Fujitsu introduces first consumer color e-reader

Jake Widman
Thursday, 19 March 2009 11:47

Your IT - Mobility

Consumers in Japan are now able to purchase what Fujitsu calls "the world’s first color e-paper mobile terminal" -- the FLEPia, a handheld e-book reader similar to Amazon's Kindle (but in color).

The FLEPia has an 8-inch display screen capable of displaying 260,00 colors at 768-x-1,014-pixel resolution. Since it relies on reflected light for its display and only consumes power during redraw, Fujitsu claims up to 40 hours battery life. Storage is on SD cards; the company says a 4GB SD card will hold the equivalent of 5,000 books.

The FLEPia comes with Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity via various Japanese mobile carriers, enabling it to download content almost anywhere. It also has stereo speakers and a USB port, and comes with a digital pen for use with the touch screen. The reader supports the Japanese version of Microsoft Windows CE 5.0 and comes with two e-book programs popular in Japan: BunkoViewer, which works with files in XMDF format, and T-Time, whose files are in .book format.

The FLEPia was first announced in April 2007, but until now only limited numbers for corporate use were available. With those field trials completed, Fujitsu was ready to roll out the consumer version, which supposedly is 1.5 times as bright as well as faster than the earlier versions. The consumer FLEPia is offered through Fujitsu’s online store FrontechDirect for 99,750 JPY, the equivalent of AU$1,540 or US$1,040.