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Panasonic Raboo UT-PB1 e-reader gets official, acts more like a tablet
Panasonic already took its UT-PB1 e-reader out for a step-and-repeat at the e-Book Expo Tokyo this year, but kept some important details under wraps. Now the tablet e-reader is ready for its official coming out party. The 7-inch, color touchscreen Raboo UT-PB1 is set to launch in Japan on August 10th, retailing at about ¥34,800 (that's $444) and packing 600 plus "pre-viewable books." There's an Android OS running on an unspecified dual-core CPU under that book-mimicking surface with the company's own UI slathered all over it -- so there'll be no tablet-esque shenanigans here, yet. The 400 gram (14 ounce) handheld also comes furnished with 8GB of storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, microSDHC, support for various video and audio files, and packs basic web and email apps. Sound like a dedicated reading device to you? Unfortunately, it only plays nice with the XMDF e-book format, so if you're interested in picking one up, you're gonna be tied to the Rakuten E-Book store. Check out the video below for a glimpse of the non-tab in action and maybe even a little dental training doll cameo.
Sharp confirms Galapagos tablet for the US, won't commit to any particular specs
We've got a pretty good idea what Sharp's Galapagos tablet will look like when it hits the states later this year, but Sharp actually won't say -- today, it admitted that a tablet called Galapagos will indeed ford the ocean from Japan in 2011, but wouldn't confirm or deny a 3G module, its operating system, or even the expected screen size, saying that the company was "still studying" all possibilities. Boo. It will retain Sharp's proprietary XMDF e-book format, however, the better to adjust the layout of its DRM-saturated content as you transition between tablet and Sharp television screens, but also support EPUB documents and pull down email and websites over WiFi. If you want a closer look at what the tablets will probably look like, spot three mockups in our gallery below. %Gallery-112764%
Sharp announces Galapagos e-reading tablets: 5.5 and 10.8 inches, getting e-bookstore in December
Sharp has just taken the veils off its bold new e-reader devices, dubbing them both Galapagos in honor of the evolution the company believes they represent. The 5.5-inch Mobile version (pictured above) has a delightfully dense 1024 x 600 LCD screen, while its 10.8-inch Home sibling offers a very decent 1366 x 800. There's 802.11b/g WiFi on both, while the littler slate is also enriched with a navigational trackball. Sharp's emphasis here really seems to be on the cloud-based ecosystem it's creating for these "terminal" devices -- 30,000 newspapers, magazines and books have been lined up for its planned December launch and an "automatic scheduled delivery" facility will help you get at them as soon as the latest issue's ready for consumption. Sadly, we should note that this is specifically tailored to suit the Japanese market, which makes an international release seem somewhat unlikely. For a size comparison between the two tablets and the full press release, jump past the break.%Gallery-103366%
Sharp's XMDF format looks to bring e-books into the next generation
When it comes to boring 'ol text and images, there are plenty of formats that modern e-readers can manage -- your EPUBs and OPFs and the like. But, when it comes to integrating multimedia content into a kind of next-gen e-book experience, the sort Wired is pushing on the iPad, things are rather less standardized. Sharp wants to be on the forefront of bringing that style of content together under a single standard: XMDF, or ever-eXtending Mobile Document Format. It enables video and animations and flashy presentation to be mingled in with the text, surely with the intent of distracting you from actually having to read anything. Of course, XHTML can manage all this stuff too, but it never was particularly great at the sort of precision text layout publishers crave, and presumably that's also being addressed here. Naturally we're a little more excited about hardware, and Sharp showed off two prototype readers measuring 5.5- and 10.8-inches respectively... though it didn't have much to say about them otherwise. More details later this year, supposedly.
