Polymer Vision's Readius eBook Reader

The Readius ebook reader is planned to be out in Italy sometime this mid 2008 as announced by the manufacturer, Polymer Vision, a 2006-spinoff from Royal Philips Electronics (creator of the first epaper technology through a collaboration with E Ink Corporation). The UK market is targeted later in the same year. There's no hint on the price yet.

A stand-out Readius feature is its first-of-its-kind rollable displays that flips inward to a mobilephone size of 4.5" x 2.2" x 0.8" when not in used for reading. The display opens up to 5" diagonally. The device optimally integrates the functionality of a mobile phone (3G Tri-band HSDPA and Bluetooth connectivity) and a portable audio player. The internet capability has been much improved with RSS feed and email (POP3, IMAP) capabilities. It's basically a competition to both the eReaders and the mobile phones as well.

Ebook contents will be available to the users over a 3G cellular network via Readius® internet portal, currently still at the working stage with various publishers and content providers. The Readius® and the content download platform, among other things, will be on display during the 11-14 February 2008 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Along with the ebook documents, Readius supports various audio formats such as MP3, AAC and WMA to run audio books, podcasts, and music files. The text and files are displayed on 16 grayscale-level; the company hopes to produce full color display within 5 years.

Readius Polymer Vision Product Specification:

• Price: Not announced yet.
• Size: 4.5" x 2.2" x 0.8" when rolled-in, the size of an average mobile phone.
• Weight: 115g, ligheter than the average ereader.
• Display: 5” diagonal, 16 greyscales, 320 x 240 pixel resolution.
• Battery: 30 hours continuous reading.
• Connectivity: 3G HSDPA Tri-band phone, supporting ActiveSync, USB mass storage (USB 2.0), other device communication via Bluetooth 2.0.
• Processor: ARM11 400MHz.
• Storage: Available up to 8 GB (High Capacity Micro SD).
• User Interface: 8 SimpleTouch buttons.

This is a video of a Readius in action taken by AvingTV.