Now an Ectaco jetBook Color 9.7″ tablet may change the landscape for e-ink readers.

Geek.com and other blogs report very interesting features of this tablet coming to US in January 2012.

The unit is based on the Hanvon C920, which utilizes a 1600 x 1200 Triton color E Ink display that’s capable of interpreting two-finger touch gestures. Wi-Fi support is built in, and there’s a stylus onboard for those who want to take advantage of the jetBook’s handwriting recognition abilities to leave notes in the digital margins of their books.

The jetBook can handle loads of different file formats, including EPUB, PDF, MOBI, DOC, XLS, and HTML — JPG and PNG photos are also supported, as are MP3, WAV, and WMA audio files. Opera’s web browser is included, as is a text-to-speech engine, and there’s a microSD expansion to hold your ever-expanding library.

A pre-order page at Ectaco presents detailed specs of the device:

• Triton Color E Ink screen
• 9.7″ Display
• 1600×1200 resolution
• Load Your Own Content
• Support for: Adobe DRM 9.1, ePub, Mobi, PRC, RTF, TXT, PDF, FB2, djvu, JPG, Gif, PNG, BMP (more to come)
• Wi-Fi enabled with browser
• Fluent Text-to-Speech can read you any book
• 10,000 page turns on a single charge
• Support via microSD for up to 32GB
• Sleek protective carrying case included
• Underline and highlight text
• 50-state reading list
• Fully interactive SAT course
• “Overdrive” library access
• Wireless access to online textbooks, www.ck12.org and other resources
• Speed Reading course
• Talking Oxford Dictionaries
• Course of English and foreign language grammar
• Speech recognition and speech analysis Language Teacher and U-Learn courses that teach you a language step by step
• Pictured dictionaries for 38 languages
• Cross translator for 180 languages
• Vocabulary Builder
• Linguistic Crosswords
• Reference materials for Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography and Earth Science
• Interactive Periodic Table of Elements
• Graphing and scientific calculators

The post Ectaco jetBook Color E-Ink Reader gets to US in January appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Up until now it seemed that e-reader enthusiasts have had to make a very important decision. If they want the sunshine-friendly display with unbelievable battery life, they’d go e-ink. If they want bright colors and a vibrant display, they’d go LCD. Well, Hanvon is prepared to give them the best of both worlds.

Also listed as Hanwang in some circles, Hanvon is a Chinese company and it’s getting ready to introduce the first e-reader with a color e-ink display. Since it’s not nearly as well known a name in the Western market as Amazon or Apple, it may not have the same kind of impact. Even so, this is still a very notable announcement.

By going with a color e-ink display, Hanvon could indeed be finding that perfect middle ground for e-book readers. You get color and you get the sunshine-ready screen. The battery life is set up to last for a few weeks at a time too.

I remember seeing some of the Hanvon products at Computex in June. They’re largely targeting the Chinese market, but will other companies adopt the same tech for their own products? Barnes & Noble already moved away from e-ink to an IPS display for the new Nook Color; will they move back to e-ink if it does color?

The post Hanvon e-book reader will be first with color e-ink technology appeared first on Mobile Magazine.