E Ink News

Sony has decided to abandon the US e-reader market and they will not sell the PRS-T3 e-reader in the US. Sony instead will focus their efforts on Canada, Europe, and Japan.

The PRS-T3 (an upgrade to the PRS-T2) is a 6" 758x1024 touch E Ink reader. It includes an integrated snap cover (with a built-in LED light) and Quick Charge which should charge your reader within 3 minutes (but not to full 100% power). Other features include Wi-Fi, 2GB of storage (and a microSD slot), ePub and PDF support.

Barnes & Noble announced a $20 discount to the NOOK Simple Touch with Glowlight - which now costs just $99. That makes this e-reader cheaper than Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite ($119) and Kobo's Glo ($129).

There are reports that Kobo is set to release a new e-reader soon. According to leaked photos and FCC filings, this will be a 6" e-reader with a 1,500mAh battery. The e-reader sports a microSD slot and a micro-USB port, and currently that's all we know.

Sony's PRS-T3 isn't official yet, but the E Ink e-reader just passed the FCC validation, meaning that this device is ready to be launched soon. We still do now have a lot of details - just that it's got Wi-Fi and a 3.6Wh battery.

Kobo is now offering the Kobo Mini e-reader for $39.99 (plus $8 in shipping) for a limited time, down from the normal $79.99. The Kobo Mini is a small e-reader with a 5" E Ink touch display, Wi-Fi and 2Gb of internal memory. The display is an E Ink Vizplex, the older generation technology.

Amazon is now offering the Kindle Paperwhite (and the Fire HD tablet) in China. The Paperwhite (with its 1024x768 high contrast front-lit E Ink panel) costs 849 yuan (about $135). I assume this is the Wi-Fi model which costs $139 in the US (or $119 with ads).

China-based Onyx is reportedly working on two new E Ink e-readers. Both will have Wi-Fi, a touch display, 4GB of RAM and a 1 GHz CPU. They will actually be Android (v2.3) tablets, limited by the E Ink display. The BOOX R65 will have an IR touchscreen while the BOOX C65 will have a capacitive touchscreen.

There are also reports that the company is set to launch the E43 Android phone that has a 4.3" E Ink panel and the same 1 GHz cpu in a few months.