Boca Raton, Fla. – A pair of full-color e-book readers with
5-inch and 7-inch TFT displays will be introduced next month at International
CES by Paradigm Shift Sourcing and Manufacturing.
Both units feature high-resolution panels with enhanced contrast
for ease of reading, and long battery life, the company said.
According to industry observers, full-color capability in e-books
is a requisite for their adoption by textbook publishers, which would give the
category critical mass.
Paradigm Shift’s 5-inch model, No. EER-051, is compatible with
ANSI, UNICODE TXT, DOC, PDF, HTML, FB2, PDB and EPUB (non-DRM encrypted) e-book
formats. The unit also functions as an MP3 player and photo viewer, and has 1GB
of onboard memory plus an SD card expansion slot. The EER-051 will be available
in white, pastel blue, pastel periwinkle, pastel pink, black and silver case colors
and will carry a suggest retail of $150.
The 7-inch step-up model, No. EER-071WF
,
features the Windows
CE OS, a full touchscreen interface and integrated Wi-Fi, and adds optional DRM
encryption to the format compatibility of its smaller sibling. Paradigm Shift
says the unit’s OS renders it a full ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) or tablet PC that
supports Microsoft Word documents and Excel and PDF files. The EER-07WF also
functions as a photo viewer, a Flash video player, and music player that
supports MP3 and MP4 files, while its Wi-Fi capability permits instant
cross-platform messaging via E-Buddy and direct access to YouTube through an
included widget.
The EER-07WF also offers
2GB of internal memory and a T-Flash expansion slot, and will be available in
black or white at a $200 suggest retail.
The company, based here, said the e-books are part of its Techno-Gadget
Line, and will be distributed to major retailers throughout the United States
by Delstar Wholesale Electronics of Hallandale, Fla., beginning in late February.
