E-Reader-Info

In the holidays and end-of-the-year spirit, here are the top 10 stories posted on E-Reader-Info in 2011, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):

1. 6" E Ink reader on sale in the UK for £29.99 ($48.69) (Feb 27)
2. Sony PRS T1 - is this the new Sony e-reader? (Aug 2)
3. Vivitek shows two color e-paper e-readers (Jan 10)
4. Missing the smell of books? There's a candle that can help... (Jun 28)
5. Some Amazon Kindle and Tablet rumors (Jul 14)
6. New Kindle firmware upgrade (v3.1) with real page numbers and new features (Feb 9)
7. B&N to open an Android app store for the Nook color in a few weeks (Apr 24)
8. Amazon now offers an ad-supported Kindle 3G for $164 (down from $189) (May 25)
9. ASUS to start shipping the Eee Note in the US soon, for less than $200 (Feb 27)
10. Ectaco to release a color E Ink e-reader in December? (Aug 20)

Here's for an awesome 2012. May you all enjoy the holidays!

We're proud to announce our first Kindle game software: Nonograms. Nonograms (also known as Griddlers or Paint By Numbers) are simple yet challenging Japanese logic puzzle games in which your goal is to uncover the hidden black and white picture. Download this exciting game now for $2.99! If you like SuDoKu puzzles, you'll surely love Nonograms...

The puzzles contain a grid with number clues on the sides that help to reveal the hidden picture. The numbers measure how many blocks of black square there are in any given row and column, and the size of these blocks.

Our sister-site OLED-Info launched a new book today - The OLED Handbook. This is a comprehensive guide to OLED technology, market and industry. There is a growing interest in OLEDs - from all over the world, and this guide can help introduce the subject quickly and throughly.

Reading this book, you'll learn all about:

• OLED technology and materials
• What kind of OLED displays are available today
• What is a Super AMOLED and a Clear Black display
• All about OLED lighting technology
• OLED lighting panels and lamps available today
• The future of OLED displays and lighting
• And lot's more!

In the past few weeks I've been busy developing a new game for the Kindle. I'm looking for a Kindle DX owner that's willing to do some beta testing on the game (as I don't have a DX myself and I need to make sure the game looks good in the larger display, too). The testing shouldn't take long - I'm mostly interested to hear that it looks good, and it's a simple game.

If you're interested, please contact me. Thanks!

A week ago my Kindle 3 screen got damaged. I'm not sure how (probably one of my daughter is to blame) - but now I got a small blotch of dead pixels. It's really annoying. I'm talking to Amazon about a replacement unit, but in the mean time the nice folks at Trident sent me an Aegis Kindle case for review. Maybe I do need some protection for my Kindle...

The Aegis case (I got the black one, by the way) comes in a tiny box, with a small paper Kindle inside to hold it, which is a nice touch. It includes a silicone cover and a hard plastic (polycarbonate) 'shell'. You also get an audio-jack extender (because when you use the case, the input jack is too far 'in' so you can't use it. That's nice. What you do not get is a screen protector, which is a shame - as this seems to me the most fragile part of the Kindle (at least in my experience).

A few days ago the nice guys over at ClothAddiction sent me a couple of microfiber cloths for a review. So here's my short hands-on review.

What is it?

It's pretty simple - a cloth to clean the screen of your e-reader (it also works of course with your mobile phone, tablet and computer monitor). The cloth is rather large: 8.75" x 12", and when you buy it they throw in a second one which is a bit smaller (7"x7").

I posted a hands-on review on the Amazon Kindle 3 hands-on a few weeks ago. This was more of a 'first-impressions' review. So I bought a new book (The Divine Invasion by Philip K. Dick, if you're really interested) and read it on the Kindle (I have the 3G/Wi-Fi version which costs $189) - to see how it actually fares as an e-reader.

Like I said in the hands-on review, the Kindle is a great device. It feels great in the hand (even though it is a bit too smooth and sometimes slips), and the display is great - after reading a whole book I can also report that it's indeed 'easy' on they eyes. I sit in front of an LCD monitor most of the day, and I find it hard to concentrate and read for a long time on an LCD. But the E Ink display is great. The slow refresh rates didn't bother me too much - when you really read you don't go back and forth too often.