If you're in the market for a color e-reader/low-end tablet, you may want to wait

Author: Riley Alexander, MD, MBA

While the existence of Amazon's Kindle tablet has all but been confirmed, we still don't know a lot the specific hardware details besides it's size and general form factor. It's looking like we won't have to wait too much longer--Amazon has a conference scheduled for 9/28 that will surprise everyone if it isn't about this color Kindle tablet.

Not to be outdone, it has leaked that Barnes and Noble has plans to update its very capable Nook Color this quarter with not just a hardware update to its current model, but an entirely new model. Very little is known about the new model other than that it is supposed to cost $349 as compared to the current $249 of the standard Nook Color. I'm betting that with a $100 price bump, this device will be larger and much more "tablet-like" than the emphasis on an e-reader with tablet features that the current Nook Color has. I highly recommend waiting to make your holiday purchase of either of these devices as the next models could be fairly significant upgrades.

New Kindles (3G with Special Offers) and Nooks

Amazon now has a new Kindle 3G. This one includes Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers and it's only $164. The 3G is free and it works globally, so it's great for international travelers.

Barnes and Noble recently announced a touch-enabled Nook. The Nook has an all-new look too:

ALL-NEW NOOK

• The Simple Touch Reader™
• Easiest to use 6” touchscreen
• Most advanced E-Ink® display—crisp text, even in bright sun
• Longest battery life—read up to 2 months on just 1 charge
• Ultra-light and thin—under 8 ounces
• Largest bookstore with more than 2 million titles—get them in seconds
• Expert recommendations & fun social features

NOOKcolor: a color slate with Wi-Fi

At $249, the Amazon NOOKcolor is an affordable Android slate tablet for those of you who need something that has a larger screen. This Wi-Fi slate has a 7" color screen and you can have access to over 2 million books. Plus, you can read magazines in full color.

The NOOKcolor will run on a custom version of Google Android. At this point, I don't think many people know what that really means. Will the NOOKcolor run standard Android apps?

Here's one of the best features of the NOOKcolor:

NOOKcolor takes Barnes & Noble's exclusive LendMe™ technology one step further with the new LendMe™ App. With NOOKcolor, lend a book to a friend, plus now you can also ask to borrow one of their books. All LendMe™ books can be shared once with friends at no cost, for up to 14 days.

You can learn more about the NOOKcolor here.  I may need to buy one for the kids.

Samsung digital reader may be coming to Barnes and Noble

According to this story on Engadget, the Samsung E6 e-reader may be coming to Barnes and Noble. Given that it has a touch screen and a stylus pen for "inking," this could be the start of a new revolution of digital notepads that may gain tremendous popularity among those of us who wish to avoid paper at all costs.

The Nook is another e-reader that is built for Barnes and Noble, but the Nook has a small color touch screen section on the bottom (so you can't really take notes on the Nook), but it's another great option for people who don't want to write, but want to read.

Eventually, I think the majority of these e-readers (digital book readers) will come with color touch screens. The Apple iPad will be the first, but others will soon follow.

Plastic Logic Que

According to the editors at PC World, the Plastic Logic Que was one of the "Best of CES 2010." Here's how they describe it:

E-readers were one of the hottest categories of the show this year, and the most compelling new model we've seen is the Plastic Logic Que. This 10.7-inch reader sports a capacitive-touch display that lets you gesture through page turns; it also downloads books from Barnes & Noble's e-book store. It will be available in April in a 4GB Wi-Fi version for $649, and an 8GB version with Wi-Fi and 3G for $799.

I'm not particularly excited about e-readers because I'm already a tablet user. I can read books on my tablets. So, why invest in a dedicated e-reader when I already have a device that does that already?

UPMC vs. UMPC

UPMC = The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
UMPC = Ultra-Mobile PC

The two acronyms have the same letters, but in different arrangements. Can you see why people may get them confused?

Who came up with UMPC anyways? It's hardly used these days because the UMPC movement really never took off the ground and netbooks have swept the nation. Now, if a tiny tablet or other form of miniature PC appears, people are more inclined to call them "netbooks."

To add to the confusion, we're now seeing a major movement in digital book readers like the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook. As these devices evolve and incorporate color screens and Internet capabilities, how will they get classified? What will people call Apple's new iSlate tablet? Will they refer to it as a tablet PC? (I doubt that) or a giant iPod touch? (I doubt that too). They certainly won't call it a UMPC or a digital book reader (even though I'm sure it will be capable of displaying e-books).

We're causing mass confusion by adding more acronyms and names for these small gadgets that don't really fall into the category of "laptop" or "smartphone." Let's hope that 2010 is a year when we'll develop some type of standardization on this whole topic.

Full color digital readers coming soon

When computers first appeared in the hands of consumers, they came with grayscale (aka monochrome) displays. The same was true for laptops and PDAs. Now, we're seeing that trend repeated with digital book readers. Books generally use black ink on white paper, so who needs color?

As digital readers like the Amazon Kindle, the Sony Digital Reader, and the Barnes and Noble Nook continue to evolve into a type of tablet computer, the need for a color screen will become inevitable. Soon, we'll be back to a tablet PC, but these devices won't have the same type of processing capability as what's found in modern computers. Let's see when Apple releases the iSlate.

So how will these digital readers evolve? I think it's fair to predict that they will incorporate color screens, have Wi-Fi, and have Internet capabilities. They will also be capable of e-mail and some type of multimedia (such as browsing images, playing videos, etc.). Will they get classified as a mobile internet device or MID? Perhaps they will get called a tablet internet device or TID. That will get confusing for physicians who prescribe drugs TID (three times/day).

At the end of the day, they will resemble very simple tablet PCs. How will this impact the medical community? Will health care students and working professionals get more comfortable working with slate tablets?

Electronic book readers are becoming very popular

Electronic book (or e-book) readers are becoming very popular this holiday season. The Apple iPod revolutionized the digital music industry. I think we're witnessing a revolution within the digital book industry and we're only seeing the first and second generation models with the Kindle and Nook, so we know that significant changes will occur over the next few years. Of course, Sony has made several revisions to its digital reader, but nothing has been truly revolutionary yet.

Remember the first Apple iPod? How many people do you know who owned one of these devices? I'm talking about the one with the mechanical scroll wheel, a center select button, and 4 buttons around the wheel. It had a grayscale screen and it was expensive. If we look at iPods today, we see significant changes. Who would have thought that the original iPod would have evolved to the current iPod touch?

I'm sure we will see significant changes in e-book readers as well. In fact, my prediction is that we will see some convergence with mobile internet devices, multimedia players like the iPod touch, and e-book readers. As a result, grayscale screens will be a thing of the past. My big question right now is: who's going to release the first e-book reader that has a color screen?

More rumors about the Apple Tablet emerge

Rumors about the upcoming Apple Tablet seem to never end.

Here are some of the latest rumors circulating on the Internet:

• 10.1" multi-touch screen
• Release around March/April 2010
• Roughly $1,000 (yikes!)
• It will compete against other e-readers like the Nook and Kindle with a 30/70 revenue split (30% to Apple and 70% to publishers)
  

If this thing is really going to sell for $1k, then I'd have to think that this tablet will run OS X. If it's just an oversized iPod touch, then $1k seems way too ridiculous to me. $1k also is way too high for an e-reader that has a color screen, Internet, and some multi-media functionality.

So what's it going to be Apple? When will we see the real deal instead of all these fake images?

Nook vs. Kindle

I don't plan to buy an e-reader for myself this holiday season, but I think it would make a great holiday gift for a gadget lover. I'm not trying to hint at anything. I have too many gadgets. However, maybe you'd like to get something for your loved one. If you're considering an e-reader, you may be thinking about the Barnes and Noble Nook vs. the Amazon Kindle. So which should you get?

I think the answer really depends on a single factor: Does the user spend time at Barnes and Noble? If so, then go with the Nook. Otherwise, you're fine with the Kindle or the Nook. If you want something really BIG, then get the Kindle DX. The best feature of the Nook is that you can take it into a Barnes and Noble and you can read books on the device while you're sitting in the lounge or coffee shop.

If I were buying an e-reader, I'd get the Nook. I like to browse book covers in color. Plus, the closest Barnes and Noble is only a few minutes away and I'm frequently there with my kids.

Now keep in mind that Apple may be coming out with some type of e-reader/tablet sometime in 2010. Of course, earlier rumors indicated that the Apple Tablet would be released in 2009 but we know that's not going to happen. We can't wait forever because technology changes so rapidly, doesn't it? The minute you buy a gadget, it's on its way to becoming obsolete.

Read unlimited free e-books on the Nook by going to B&N

The Nook is one of the latest digital readers and it uses a novel concept: you can take the Nook into a Barnes and Noble and connect to the Wi-Fi network in the store. Once you're connected, you can read e-books for free while you're in the store. Brilliant!

Many people go to the book store to read books. Now, if you have a Nook, you can still go to the book store to read your book. Just sit in the cafe, drink your cup of tea or coffee, eat a snack, and read on the Nook.

The Nook is coming

Barnes and Noble is coming out with an e-book reader called the Nook. The Amazon Kindle will be facing some serious competition out there! Now, we have Sony, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and several other companies releasing e-book readers. I'm thinking that Borders will be next.

The Nook looks quite similar to the Kindle. Let's see how they compare when they get released into the hands of consumers, students, and health care professionals. Can you imagine going through medical school with one of these?