Users who can avail the eReading App should have any of the Nokia Lumia Smartphones including models 610, 710, 800 and 900. The app is downloadable from Nokia online, while books shall be provided by Overdrive. The basic purpose of this launch is to bring local language ebooks to European countries, where the ebook reader market has not yet boomed. Although most of the European territory is still unexplored, this Nokia app will have a fierce competition with Amazon’s Kindle as well as the Kindle Apps for Android, Mac and iOS, which are already available in France, Italy, Spain and UK.

Nokia Reading experience

The exciting new launch has been signed by lots of world famous publishers including Penguin, Pearson and Hachette. There is a lot of scope for reading free eBooks through this app, as thousands will be available without any cost, as well as chargeable ebooks. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “One Day” and “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” are just some of the world famous favorites which will soon be downloadable through this app.

At the Mobile World Congress which was held in February, Nokia stated: “While ebooks are becoming a common sight in countries like the US and the UK, they are still in their infancy—or basically unavailable—in many parts of the world. And this is where the strength of Nokia Reading lies: in local language e-reading content.” The app offers all the basic features for a comfortable digital reading experience, including multiple font sizes, night mode which flips the background to black and the text to white, and many other features that are not yet specified. The format support and availability of content was not mentioned during the launch, but it seems that the eBook Store will definitely have a good and comprehensive collection.  So far, it was mentioned that “a wide range of local titles, as well as large collection of English titles popular across the world” will be available.

Nokia is planning to elaborate this eReading App a step further by providing audio book support and a News feature in the coming weeks. They have explained that this News Feature will be like a virtual news magazine which will allow users to subscribe to local and international RSS newsfeed.

Nokia-Reading-on-Lumia-900

Although the app is specified to a limited channel of Lumina smartphones, time will tell how successfully it will alter the European ebook reader market to the company’s advantage. The availability of ebooks in local languages is undoubtedly a plus point for Nokia’s success with this launch.

Once a strong Finnish company, Nokia pulls through one more time and is ready to release a valuable product for their faithful users, providing books in European languages and many other cool and still mysterious features.

Nokia Announces the European eReading App and eBook Store - Brought to you by: eBookReader.com

Kobo Cloud Reader

Kobo app for iOS has completely vanished as it doesn’t allow users to buy books anymore. Further, other eBook companies do not allow the Kobo app for iOS to be used for purchasing books. Amazon, the market giant of ebook readers launched its Kindle Cloud reader four months ago, after which Kobo followed. By using the Kobo Cloud Reader, it is easy to access libraries of books through Google Chrome and Apple Safari as well as buy the latest releases through these same browsers.

When downloading a book through Kobo Cloud Reader, it gets stocked into your Kobo account, which means that you can access the preview from all platforms that Kobo supports. This way you can start reading on your PC and pick up from where you left off at work on your iPAD or any other supported platform. The key feature of the Kobo Cloud Reader is that it maintains your read last page across all its platforms.

Kobo Cloud Reader allows lots of flexibility for its readers for a comfortable experience. Reading Settings provide options such as font size, font color, text alignment, reading theme and layout. They also allow users to choose the most suitable out of nine font sizes, option that gets applied with a single click. You can also select from four different fonts for books and page backgrounds and justifications can also be customized.

Kobo Cloud Reader layout

The option of changing the background color for any book is quite handy especially at night, when the pure white background gets hard on the eyes and often, an unwanted glare appears. It is easy to change the color for a comfortable reading and you can also choose from landscape or portrait modes. Although the options may not be extensive, Kobo provides enough flexibility to the users to customize at will and enjoy the e-reading experience to the maximum.

Another interesting feature is that the Kobo Cloud Reader keeps count of any past purchases through Kobo and also provides free samples of the latest books released on the market. Most of the samples are not very elaborate, just the first pages of the upcoming book are provided for free – that doesn’t really give a thorough idea of the book, but it may come in handy. Another important feature is that you can use coupon codes to buy books and that can lower your purchase to less than a few dollars on books purchased through Kobo.

Basically, Kobo Cloud Reader is tailored for the Apple iPad and various iOS devices, but in the end, any web browser can be used to enjoy digital reading through the latest cloud software from Kobo.

Kobo Cloud Reader Finally Released! - Brought to you by: eBookReader.com

Briefly, In the Night Kitchen is an account of a small boy’s dream in which he floats out of his bed, out of his pajamas, and into the Night Kitchen, a world populated by a trio of jolly yet slightly sinister bakers who introduce themselves by chanting;

We are the bakers who bake till dawn/So we can have cake in the morn/crying milk, milk in the batter!

Somehow, the boy, Mickey, gets mistaken for the milk and very nearly baked. Huge vats of dough become clothing or airplanes, milk (and possibly other ingredients) takes its multistory place among the city’s other sky-scrapers, odd captions and notes peek out of the details of rich, playful illustrations, and a small boy goes on a hero’s journey to get milk for the mixed-up night bakers.

Mickey is never afraid, nor even really surprised by the Night Kitchen. His main objection to the bakers’ attempt to bake him seems to be just that they are being silly. As he asserts, “I’m not the milk and the milk’s not me; I’m Mickey!” The world isn’t safe, and indeed there are frightening allusions here–the men who are willing to put a child in an oven to get what they want all look disturbingly like clownish Hitlers. But Mickey is saved, not because anyone saves him, or even because he fights and wins a battle, but simply because in his child’s arrogance and delight in self he stands up and asserts that he isn’t what they think he is. And he is the one who solves their problem; he gets them milk. It is only an adult’s eyes who see the danger; Mickey, the dreamer, is in complete control.

And it is adults who continue to see danger in the book. In the Night Kitchen has been banned more than once on the grounds that there is something wrong with the illustrations of a naked child. Yes, Mickey is naked for part of the story, and in some pictures his genitals are visible. Some people read the plot and understand the illustrations as some sinister sexual allegory. Surely, they say, there must be something wrong with a book about a naked child?

We think not. This is a book about a child, for children, and nudity is no big deal for a child of Mickey’s apparent age; he looks to be maybe three years old. If he were a real little boy let loose to romp in a park between one diaper and the next, nobody would think twice. It is only adults who think nudity must mean something beyond simply being without clothes at the moment. It is true that Mickey falls out of his clothes for no apparent reason, but lots of things happen in the Night Kitchen for no apparent reason. It’s a dream.

We like this book. We like its whimsey and its richness. We like its danger and Mickey’s self-assured imperviousness to it. We like its chants and its rhymes and its gentle surreality. Most especially we like the premise of the Night Kitchen itself; we can imagine a small boy waking every morning to a breakfast of rolls and muffins and little cakes that were not in evidence the night before. Where did they come from? Knowing nothing of his mother baking, or his father picking up breakfast from the corner bakery on his way to buy a paper, the boy assumes they must have been made in the Night Kitchen, the dreamworld where adults do the mysterious things children never get to see.

This book’s a treat. Don’t limit yourself to just a single Maurice Sendak book, and don’t get all bent out of shape because a little boy is naked for no apparent reason. The nakedness just isn’t important. Other things are.

And yes, it’s available as an ebook, though you may have to hunt around for it, some. Not all online book sellers carry it in electronic form, yet.

In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak - Brought to you by: eBookReader.com

This budget friendly new device of their line has a 7 inch screen and comes with a powerful Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. The new launch is already available nationwide in advanced retail stores. The best part about this device is that it is budget friendly, costing only $129 for an advanced tablet which gets its eBooks from the Barnes & Noble store, while GetJar App store provides the apps. The minus point is that Google Play Store for apps cannot be accessed through this device. The users will have to rely on Barnes & Noble, GetJar and other smaller stores for apps, games and books, which is a tremendous downside of this tablet due to the popularity of the Google app store. But people who are not really crazy about apps and games might not feel any difference.

Nextbook Next 7S

The price is undoubtedly the most attractive feature of this tablet. Quite light on the wallet, $129 is the retail price which means you can get it for as low as $99 in almost two, three months. In many shops, these tablets are sold for less than their retail price, thus becoming a suitable option if you are planning to purchase a low-budget tablet.

The features of this 4.0 Android tablet are almost the same as of other tablets of similar quality offer. It is driven by a 1GHz processor which is a Cortex 8. The storage capacity is 4GB but it comes with micro SD slot which means you can increase the storage capacity at any time. Other features include Wi-Fi, a G-sensor and a spot for front facing camera. The budget tablet offers a 7” multi touch screen with a resolution of 800×480.

The tablet design is pretty good for its cost, being chic, fashionable and quite slim. It may not have a great hardware to celebrate, but what is underneath is pretty amazing. At this price range, the software is definitely a pleasant feature.

This is the second Next 7S tablet released by Nextbook. Their previous venture was Nextbook Premium 8se. It has almost the same features as their new tablet but it’s more advanced in software and has an 8” screen. Most of the previous tablets introduced by Nextbook do not fit in the category of budget tablets as they have fairly good software with lovely hardware and higher prices.

As most people will walk directly past this tablet because of its features and specifications, the price tag may attract quite a few readers who will definitely acknowledge the presence of this tablet; however, with fancy tablets all around, it is quite hard to determine the fate of the Nextbook Next 7S.

Nextbook Next 7S Tablet Released for $129 - Brought to you by: eBookReader.com

Marvel comics characters

Marvel released their first comic in this format, namely the Avengers vs. X-Men titled Infinity 1. This new comic can easily be bought from Marvel Comics app/store. The wonderful result of this awesome new feature will make you ask for more comics. There is no need to zoom or pinch to make their text readable. The best way to view these comics is in landscape mode which allows you to capture a full page and turn it, to view a completely new next page.

You will find elements of surprise with every new turn. Maybe the page you open at first gives you a complete colorful picture but when you tap on it, different boxes of text will appear. Likewise, maybe on the next page the comics will be lined up in panels but when you turn the page you will get another panel to read. There are excellent animations which you will wholly enjoy while reading. The characters will pop up in the background and then will show up quite closely on your tablet. The tricks of Infinity Comic toolbox can be explored simply with a swipe of the finger. The dialogue boxes, artwork, animations and panels on the page can be brought into action with just a touch of a finger. For the next page and element, a simple forward swipe is required.

The new way is much more interactive and interesting to read digital comics in, rather than the old static method. Another interesting element is the dramatic blurred background which appears on the first version of the page, while a second version that appears with a swipe is in total focus. This interesting element is missing from the standard digital comics as just one sharp version of a page appears when a comic is loaded on the device. This blurred version adds more drama and delayed mystery to the whole scene, capturing the complete attention of the readers.

Marvel revealed that Infinite Comics format is developed after a collaboration between the writer and artist without any involvement of publishers. The best way to enjoy this advanced reading experience is to view a full page and not to skip ahead too much as dramatic transitions and cinematic experiences are built up slowly page by page, lots of action can be missed if you skip ahead quickly. This ground-breaking method of displaying comics is original, fun and heightens the reading experience in a pleasant manner.

To check this advanced way, install the latest version of marvel Comics app and purchase the first issue of Avengers vs. X-men to enjoy on your tablet.

Marvel Digital Comics Now in Infinity Format - Brought to you by: eBookReader.com

At first there wasn’t any competition, when Amazon introduced their Kindle ebook reader on the market in 2007 and Sony presented their device in 2006. Now lots of new ebook readers have been introduced to the market, by several companies. The latest entries are much more refined, much faster and less costly than their older counterparts. The content is also readily available through wireless Internet access, which has been introduced in the latest versions.

publishers fighting

The reason why the ebook readers have instantly gained worldwide success varies from person to person. Of course, the most common ones include reduced storage and shelf space, convenience during travelling and low cost of reading good books.

Now the companies and publishers who have been providing online content are battling with full force for your money. Their battles have turned legal to include the U.S Justice Department recently. The major reason for this war is the monopoly of Amazon who can buy eBooks on wholesale rates cutting other competitors from the market easily. Apple, Penguin and McMillan are trying to formulate an eBook fixing association to decrease Amazon’s monopoly and promote healthy competition in the market.

Apple and Amazon are two key players in this battle who have been trying to undermine each other for quite a while now. Apple seems to be doing pretty well in this fight and is influencing publishers as well as retailers to hold back their relationship with Amazon. Its rival, Amazon, became at loss when it decided against paying 30% for every book sold through Apple’s app, as no one can purchase the books through this popular app anymore. Amazon has shipped 4.8 million Kindle Fires in the last year. During the shopping season, their Kindle Fire reached a critical mass in the market. The company also increased their market shares but could not get expected value out of their share. It is believed that Kindle Fire has reached its optimum number of users.

Amazon vs Apple

Barnes & Noble stroke a good deal with Microsoft, who will bundle its bookstore in Windows 8. This will make it convenient for users from all corners of the world to buy these books. This international development and expansion was a necessary move by Barnes & Noble, in order to maximize their international presence. This partnership also helps Microsoft, as it has not done well in the eBook market so far.

The eBook market has been enjoying a tremendous success in the recent years, making the fierce competition more cumbersome, as lots of money is at stake in this new electronic age. Google, Kobo, Amazon, Apple and Barnes & Noble are fighting hard to keep their customers, with lots of attractive offers that have been introduced by companies to stimulate them. Some offers include free software while others are giving away free ebooks.

The complications are yet to increase in this advanced electronic age!

The eBook and eBook Reader Wars - Brought to you by: eBookReader.com

POCKET EDGE

The Entourage Pocket Edge ebook reader is dual screen which opens and closes like a book. The right side of the display launches programs and has a 7 inch colored screen with 800X480 pixel resolution. The left side screen is e-ink based and has the functionality of a touch screen, 6 inch diagonally, with a resolution of 800X600 pixels. The left side displays 16 levels of grayscale, thus becoming a competent addition to the other ebook readers on the market.

The right colored screen can be rotated 180 degrees both vertically and horizontally with the touch of a button. The left e-ink screen cannot shift between portrait and landscape and the stylus is used mainly to conveniently navigate through the menu.

The memory capacity of the device is 3GB but the micro SD card slot is available and can be used to expand the memory up to 12GB. Internet can be accessed through Wi-Fi 802, but Ethernet to USB dongle adapter can also be bought from the Entourage online store.

The pocket Entourage has only one camera of 1MP which works well when taking photos, creating videos and even for video chat, for which software is required from the Android Store.

The battery life lasts up to 8 hours and can be brought to full capacity through the charging device provided in the box. The MIC, headphone jack and speakers are all located in the central part of the device, making their use more convenient.

The Entourage Pocket Edge ebook reader runs on Google Android 1.6 and has a Linux Kernel Overlay for the e-ink screen specially designed to provide a shiny finish. Lots of custom applications are available on the device, all of which can be downloaded before you setup your system for the first time. The interesting journal application is worth downloading as it allows you to take notes in your own hand writing on the e-ink screen, very quickly. Another important custom application is the YouTube viewer.

Entourage Pocket EdgeE

You can watch videos online but you cannot do that only by clicking on the videos. Unlike other Android based e-readers, it is quite impressive that the Entourage Pocket Edge provides a huge number of applications by default.

The Entourage Pocket Edge ebook reader offers a versatile usability including ebook reading, net surfing, note taking, recording and playing videos. You can take photos, work on Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and use large number of file formats including MP3, WAV, 3GPP, MP4, AAC, OGG, M4A, MOV, Adobe Flash Lite, AVI and WMV.

With an entry price of $350, this device has received several price changes along its way and can now be purchased for less than $100.

The “Book” eBook Reader: Entourage Pocket Edge - Brought to you by: eBookReader.com

Kyobo Mirasol Color

Kyobo Mirasol Color has a 5.7 inch screen with a resolution of 1024 X 768. It is certainly much better in its display capabilities even with its small screen as compared to other ebook readers like the Kobo Vox. The Kyobo Mirasol Color doesn’t have a dual core as Kindles and Nooks do, but it offers 1 GHZ S2 processor and 512MB RAM providing comfortable browsing and processing without slowing down. The internal memory is of 1GB but the micro SD slot provides necessary input for expansion.

The hardware design of Kyobo Mirasol Color ebook reader is quite sleek and exclusive. The color is gun metal black with outline trims on the sides. At the back, there are speakers near the bottom edge while the top showcases the power and reset buttons. The right side conveniently provides volume buttons while on the bottom there’s the outlet for Micro USB Connector that helps with the charging. The LED indicator is located on the lower side and becomes orange as the device is switched on. There is a headphone jack next to the LED indicator.

The battery life is quite long as compared to the Android devices which don’t work for long due to their bright LCDs. The Kyobo Mirasol Color can work up to 10 hours when browsing, playing videos, games, downloading apps and searching for e-books. But if you do not use the Wi-Fi or 3G at all and simply use it for book reading, it easily works for 2 weeks without any recharge needed.

The difference between Kyobo Mirasol Color and the famous Kindle or Nook lies within the display. The Mirasol offers muted colors in contrast to the vivid colors of the latter and that makes it easier to read for a longer period without affecting the eyes. Further, under direct light, the Mirasol displays the complete color content better than any other ebook reader.

Kyobo Mirasol

In terms of software, Kyobo Mirasol Color features Google Android 2.3 and allows you to install any web based or 3^rd party applications. Although it is an ardent task to install 3^rd party apps on the Mirasol, it is inevitable if you want richer content on. The overall reading experience is very good but there aren’t many books and dictionaries preloaded on the reader, so it is best to use alternative sources.

The page turn is animated, you can change line-margins, spacing and few fonts through default apps. The reading experience is glare-less in any environment due to the muted screen, thus becoming quite perfect to use outdoors. The PDF format is handled well, with zoom and pinch functions for a very comfortable use.

Overall, the Kyobo Mirasol ebook reader doesn’t fit among the big players out there, as it is quite expensive for its features, but its display is something truly worth experiencing.

The Unique Reading Experience on the Kyobo Mirasol Color - Brought to you by: eBookReader.com

Or, maybe not right.

Book Boon publishes only their own books, which they finance through advertising—that means advertising embedded within the textbooks. The possibilities here are troubling. While Book Boon states that advertisers cannot influence the content of the books, this reassurance is hard to believe. While Book Boon does not approach potential advertisers until after a book is written, surely they have some sense of which topics and which ideas are likely to offend (or just fail to excite) advertisers? And surely a book that could not attract advertisers would not be published, even if it did get written. But maybe it’s true that Book Boon has never once bowed to any advertiser pressure, overt, covert, real, or imagined—yet. The fact that their business model makes them dependent on something other than the judgment of college professors assigning textbooks is already troubling.

There are a few additional concerns. One is that professors generally require specific course readings, meaning that Book Boon cannot rescue students from having to buy expensive traditional texts if that is what their professors have assigned. True, some students can get by reading the wrong book, and if the wrong book is free, so much the better, but not everyone is in a position to get away with that. Another concern is that so far, and at least in English, Book Boon’s selection is impressively broad for a single textbook company, but quite narrow for a book store—and of course Book Boon functions as both. For example, there are no ecology textbooks, no sociology textbooks, and nothing on art or literature. If the existence of free and easy-to-download textbooks is going to impact the affordability of education, it’s only going to do that for some majors.

It seems clear that the textbook industry should not wholly switch over to the Book Boon model, something that could one day become a concern, as the business model seems quite sound and is likely to be competitive. However, that is not necessarily an argument against a professor deciding to use this publisher as a resource.

Individual professors may find certain Book Boon books perfect for their needs, and since download is free, it’s easy to get a copy to check out. Self-taught students may also appreciate being able to get the overview a good textbook provides for free. The concern about Book Boon’s reliance on advertisers is serious, but this would not the first time outside interests have made themselves felt in education—or in the lives of college students. Hopefully, students already know how to identify and correct for traces of advertiser’s agendas.

The issue of advertising is less of a concern for Book Boon’s other two major divisions, business and travel, since foundational knowledge is not an issue. These are also areas where marketing is already an accepted part of the conversation, so ad-supported publications are not a game-changer. So far, the selection in travel books is poor, though.

Of course, the usefulness of Book Boon depends on whether the books they publish are actually good books. We have not reviewed any of their books individually, only their service as a whole. Oddly, no reviews of Book Boon books appear to be available.

The bottom line is that if you can save yourself, or your students, some money by going through Book Boon,  then more power to you—but don’t confuse this service with something that it isn’t. Book Boon is not a one-stop shop for free and reliably unbiased educational materials.

Ironically, a one-stop shop for free books already exists; it’s called a library.

Book Boon’s response

Since having published this article, Book Boon has contacted us to clear a few things up. Here is the bulk of their response:

“- our advertisers do not influence our books in any way. We receive new books before we receive new advertisers, who by the way pay for exposure towards a certain target group, not exposure in a book in particular. If a certain book is not relevant to a target group, we still publish it if we accepted it. In that sense, we are loyal to our authors above all.

- it is true, we only offer Engineering, IT and business – but this is because these are fields our employees come from, so we wanted to start by focusing on what we knew. Perhaps Bookboon will one day focus on other fields like literature or history, as you mentioned.”

Re-Conclusion

Book Boon is a free text book publisher, and while it may not have the biggest selection of books just yet, we do appreciate the free service this company provides to students and readers all over the world.

As the company grows we expect to see a larger diversity in the topics of its free ebook offerings.

Book Boon - Brought to you by: eBookReader.com

Plastic-Logic-QUE-Ebook-Reader

Plastic Logic is employing a flexible plastic technology which has been in the experimentation phase for more than 10 years.  It is said that two models will be introduced at first; one will include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 4 GB memory for the price of $649 and the other will feature Wi-Fi, 3G wireless technology and 8 GB memory for price of $799. None, however, will have the option to expand their memory.

QUE has been introduced as a business-oriented ebook reader to fit perfectly in a full briefcase. It looks quite sleek with its thickness limited to 1/3 inches, while its width is 8.5” and length 11”. The ebook reader weights 17.2 ounces. The screen resolution is surprisingly limited to 8 grayscale when almost all the new products on the market are featuring at least 16. The 10.7” screen has a resolution of 960 x 1280.

The file functions supported by the new QUE include Excel, Word, PDF and PowerPoint, making it quite appropriate for its targeted business users. The shatterproof large screen has enhanced usability due to the gesture –based touch screen, while a virtual keyboard is available for taking notes.

The latest QUE relates well with the Kindle DX as it also allows readers to enjoy newspapers, magazines, periodicals, business documents and PDF files. For US users, AT&T will enhance the reading experience by providing 3G and Wi-Fi service on both models. It is said that an AT&T expansion is foreseeable, but for now, their services are available for US users only.

QUE proReader

Plastic Logic recently announced a new feature to provide email and calendar service for the latest QUE with the partnership of Good Technology. This means that users will now get their emails directly on their devices if they have accounts on popular email services including Google, Yahoo, Hotmail and Windows Live Exchange.

Plastic Logic has opened lots of channels for easy content access on the QUE. Barnes & Noble’s ebook store can be accessed through the ebook reader,  as well as a good number of newspapers, magazines and publications including USA TODAY, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Oakland Tribune, Forbes, Popular Science, Barron’s and many more. In addition, Plastic Logic has joined hands with Olive Software – one of the leading digital publishing organizations on the Internet that has partnerships with more than 400 organizations.

Plastic Logic QUE proReader Redefines Flexibility - Brought to you by: eBookReader.com