy a black market kidney for that.
I`d rather stick to reading ebooks on my psp then buying those monsters :)
before any of you gets too smart, yeah, i know my psp doesnt have a touch screen and i cant make notes on the books but with the change to £299 i can get loads of "Post it"s and store them in the UMD slot :))
Look too much like Amazon Kindle..
Are those eReaders really official Samsung products? The left one looks like a Kindle KIRF and the right one looks like a frankensteinian KIRF resembling a giant Samsung slider-style cellphone!
The only things that are kinda missing here are the misspelling of the name (like Samsong or San Sung or something) and, obviously, the mention of ridiculous specs like MP5 player or Quad core CPU or, alternatively, a catchy slogan like "LOVE READ JOY" or something like that.
Or maybe Samsung has just grown so big that it can KIRF itself now.