E-Reader news and resources

The JWF eReaderPRO is a 6" E Ink (800x600) e-reader that is planned to be very simple to use. It weights just 180 grams and supports PDF and ePub formats. It has 128MB of built in memory and also includes an SD card slot. It also has quite a lot of physical buttons (4-way D-pad, 5 function buttons and 11 vertical buttons).

The eReaderPRO will be released on February 25 in the UK, we do not know the price yet.

Amazon released a software update for the Kindle Touch (V5.0.3). Amazon says it includes "general software improvements" - no new features, and probably some bug fixes. You can just wait for it to download over Wi-Fi over the next few weeks, or you can do it yourself via USB (here's how).

According to a new survey by PewInternet, the share of adults in the US who own an e-reader nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January. This comes after a period (from mid-2011 till the autumn) in which there was not much change in e-reader ownership.

Read more (and download the full survey results) here

Hanvon's C18 is an Android based Mirasol e-reader. It has a 5.7" 1024x768 color Mirasol display, a 1Ghz Snapdragon S2 CPU, Wi-Fi and is running Android v2.3.

The C18 is aimed for the Chinese market, we do not have a release date or pricing details yet.

Update: the new e-reader is called the C18, we have full details here

Qualcomm is showing a new Hanvon-made e-reader that uses a Mirasol display.

We do not have a lot of information, beside the fact that the upcoming e-reader will launch in China and will have over 150,000 e-books and over 100 newspapers on launch.

SolarFocus is introducing a new solar charger cover for your Kindle 2011. The SolarKindle can extend your Kindle's battery life - adding three months of use. It also includes a LED lamp if you want to read in the dark.

The SolarKindle will cost $80 when it launches on January 15. There will be a Kindle Touch version soon.

Barnes & Noble says that Nook sales increased 70% compared to the holiday season of 2010 (they are referring to the last nine weeks of the year). The Simple Touch e-reader sales were actually below expectations, but the Tablets sold very well.

B&N are now considering the option of spinning the Nook line off. They say that Nook sales (e-readers and e-books, probably) were worth around $1.5 billion in 2011, and they project a continued growth in the US and internationally in the next 12 months.