Paradigm Shift planning two color e-book readers

A relatively unknown company called Paradigm Shift Sourcing and Manufacturing will introduce two full-color e-book readers that use 5- and 7-inch color displays at next month's CES show in Las Vegas. The company says both units will have high-resolution screens that have a high contrast to make them easier to read, while battery life will be impressive as well. With such capabilities, the devices would be well-suited for displaying textbooks, allowing them to enter into textbooks.

The 5-inch EER-051 device should have a built-in MP3 player, photo viewer and 1GB of memory in addition to an SD card expansion slot. It will support multiple e-book formats, including ANSI, Unicode TXT, DOC, PDF, HTML, FB2, PDB and unprotected EPUB.

The larger 7-inch model, the EER-071WF, will reportedly be more capable as it will run on Windows CE and have a full touchscreen interface, integrated Wi-Fi, and the option of reading DRM encrypted e-books. As it will be capable of accessing chat programs using E-Buddy and viewing YouTube videos, Paradigm Shift is likening the device as more of a UMPC than simply an e-book reader. It will read Microsoft Word documents, Excel and PDF files as well as load photos, Flash video and AAC as well as MP3 music. Integrated memory will be fixed at 2GB, but a T-Flash (microSD) expansion slot will allow added space.

The 5-inch model will be available in white, pastel blue, pastel periwinkle, pastel pink, black and silver colors and cost $150, while the 7-inch version will only come in black or white and carry a $200 price tag. The US company plans to begin shipping the devices in late February. [ Twice]

By Electronista Staff