The Boox e-reader will finally be available in the USA, and shipments are expected to start in 2 weeks. First exhibited at Cebit 2009, Boox boasts a 6” inch VizplexTM e-ink display, 532MHz processor, up to 16 shades of gray, 512mb of memory expandable with SD/SDHC cards up to 32GB. The replaceable 1600mAh battery allows for 8000+ page turns.
Support for a wide variety of formats including EPUB and PDF, MOBI, HTML, TXT, PDB and CHM for reading. Image formats JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF and TIFF. MP3 for listening to music or audio books and Text To Speech capability. DRM EPUB and PDF support is via Adobe Digital Editions.
The Boox is a tablet about the same height and weight as an original Kindle. On the upper left edge is a slot for the stylus. On the left edge is a switch to enable the Wifi. On the bottom edge is the volume buttons, power switch, USB, headphones, and SD card slot.
The included stylus allows you to sketch and make notes, select and highlight text, select areas for zooming and much more. WiFi and a Webkit browser optimized for the e-ink screen allow you to surf the web, read the latest news and blogs and download content. To increase battery life the WiFi can be easily disabled.
The pricing might come as a surprise to some folks though, at $349, it’s more expensive than the Nook and Kindle, and doesn’t sport any 3G support.
