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.
Can I change the Batery or does it have to be sent or taken someplace? Also how many charges is it expected to take?
Haven’t hand my hands on this unit, so don’t know if it has a user-replaceable battery. Li-Polymer batteries usually last for a few hundred charge cycles.
Is there a Kindle Ap for the Skytex Color E-reader? I want a color e-reader for my nephew, but need one for which I can get books through Amazon.
Does it have text to voice? That is also desirable.
No it does not have an Amazon app. It doesn’t have apps. You’ll want something that runs Android and has access to the Android Market, but there really aren’t a lot of options at this point.
Is this the same as the Ematic EB101B 7″ E-Book Reader?
I have checked the specs in several web pages and for the life of me I cannot find a good difference? except I dont see if they have build in dictionaries or you can add one of them…
does anyone knows this?
I think they are pretty much the same. The hardware is definitely from the same source. I imagine the UI to be very similar too, but haven’t tested either to know for sure.
Nathan
how do I know if they are running Android?
When you reviewed the Iview, SVP eB701 or ematic, you didnt mention it. How do I know. In their specs didnt say, or if they do, I didnt see it.
Thanks for all your help.
by the way, the iview, ematic are sold out. Hopefully we will have more reviews from those new owners.
I just go off what the specs say. Usually if they are running Android that’s a big selling point so they make sure to point that out.
Battery life.
This is the response I got from them.
“Regarding the battery on the Primer. It should last several years under normal conditions (a full charge/discharge a couple times a week). The battery life on one charge is approximately 10 hours of mixed use (music, ebooks, and video). We’re looking into a battery replacement program for those with units outside of the warranty, but we can’t guarantee a similar size battery will be available 2-3 years from now—these are specialty cut lithium polymer batteries, designed for maximum performance and long life (much better than lithium ions). Of course, if the battery dies within the warranty period, we will send a replacement at no cost.”
According to other parts of this email, they use linux 2.6, they probably will use android in their future devices. And this product will have firmware upgrades and they will soon supporting ADOBE DRM for ebooks.
Thanks for the updates! They contacted me and said they were going to send one for review . . . but that was quite a while ago and still no Primer :(.
Does this ereader fully suport Unicode characters like Vietnamese? Thanks for this useful site.
I own two of these readers and I am quite happy with it. I recommend it if you are looking for a color LCD reader that supports most of the formats. As an added bonus it does a decent job of playing mp3s and video files.
You cannot change the battery but their support is very good and if you have an issue, you can call them directly and they will help them out (I had to deal with them and it was a very pleasant experience).
hi Brian, l have a primer, l love it, the only problem is that it does not stay charged for very long,does anyone have the companys phone number or a sight l can write to? thank you
well, i’m going to give this a try. wasn’t impressed with their netbooks, but maybe they’ve taken a step up…
anyone have anything to say about their brightness in the sun?
thanks,
stuart
http://ygm.net
is the skytex primer made out of a weak plastic, or does it seem kind of durable? i tend to drop things, and i was wondering if it would totally break if it were dropped???
we’ve seen several posts claiming one can use e-books for android on the the skytex primer, but haven’t found a means of achieving this, android e-books being customarily downloaded directly onto the device, while the primer has no wi-fi capability. though amazon-com’s kindle, which currently offers perhaps the largest selection of e-books and at the lowest prices, has free applications for running the program on pc, android, and other formats, we have not been able to transfer the aps to the primer. when we tried syncing kindle books adapted for the pc via the usb cable, primer did not recognize the file type; thus, it could not open it. it sure would be dandy to be able to download some new books, especially illustrated ones, to read in full color.
As mentioned in the earlier comments the Primer doesn’t run Android and is not capable of displaying ebooks from Amazon because of DRM. It supports EPUB format instead. I don’t know if they updated it to support Adobe DRM or not. If so you can get ebooks from a number of websites that sell Adobe DRM ebooks. If not you’re stuck with DRM-free ebooks and free ebooks.
It certainly support Adobe DRM, you just have to upgrade the firmware, downloaded the website.
As for battery life, my first charge lasted 2.5 hours, second charge lasted about 4+ and third one lasted about 5+…
For such a cheap device able to last about 6 hours will be very good already. I bought it for only USD 63.
One major problem is I still have not figured out how to use the search function for all my epub books on my 16 gig memory card. Search defaults to internal memory although you see an icon for both internal and D: however have not been able to switch it.
Anyone know how ?
Thanks
Lewis
hi There;
I received this device as a gift and i cannot seem to figure out how to download e-books from the library or purchased one.
I went to the library website & downloaded the supported sorftware but I still only have the pre-loaded books.
Another quick thing…..i was under the impression that when photos were uploaded to the device they would be sorted into the proper catagory; doesn’t appear to happen this way.
Any suggestions?
Here’s the guide to getting started with library ebooks. Can’t answer the photo question, though, because I never tested the Primer.
Hi, I was wondering if this has a dictionary built in or can you load one for reference?
Thanks,