Alex, First Android E-Book Reader Announced

Spring Design has joined the Kindle/Sony/Plastic Logic e-reader fray, with the Alex e-book reader based on Google's Android platform. The timing of the announcement was strange, as it came on the same day that Plastic Logic revealed details about its upcoming device.

The Alex has a multi-media slant on the e-book reader concept, with full browser ability (using Wi-Fi or 3G, EVDO/CDMA, GSM) supplements text with multimedia links. The dual-screen display brings a monochrome EPD (electronic paper display) screen and a secondary color LCD screen, which is actually an Android mobile device. A removable SD card adds storage for users, so they can build their own expanded multimedia reference libraries through browser based screen grabs and downloads.

"This is the start of a whole new experience of reading content on e-books, potentially igniting a whole new industry in multimedia e-book publishing for secondary authors to create supplementary content that is hyper linked to the text. We are bringing life to books with audio, video, and annotations," said Dr. Priscilla Lu, Spring Design CEO. "This gives readers the ability to fully leverage the resources on the Web, and the tools available in search engines to augment the reading experience."

Alex specs include: 6" E-Ink EPD display and 3.5" color LCD display, removable SD card, enhanced Android OS with full Android browsing capability. The company is in discussion with content partners. The Alex is to be released by year end.