MobileTechReview Forum, News and Reviews: Marvell and E Ink Partner to Bring eBook Readers to Mass Markets

Marvell today announced its collaboration with E Ink, the supplier of electronic paper display (EPD) technologies for most of the world's e-readers. The two companies have begun to ship a highly integrated e-reader processor available in complete turnkey platforms aimed at the fast-growing e-reader market. These new platforms are expected to accelerate the rapid release of new forms of e-readers at a variety of price points.

enTourage eDGe:

Central to this new e-reader platform is the world?s first commercially available SoC which integrates a high performance processor and state of the art EPD controller on a single chip ? the Marvell ARMADA 166E application processor. The ARMADA 166E is designed to offer users ultra fast renderings of high resolution PDF documents and support for the latest ePaper technologies in new smaller, slimmer form factors with lower system cost than the competition. The ARMADA 166E also brings to e-readers new features that save power and extend battery life, including a unique hibernation mode, or zero power mode.

The two companies have also joined forces with FirstPaper, LLC, to integrate unique technology into the ARMDA166E. This joint innovation enables a range of display sizes and resolutions, including support for larger screens that will deliver layouts, graphics, and content choices that people normally associate with periodicals, larger-format books, and documents.

According to Marvell, consumer ready e-readers will be available to end-users in 2010. One of the first readers is the enTourage eDGe, the industry's first ebook reader with dual screens and it supports ebooks in PDF and EPUB formats.

enTourage eDGe specs:

Size:
Length 10.75"
Width 8.25" closed, 16.5" open
Depth 1.0" closed, 0.5" open

Operating System
Embedded Linux with Google Android

Internal Memory
4 GB (~3GB for user)

LCD Display w/ Resistive Touch
10.1" WXGA (1024x600)

E-paper Display
9.7" e-Ink (1200x825)

E-paper
Pen Input Wacom Penabled

WiFi
802.11 b/g

BlueTooth
Version 2.1

Mobile Modem
EVDO or HSDPA optional

External memory
SD/MMC Card Slot, 2 USB ports

Power
7W max, 3W typical, 1W standby

Battery
Lithium-ion polymer; 16+ hours using the e-reader screen; up to 6 hours running the LCD screen

Video Formats
MP4, 3GP, Adobe Flash Lite (H.264)

Audio Formats
MP3

E-reader file formats
ePub, PDF

Audio jack, microphone jack
3.5mm each

For more info visit www.marvell.com

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Read our eBook Reader reviews:

Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-300
Astak 6" EZ Reader
Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600
Amazon Kindle DX
Amazon Kindle 2
Sony PRS-700
Sony PRS-505
Sony PRS-500

More News. . .

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