Friday, October 12, 2012
Txtr’s Beagle may teach this old dog a new trick
 |
| TXTR BEAGLE: $13 for an e-reader? Count me in! |
Maybe it’s because I started my career as a reporter and still work at a newspaper that makes me resist giving up the “dead-tree” editions of the things I read and going totally digital, but to me there is something special about holding a book or newspaper in my hand that I find comforting.
I never have to worry about making sure my book is charged up when I finally have time to read, nor do I have to worry about getting it wet when reading in the bathtub, or at the pool or beach. I never have to turn it off just as I’m getting to the good part of the story because the airplane I’m on is about to take off or land.
I’ve also never been able to justify shelling out the money to buy one of these devices when I can buy up to three or four paperbacks for the same price. And then I’d still have to pay MORE money to buy the book I want to read in the first place.
But all that may be about to change.
A German company named Txtr is set to debut an ultra-cheap, no-frills e-reader for $13.
Yup! You read that right, $13.
Txtr’s new Beagle e-reader is missing a lot of what people now expect from devices like Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook. It lacks 3G and WiFi, meaning you have to use your smartphone to buy and send books to it via Bluetooth; doesn’t have a touch-screen; only has 4 gb of storage, which means you can only store up to five books on it; and only has a smallish 5” screen. It also doesn’t have a standby mode. It’s either off or on. But as the company points out, “with this concept, two AAA batteries enable you to read 12-15 books per year.”
To some, these drawbacks might be deal-killers.
But not to me.
For one thing, a 5” diagonal screen is about the size of a standard paperback page and being small means it’s light, only weighing about 128 grams or a fraction of a pound (.282192 lbs, to be exact). I don’t care if it doesn’t have a touch screen as I actually prefer a button to turn pages.
The only potential drawback for me is the limited storage and having to use my cellphone to transfer books to it. But since I almost always have my cellphone on me and I rarely if ever read more than five books at once, I don’t think it will matter that much.
Plus if I accidentally get it wet reading in the pool, or drop it and break it, I won’t feel that bad. At $13 the Beagle will be cheap to replace.
I look forward to getting my hands on one of these devices and seeing how it performs in the real-world. With its 800x600 pixel resolution, will text be clear and sharp? Will the e-Ink display with its 8-levels of gray scaling be easy enough to read in bright sunlight?
I hope so, but I’m going to have to wait to find out.
The Beagle is set to launch in Europe in time for the holiday season, with a U.S. debut in the works.
According to the tech blog Engadget, the company's chief commercial officer Thomas Leliveld said the device is NOT being marketed as a standalone e-reader but more as “a smartphone accessory.” Leliveld is reported to have said that work is underway to get AT&T and Sprint on board, but that talks are still ongoing with providers.
Still I can’t wait to get my hands on one and test it out. For $13 how could you go wrong? Who knows, The Beagle might even teach this old dog a new trick or two.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment