While we’re still waiting for Kogan to release their tablet device they showed us earlier this year, they’ve decided to plug part of the gap by releasing a 6-inch eBook reader for $189.
The Kogan eBook reader will come pre-loaded with 1500 books, which are all from Project Gutenburg. The device, which is described as “magic and revolutionary in the press release” (I guess it worked for Apple…) has a 16 level greyscale e-ink screen, is under 1cm thick and supports 16 different eBook file formats. In true Kogan form, that means you can purchase books from any number of online providers, although it won’t work with Amazon’s Kindle store (but should work with the Borders/Kobo store apparently).
Battery life is reported as 10,000 page turns, although considering the device will also play back photos (in greyscale!) and playback MP3s, that number could be a lot less depending on your usage habits. The price also includes a leather case.
The device has 2GB of inbuilt storage, which can be expanded via an SDHC card slot (up to 32GB), and runs a Linux-based operating system.
[Kogan]