As someone who is actually looking for an alternative to the iPad….I’m sitting here mid-July and so far I haven’t seen any news regarding when/if any of these supposed android tablets are going to ship.  Wasn’t it back in January that bunches of these companies promised ship dates of mid-summer?  So far the most promising of the bunch looks like the Notion Ink Adam.  Rumors are all over the place on this one.  I read one blog that claims it’s shipping late July to mid-August.  Frankly, I’m starting to get antsy to get a tablet.  I know some folks have been so irritated at having to wait that they’ve just gone and gotten the iPad.  At the moment I’m annoyed at Apple (what else is new).  I downloaded the ios 4 update to my 2nd gen ipod touch and apparently there are some features they’ve left out for the 2nd gen….home screen wallpaper, bluetooth, mutli-tasking…uh why even allow the thing to update? Is this some ploy to make me want to buy new hardware? Well ok, it makes me want to buy a non-apple tablet. Let’s get real…the 2nd gen ipod touch is absolutely capable of doing home screen wallpapers.  Then again I digress.

So far I’m hoping the Notion Ink Adam will come into being since that’s the tablet I’m looking at purchasing.

This tablet has great specs though pricing claims anywhere from $400 – $800.   Since I survive on a tight budget I’ll probably be looking for the less pricey model which just an LCD display.

Some Adam Features are:
Pixel Qi transflective display
NVIDIA Tegra T20 chipset
180 degree Swivel Camera
1080p Full HD video playback
integrated WiFi, Bluetooth and UMTS/HSDPA
So anyway, to all you tablet developers…please please please bring something to market so we as consumers have an alternative to the iPad.

Thank You, Thank you very much!

TekkieFreak

Ah yes, the Barnes and Noble Nook. I received mine on December 9, 2009. So I’ve been using my Nook for about 3 weeks now and I really have to say that I like it. It’s a great little device. It works well with the Barnes and Noble store and it offers support for many more file formats than Kindle. It contains the very same viziplex e-ink display as the Amazon Kindle, but also has a smaller, color LCD screen below the 6″ e-ink display.

The Nook has gotten tons of bad reviews and frankly, I’m not sure why.  It seems to be a great device, so far it’s worked well for me and it runs the Android operating system.  I’ve read 2 books so far on my Nook and have had zero problems downloading, formatting or reading either of the books I’ve purchased.  The wi-fi works fine and as soon as I entered my security key it connected without a problem.

The Nook doesn’t have a web browser available like the Kindle does, and the Kindle browser did come in handy one time when I needed to check my gmail account.  Though it worked, the experience was anything like browsing on a regular computer or even on a cell phone.  So, I can’t say that I miss having the browser available.  A software update that was pushed out for the Nook last week (version 1.1.1) did improve page turns by leaps and bounds and my Nook is running relatively fast and fuss free.  I own a Kindle 2 also and I have to say the experience I get from either device is fairly similar.  Though so far I find myself heading for the Nook when I want to read something.

The only real drawback I’ve found so far is that Barnes & Noble claims a 10-day battery life.  So far, this has been a tad disappointing as I’ve only managed to get maybe 48 hours.  And I don’t leave any of the network connections turned on when using my Nook.  The Kindle battery life seems to deliver much more as advertised as I’ve left the Kindle on standby for at least a week before with little to no battery drain.

I’ll keep you posted.

or it would if I lived in Japan and had $1000 to spend.  Fujitsu is spot-on.  The FLEPIA is the e-book lovers wet dream.

The good:

• It has a full color e-ink screen. XGA. That’s  260,000 colors people.
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• SD Card slot
• 40-hour battery life (not quite the 2-weeks you get with a Kindle), but 40 hours works for me.

The Bad:

• You have to live in or travel to Japan to get one.
• It runs windows CE 5.0….all I have to say to that is WTF?
• $1000 is a little out of my price range and probably also your average American consumer.
• 1.8 second refresh  rate. Ouch.  A tad on the slow side, but did I mention this is full-color?

The Ugly:

• Sorry folks, nothing ugly about this product, except for the fact that we here in the USA are (as usual) in the technological dark ages and can’t get great products like this if we had the cash.

Ah yes, it is only October, but this Christmas it is going to be  the season of ebook readers present.  As someone who used to read ebooks and news on her palm pilot 15, possibly even close to 20 years ago.  I am absolutely tickled Pink that the ebook reader market is taking off.  Last spring when I ordered my Kindle, it wasn’t the only ebook reader on the market, but after my usual researching it seemed the best of the bunch.  Now, I’m watching the Barnes and Noble Nook.  Mine is already on pre-order.  It’s being released on November 30.  It runs the Android operating system, displays PDF’s, and has both 3g and wi-fi (again the 3g is AT&T)…for a network that constantly whines about not being able to handle all the iPhone traffic I’m not sure why they would pony up use of their network for this…but well I guess they’re better than nothing.

Some great things about the Nook.

• Pricing is the same as Amazon Kindle 2 at $259.  Again I’d like to see the majority of ebook readers selling for $199 as I think this is the price point where MOST consumers will take the plunge.
• Free wi-fi in all Barnes and Noble stores.
• When you are in the store, you can read any electronic book free.  Just like when you are in the store you can page through any of the real books on the shelves without buying.
• It has an SD card slot.
• Replaceable battery (This has always annoyed me about the Kindle 2).
• It runs the Android operating system (though kindle also runs on linux).
• You can lend your books to other people.  This was a HUGE rant for many people with the kindle.
• Access to Googles extensive library of free books.

Anyway, you can check out the device and pre-order here.  It’s supposed to ship by November 30.