Hands on with Plastic Logic eBook Reader

Even before a prototype was available and all we had were mockups and concept images, the Plastic Logic eBook reader was being touted as a real threat to Amazon's dominance in the eBook reader market with the Kindle 2 and new Kindle DX. But now this prototype lets us look at it and start to make comparisons and predictions.



Obviously the video is of a prototype so some of the little problems will be worked out before it hits production, like (hopefully) the way slow refresh and response time on the touchscreen. On the whole, it looks really functional. The navigation with the ability to change between documents in a left nav and also to get to documents through a seemingly intuitive interface make me think it will have a short learning curve. We like the bigger screen, it displays text well, but also shows charts and images in a big enough size you can tell what they are.



plastic logic ebook from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

The Plastic Logic lost some of its glamour when the Kindle DX, the large-screen Kindle, was announced. That means you can get the same size screen (about 10 inches) and quality. The Plastic Logic can regain some ground over the Kindle if they can make the touchscreen responsive enough to really do notes and scribbles on different document pages (it's so close in the video!).

The big surprise is that Plastic Logic plans to have their own store along with the 3G and WiFi access in their new device. This could make sense, especially if Hearst jumped on the bandwagon. We're excited to see more of this device. It's supposed to be ready by January 2010, so we're certain to start seeing more videos and demonstrations over the next couple of months. For more on the latest tech news, check out these other blog posts:

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