There’s suddenly a number of sales going on for ebook readers and tablets, with several coming in at just $99. Borders is running a sale on all of their ereaders and tablets, and Walgreens of all places has a really inexpensive Android Tablet for sale.

First, Borders has the Velocity Micro Cruz Reader marked down to $169, $30 off the regular price. The Cruz Tablet isn’t discounted but comes with a $25 gift card on all pre-orders.

For ereaders, Borders has the original Kobo eReader marked down to $99, which includes double Borders bucks, and the Aluratek Libre is down to $99 as well.

All of these deals at Borders last until 10/31, which includes 20% off all ereader accessories with the purchase of an ereader.

Lastly, Walgreens has the Maylong M-150 Android Tablet on sale this week for $99. It is a 7-inch tablet that runs Android 1.6.

Filed under: Android, Sales and Discounts | Tags: borders, ereader | 7 Comments »

One of the most common questions I get asked is which is the best ebook reader for viewing PDF files, the Kindle, Sony, Nook, which one?

The sad truth of the matter is that no 6-inch ereader is really all that great for displaying PDF files. What it comes down to is the 6-inch screen is just too small.

Sure, the Kindle 3, the Sony Readers, and PocketBook ereaders all do a serviceable job with PDF files, but if you really want a hard-core PDF reader, then there’s only one option: a tablet, either the Apple iPad or any number of Android tablets will do, the bigger the screen the better.

Yes, it’s true. The iPad and Android Tablets, especially Honeycomb tablets like the Motorola XOOM and ASUS Transformer, are by far the best PDF ereaders currently on the market. The size of the screen, color, zoom, hyperlinks, notes, highlighting—and there are a number of quality PDF apps for both platforms.

But what if you don’t want to spend that kind of money or don’t want to have a backlit screen? What’s the best e ink ebook reader for PDF files?

Mainly do to a lack of options, the Kindle DX with its large 9.7″ screen is the best E Ink ebook reader for viewing PDF files. The Kindle DX does a really good job of displaying PDFs, but it lacks hyperlink support, dictionary and note-taking support, and other interacting features, which doesn’t make any sense because the Kindle 3 has all those features.

As far as small ereaders go, the Kindle 3, Sony Daily Edition, and PocketBook ereaders are the best for viewing PDF files, along with a rooted Nook Touch. All have various levels of zoom, landscape mode, notes, etc. The Kindle 3 is the only one that doesn’t have reflow, but you can have Amazon convert PDFs to AZW for free and that is essentially reflow.

It’s a tough call between those because each has different positives and minuses. The Kindle 3 doesn’t have any margin crop feature or hyperlink and TOC support, as the others do, but it does have a text darken feature that works fantastic for PDFs with light-colored text.

PocketBook has two different PDF viewing programs that gives a lot of flexibility for viewing PDFs. One thing to keep an eye on is the new 9.7″ PocketBook 902 and 903. Those are two of the better E Ink PDF ereaders from a software standpoint.

The Sony Daily Edition has a custom zoom dial and plenty of different PDF viewing options, the touchscreen makes it easy, and the slightly larger 7-inch screen helps too.

So what it comes down to is this: if you want really, really good PDF support go with the iPad or an Android tablet. If you want something that is serviceable, something that can display PDF files decent enough now and then, but not solely for PDFs, then go with a Sony Reader, Kindle, rooted Nook, or PocketBook ereader. If you really want a large E Ink PDF reader, the best advice would be to go with the Kindle DX or PocketBook 902/903, but they are going to cost about as much as a decent tablet.

Filed under: How To | Tags: ereader, kindle pdf, PDF | 36 Comments »

In a much anticipated move, Borders has lowered the price of the Kobo Reader down to $129, cutting $20 off the price so that it is now $10 cheaper than the Kindle 3 WiFi.

Borders also cut the price of the Aluratek Libre by $20, making it just $99. These new prices will go into effect tomorrow, September 1st.

If you want to get one these devices from a retail store, make sure to call ahead first. It seems that some Borders stores are anti-ereader and refuse to make any effort toward selling ebook readers, at least where I live. I gave up trying to find a Kobo Reader to review. Funny story, the last time I went to Borders I honestly overhead one of the employees say something along the lines of, “Damn ereaders are going to put us out of business”. I guess that explained why they didn’t have any on display.

In addition to the Kobo and Libre, Borders sells Sony Readers too. And they just started offering the Velocity Micro Cruz Tablet and Cruz Reader for pre-order, as reported on last week.

In other Borders’ news, they just announced that they will start a new Rewards loyalty program starting September 1st. Here’s the key information from the press release:

Consumers can now choose from two forms of Rewards — a free, enhanced Rewards program, or the new “Borders Rewards Plus” program, which for $20 per year delivers savings on nearly all Borders merchandise, and free shipping on virtually all online orders. Borders is the only major bookseller to provide consumers with a choice of loyalty programs.

To celebrate, members can earn “Borders Bucks” twice as fast beginning tomorrow though Sept. 6. Typically, members earn $5 in Borders Bucks for every $150 they spend annually, but during this period, Borders will double the spend to bring the member closer to the $150 threshold faster. For example, if a member spends $50, Borders will double that amount bringing the total spend to $100. If a member spends $75, Borders will double that amount bringing the total spend to $150, resulting in the member receiving $5 in Bucks.

Filed under: Kobo, News, Sales and Discounts | Tags: borders, ereader, kobo ereader | 3 Comments »

Another day and another color ereader is announced. This one is from a company called Skytex that makes netbooks, tablet computers, and portable media players.

The Skytex Primer is a 7″ color ebook reader and portable media player that is expected to sell for $99 when it is released in October. It has a widescreen resolution of 800 x 480, supports video and audio playback, and even has an FM tuner to listen to the radio using headphones or the built-in speaker.

The Skytex Primer comes with 2GB of internal memory and has a micro SD card slot for memory cards up to 16GB. It supports 18 different languages, runs on a ARM9 400 MHZ processor, has a built-in microphone and recording software, gets 7-8 hours on a battery charge, and supports the following formats: EPUB, PDF, TXT, HTML, PRC, JPG, PNG, MP3, WMA, APE, FLAC, AAC, RMVB, VOB, DAT, MP4, FLV, 3GP.

Looking at the device in the picture, it looks a lot like the Augen eBook Reader, except it doesn’t have a full keyboard and there are two sets of buttons on the right side of the screen for some reason—an odd placement for sure.

The Primer comes with a USB cable, power adapter, quick start guide, earphones, and a protective sleeve cover. For more information and reviews, the Skytex Primer is listed on Amazon.com.

Filed under: New eBook Readers, News | Tags: color, ereader, skytek primer | 23 Comments »

There’s an article over at the New York Times today about another new color ereader, the Literati by Sharper Image.

The Literati eReader has a 7-inch color TFT display with an aspect ratio of 800 x 480—an odd choice for something designed for reading and not video playback. It looks a lot like the Augen eReader, in fact.

But unlike the Augen, the Literati won’t have a web browser, but does have WiFi for connecting to the Kobo ebook store through the built-in Kobo application. It comes with 25 free public domain ebooks, with a coupon code for an additional 125.

As for the rest of the specs, there isn’t any. Even the Literati Reader website doesn’t mention them. There are a few videos, however, but they don’t reveal many details, other than the fact the device offers different font sizes, types, and has a brightness slider and night reading mode—all features of the Kobo reading app.

The Literati is expected to hit stores in October for $159 and will sell from Bed, Bath and Beyond, Best Buy, J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, and Macy’s stores. At that price, this device doesn’t stand a chance. The Augen sells for under $100 and there are several devices with more features, like the Pandigital Novel and Cruz Reader, that sell for about the same or slightly more.

New color ereaders are cropping up all over the place, a fad that won’t likely last very long once some quality low-cost tablets start hitting the market.

Filed under: New eBook Readers, News | Tags: color, ereader, literati | No Comments »

Suddenly, the competition for ebook readers in Australia is starting to heat up.

Kogan, an Australian consumer electronics company, has announced the new Kogan ebook reader to take on the Kobo Reader and Amazon Kindle.

At $189 AUD, the Kogan reader costs $10 less than the Kobo and roughly $50 less than the Kindle 2 after price conversion and shipping costs.

The Kogan has a 6-inch E Ink screen with a resolution of 800 x 600 and 16 shades of gray—the exact same as the devices mentioned above.

It comes with 2GB of internal memory and an SD card slot for cards up to 32GB. It runs a Arm 9 Core processor and has a Linux 2.6 operating system. The battery is listed at 10,000 page-turns.

1500 free classic ebooks are included from Project Gutenberg, and the Kogan Reader supports Adobe DRM for purchased ebooks from a number of ebook retailers, including Australian stores like Borders and eBooks.com.

According to the Kogan website, the device supports an impressive array of formats: PDF, CHM, EPUB, TXT, HTM, HTML, RTF, PDB, DJVU, DJV, IW44, IW4, FB2, OEB, PRC, MOBI, TCR, OPF, JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, TIFF, and MP3.

Six languages are supported as well: English, Italian, French, Russian, Dutch, and German.

The device comes with a leather carrying case, earphones, USB cable, and charger.

Filed under: New eBook Readers | Tags: ebook reader, ereader, kogan | 2 Comments »

(Update: The full written review is now finished and is located on this new Augen The Book Review page.)

There’s a new inexpensive color ereader on the market that goes by the name of Augen “The Book” (try to work that into a grammatically correct sentence).

In addition to reading and downloading ebooks, the Augen ebook reader can display videos, images, play music, and browse the web. It has a built-in speaker, headphone jack, QWERTY keyboard, and SD card slot. Here’s a full rundown of the Augen’s specs on this earlier blog post.

While the device is still listed as pre-order on websites like JR.com for $129, I was able to find one at a local K-Mart store this morning for $89 (thanks for the tip, Grace).

Here are my first impressions of the Augen ebook reader:

The TFT LCD Display

While it has a 7-inch screen like the Pandigital Novel, the Augen ebook has a much narrower screen because it is has a resolution of 800 x 480 instead of 800 x 600 like the Novel. The actual screen size is about 6″ x 3.4″. And in case it isn’t obvious, the Augen does not have a touchscreen.

The color and quality of images and videos are both fairly decent given the price of the device, and the screen isn’t nearly as reflective as most LCD displays. The font for menus and DRM-free ebooks is exceptionally bold, dark, and defined. Outside in the bright light though, the display is barely legible.

eBooks and PDFs

The Augen ereader supports Adobe EPUB and PDF, TXT, HTML, CHM, RTF, FB2, and MOBI/PRC text formats. Non-DRM ebooks have options for changing font type, line spacing, margins, and alignment. Ebooks can also be read aloud with the text-to-speech feature. Surprisingly, TTS also worked on some PDFs that I tried.

DRM ebooks on the other hand have less options for customizations. There are no options for changing font type, adjusting line height, margins, or anything like that. And for some annoying reason there are huge margins when viewing in landscape mode.

Of the PDFs I tested, none displayed that great. The zoom settings are hit or miss and there is no re-flow. Viewing them in landscape mode works decent, but the G-sensor doesn’t automatically rotate PDFs for some reason; you have to go in and set it to the highest zoom level. Also, large PDFs take forever to load and page-turns don’t seem to work all the time.

The weirdest thing about the Augen is that it has a keyboard and yet there is no option for adding notes to ebooks. No highlights or dictionary either. There is a notepad feature that can create, import, and export TXT files, but it is a separate app from reading.

Hands-on Video Review

Filed under: Reviews | Tags: augen, ebook reader, ereader, the book | 32 Comments »

Here’s a list of 10 bestselling free ebooks from B&N. Barnes and Noble ebooks have their own form of DRM encryption that requires the use of Barnes and Noble’s eReader software for iPad, other iProducts, the Blackberry, Mac and PC. B&N ebooks also work on the iRex DR-800, Pandigital Novel, and of course the Nook.

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

3.5 stars, 126 reviews

Six young men and women are called to protect the living world from the dead in Hieber’s Gothic romance debut. Mysterious powers give Alexi and his peers the mission of keeping the restless dead in line and seeking a prophesied seventh guardian. Miss Percy Parker, an albino orphan with a talent for languages, fills none of their expectations, but Alexi is drawn to her all the same.

Hieber draws Victorian London as beautiful and grim, with depictions of Jack the Ripper as a nightmarish many-headed hound alongside charming descriptions of the Athens Academy, Percy’s boarding school, and Greek mythology that smartly draws together various elements of the story. The supporting characters are nuanced and appealing but given short shrift by the narrow focus on Percy and Alexi, though future sequels may give them more room to play. Hieber’s debut shows great potential, and readers will want to revisit her intriguing world.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Irresistible Forces by Brenda Jackson

3.5 stars, 469 reviews

One week of mind-blowing sex on a beautiful Caribbean island. Of all the business proposals financial tycoon Dominic Saxon has heard, Taylor Steele’s is definitely the most tempting. All Taylor wants in return is for Dominic to father her baby. No strings, no commitments…just a mutually satisfying arrangement. Make that very satisfying. For a man with no intention of marrying again, it sounds ideal.

Taylor wants a baby, not a relationship. And sexy, intelligent Dominic seems like a man with perfect genes. Turns out, Dominic has perfect everything. Their “procreation vacation” is a whirlwind of sensual ecstasy. But when it’s over, will either of them be able to say goodbye?

My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent

3.5 stars, 304 reviews

It was supposed to be a fun day, shopping at the mall with her best friend. Then the panic attack started and Kaylee Cavanaugh finds herself screaming, unable to stop. Her secret fears are exposed and it’s the worst day of her life.

Until she wakes up in the psychiatric unit.

She tries to convince everyone she’s fine–despite the shadows she sees forming around another patient and the urge to scream which comes burbling up again and again. Everyone thinks she’s crazy. Everyone except Lydia, that is. Another patient with some special abilities….

His Lady Mistress by Elizabeth Rolls

4 stars, 369 reviews

DOWNTRODDEN SERVANT OR GRACIOUS LADY?

When Max, Earl Blakehurst, meets Verity he sees a downtrodden servant. He doesn’t recognize her as the daughter of a colonel under whom he used to serve, the girl he’d once helped years before. The life Verity’s now living is untenable. So he proposes a shocking solution–he will set her up as his mistress.

It’s only once that Verity’s finally agreed, once Max is beginning to lose his heart to her, that he discovers her true identity. Max is taken aback; he would never have suggested this lady become his mistress. Now, to avoid scandal, they’ll have to marry!

DEAD(ish) by Naomi Kramer

2.5 stars, 301 reviews

Linda’s had a bad day. First her boyfriend killed her. Then she woke up, still on this boring plane of existence, and with an odd obsession about her missing body. Mike won’t tell her what he did with her body, and she can’t find the stupid thing herself. There’s only one thing she can do – torment the bastard until he coughs up the information.

Star Wars : Lost Tribe of the Sith #2: Skyborn by John Jackson Miller

3 stars, 175 reviews

A Jedi ambush leaves the Sith ship Omen marooned on a remote alien world, its survivors at the mercy of their desolate surroundings and facing almost certain death. But Sith will no more bow before the whims of fate than they will yield to the weapons of their enemies. And Omen’s cunning commander, Yaru Korsin, will let nothing keep him and his crew from returning to the stars and rejoining the Sith order’s conquest of the galaxy. Murdering his own brother has proven Korsin’s ruthless resolve-but now an entire race stands in his way.

The primitive, superstitious Keshiri worship unseen gods called the Skyborn, shun science, and punish unbelievers with death. Branded a heretic, the widowed young geologist Adari Vaal is running for her life. Among the mysterious Sith castaways she finds powerful sanctuary-and her saviors find the means of survival. With Adari as their willing pawn, the Skyborn as their Trojan horse, and the awesome power of the dark side of the Force at their command, the lost tribe of the Omen set out to subjugate a planet and its people-and lay the foundation for a merciless new Sith nation.

Slow Hands (Harlequin Blaze Series #402) by Leslie Kelly

4 stars, 251 reviews

This is Maddy Turner’s lucky day. The civilized society girl just bid on sexy rogue Jake Wallace at a charity bachelor auction–and won! But Maddy knows Jake’s dirty little secret. And it should keep her from trying out her new boy toy. Too bad she can’t stop herself from indulging in raw, quite uncivilized sex all the same….

Jake Wallace is utterly bewitched by Maddy–and utterly bewildered. How can this tantalizing woman melt so rapturously under his ministrations one moment, then turn into a haughty queen the next? He’s determined to get to the bottom of Maddy’s agenda. One slow, delicious inch at a time…

Final Passage by Timothy Frost

3.5 stars, 125 reviews

When Martin Lancaster was eighteen, his father was mysteriously lost at sea during a yacht race. Years later Martin discovers long-lost logbooks in his mother’s attic and vows to find out the truth. But he meets implacable resistance from family, business colleagues and officials, who seem prepared to stop at nothing to prevent him discovering what really happened all those years ago.

Black Silk by Jan Gordon

4 stars, 218 reviews

Vic has two loves in her life, her cat, Mister, and reading books from her bookstore. Her future looked set, until one night when she’s saved from probable danger by a mysterious stranger. Cole has moved around a lot during his life, never finding a true home, until he buys an old house, and fate steps in to change his future. A light romance with a paranormal twist.

The Unsuspecting Mage (Morcyth Saga Series #1) by Brian S. Pratt

3.5 stars, 201 reviews

The Unsuspecting Mage is the first book in The Morcyth Saga, a new epic fantasy series by Brian S. Pratt. From beginning to end, it’s jammed pact with action & adventure. Not knowing what is going on from the antagonist’s viewpoint gives this book an excitement others lack. An avid reader for years, Mr. Pratt brings his own original slant to the genre that has entertained millions.

Filed under: Free eBooks, Nook | Tags: BN, ereader, free | No Comments »

Barnes and Noble is running a new promotion through July 3rd for the Nook ereader. Buy a Nook from either Barnes and Noble or Best Buy and get a $50 gift card.

The gift card is for Barnes and Noble’s retail stores and their online store and can even be used to purchase ebooks, e-magazines, and newspapers for the Nook.

The Nook sells for $259 from both stores and comes with free shipping.

I noticed that the Nook is highly rated at Best Buy, with 4.7 stars over 52 reviews. I wouldn’t go that high; more like a solid 4 now with the firmware upgrades. Here’s my detailed review of the Nook, if the deal has you curious about it.

Filed under: Nook, Sales and Discounts | Tags: BN, ereader | 1 Comment »

Yesterday Barnes and Noble finally released their eReader app for the Apple iPad. Here’s a page reviewing all its features, along with plenty of screenshots: B&N’s eReader iPad App.

Filed under: Reviews | Tags: apps, BN, ereader, ipad | No Comments »