E-books outsell hardbacks on Amazon in the US

Amazon, the online retailer and owner of the Kindle e-reader, has announced that digital books have been consistently outselling hardback books for the last three months in the US.

The company has revealed that it has been selling 143 e-books for every 100 hardcover books over the course of the second quarter of 2010. The outpacing of digital books versus hardbacks is also accelerating, as during the last month alone, Amazon.com has sold 180 Kindle e-books for every 100 hardcovers.

Amazon says its Kindle bookstore now offers more than 630,000 e-books, with an additional 1.8 million out-of-copyright e-books made available for free.

The company has sold three times as many e-books in the first six months of 2010, as it did during the first half of 2009.

The increased uptake in e-books can partially be explained by the recent slashing of e-readers’ prices, including Amazon’s own device, the Kindle.

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, said in a statement that “the growth rate of Kindle device unit sales has tripled since we lowered the price from $259 to $189” but failed to give any sales figures.

Amazon and other e-reader manufacturers, such as the US-only Barnes and Noble bookstore – which own the Nook, have been forced to slash prices after Apple launched iBooks, a rival e-book store, when it announced the iPad, its first tablet-style computer in January.

E-books are also much cheaper than hardbacks, with the average digital book costing less than $10 (£6.60), while a hardcover usually costs around $26 (£17) on Amazon.

Amazon also offers Kindle e-book readers for the iPhone, iPad, Android phones, Blackberry, Windows PCs and Apple Mac –which means if a Kindle user breaks their device, they will still be able to access the e-books they have purchased.

via telegraph.co.uk

Samsung Galaxy Tab: Review

Slick, well-designed and highly usable – it's clear that Samsung's new Galaxy Tab tablet computer represents a real challenge to Apple's iPad

 

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a new, much-publicised, Android-based tablet that draws heavily on Samsung’s popular Galaxy S handset. Details leaked online well before today's official launch turned out to be largely true.

What the leaks failed to convey, however, was quite how slick this new device is. Get hands-on time with it, and it’s clear that the Galaxy Tab presents a genuine rival to Apple’s iPad. At almost exactly the same size as the highly praised Amazon Kindle, it’s light, thin and industrial in its design. With a 7in touch-screen, it provides plenty of space for films, in full high definition, but is not too big to get out discretely on a train. 

Slick, well-designed and highly usable – it's clear that Samsung's new Galaxy Tab tablet computer represents a real challenge to Apple's iPad
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a new, much-publicised, Android-based tablet that draws heavily on Samsung’s popular Galaxy S handset. Details leaked online well before today's official launch turned out to be largely true.

What the leaks failed to convey, however, was quite how slick this new device is. Get hands-on time with it, and it’s clear that the Galaxy Tab presents a genuine rival to Apple’s iPad. At almost exactly the same size as the highly praised Amazon Kindle, it’s light, thin and industrial in its design. With a 7in touch-screen, it provides plenty of space for films, in full high definition, but is not too big to get out discretely on a train. 

 The screen is not AMOLED, but that is not painfully noticeable. Used as an ereader, the bundled software is intuitive, easy to use and integrates impressively with newspapers and magazines.

Indeed, the software is what makes the Tab a genuinely compelling device. Android FroYo 2.2 has not been significantly adjusted, which means that there are few of the problems associated with other operators who have done more harm than good in their bids to improve on Google’s operating system. So if you don’t like using Samsung’s ereader, you can download the Kindle App. With full access to the Android Market, the Tab offers a decent number of downloads – there are around 100,000 apps to choose from – which should fulfil the needs of most consumers.

The Market is also growing at a speed that indicates it will soon have everything Apple’s App Store offers, and more. But when it comes to the Tab itself, it’s hard to fault Samsung’s first foray into the tablet market. The cameras, at 1.3 megapixels and three megapixels, may not be up to the standards of those found on most smartphones. But the Tab isn't really designed to be used as a camera, although it, like the iPhone, seems to be making a serious stab at taking video calling into the mainstream. The success of that remains to be seen.

Indeed, if there are any true niggles about the Tab, they’re most likely to come from operators: cost, availability and data tariffs will be big hurdles, and details will be revealed in due course.

 telegraph.co.uk  2 September 2010

Kindle - now available to UK customers!

Click here for Kindle with global wireless - now available to customers outside the US.

Prior to today Kindle has been available only to U.S. customers. Now for the first time Kindle wireless reading device is available to customers around the world.

With this new Kindle you can think of a book and be reading it in less than 60 seconds.

Kindle utilises the same 3G wireless technology as advanced mobile phones, with coverage in over 100 countries worldwide, so you never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Unlike mobile phones, there are no monthly data charges and no yearly contracts. There is no software to install and no syncing required. You shop and download books wirelessly right from the device.

Kindle is as thin as a magazine and weighs less than a paperback, but can hold 1500 books. Its electronic ink display looks and reads like real paper without glare - even in bright sunlight. A long battery life means you can read for up to two weeks on a single charge.

The Kindle Store has more than 250 000 books available to UK customers, plus UK and international newspapers, including The Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail, and The New York Times. You can expect to see many more books from UK publishers available in the coming weeks and months. Soon you will have every book ever printed, in any language, all available in under 60 seconds.

Click here for Kindle Wireless product specification.

IREX DR800SG 3G e-Reader

The IREX DR800SG e-reader with 3G connectivity for over the air book borrowing has just been announced Stateside, but there’s good news for us folks in UKadia too: it’s coming to Europe, potentially making it the first 3G e-reader to hit Britain. A strong contender to Kindle!

The IREX DR800SG is an 8.1-inch e-reader with support for a ton of formats, including PDF, EPUB, eReader and TXT, and it comes with a 3G connection to download books wherever you are. It’s headed to Europe in 2010 for around $399 (£245).

Inside the IREX DR800SG is 2GB of shelf space, and while there’s no finger friendly touchscreen, IREX promises one for next year, and a colour model for 2011.

Key product specifications:

• Big screen, compact design - some competitive devices offer a similarly‐sized device but with a much smaller display area. IREX’s 8.1‐inch screen is ideal for books, magazines and newspapers with detailed graphics.
• Purpose‐built device - the DR800SG uses the latest electronic paper display technology to deliver an experience that is closer to reading ordinary paper than possible with a netbook or tablet device. It also has longer battery life and is lightweight.
• Easy navigation - the device turns pages faster than competing products, and navigation is easy with an interactive touch screen and straightforward buttons. Users can search their library or add a bookmark with a tap of a stylus or skim an eBook with a touch of a thumb.
• Customized reading - users can enlarge or reduce text size and margin widths or select portrait or landscape mode to suit their preferences.

Via www.electricpig.co.uk

Ebooks are real page turners

Sony has new ebook readers - the Reader Pocket (£180) designed with commuters in mind, and the Reader Touch (£250) that’s packed with features and navigation tools.

The Pocket fits comfortably into a jacket rather than jeans pocket but, with a 4-inch screen, it’s about as small as you can co with such a device. If you need to zoom in fully, you won’t fit many words on a page. But, with good eyesight, text is as clear as any reader we’ve seen.

Content is uploaded via a micro USB connection (cable is provided) - you get up to 350 standard eBooks, according to Sony, and up to two weeks of reading time per battery charge.

Handy for commuting, many controls are laid out for single-handled operation. However, scrolling through pages on the Pocket is slower than on the Touch, and turning to a page with an illustration can cause quite a delay.

It has a connection for a wrist strap and this model comes in silver or pink.

The slightly larger Touch - in silver or black - has a 6-inch screen and also shows text as clearly as any other eBook reader.

Navigated using buttons, or via the touch screen for most functions, this reader is one of the quickest we’ve seen. You may need to apply a little more pressure when swiping than you think, however. There is also a stylus in the spine, which can be used to handwrite notes of highlight text - but you can use the touch screen keyboard for this if you prefer.

Other features include the ability to bookmark, add sticky notes and find out the meaning of words with the Oxford Dictionary.

In addition to a micro USB port and cable, there is a Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo slot and a standard SD card slot. It also features a 3.5mm headphone socket, so you can listen to music and audio files when reading.

Verdict: Both (Pocket and Touch) models have useful features and are more compact than previous Sony versions.

Which? magazine