Acer unveils e-book reader

BEIJING: Thanks to the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad, e-books are gaining in popularity and with hundreds of new titles coming out every day, many companies are entering the fray.

The latest company to do so is Acer, which announced its Acer LumiRead e-book at the company's Source Home 2010 event.

The LumiRead, which comes with 6in display, is a compact e-book reader which comes with a non-glare screen, no backlit e-ink display, and a Qwerty keyboard.

With all these features, the LumiRead delivers a paper-like reading experience, Acer said.

The LumiRead allows users to carry up to 1,500 books thanks to its 2GB Flash memory.

The LumiRead connects wirelessly over WiFi or a 3G module to download more books from the Internet.

To ensure a steady supply of titles, Acer said it has signed agreements with US-based Barnes&Nobles, which offers over one million titles in its e-book store, and German-based Libri.de, which is an Internet book retailer with over four million titles.

Other features of the LumiRead include a built-in browser, MicroSD card slot, and built-in ISBN scanner. The latter allows the user to scan ISBN codes so that they can create their own wish-list, and search supported online libraries and book stores.

The LumiRead is available in mono and colour screens. The mono version is expected to be available in the third quarter while the colour model will be out in the fourth quarter. No pricing information was available at press time. - SUBASHINI SELVARATNAM

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