First Color E-Book Reader Goes on Sale
Background
Fujitsu Frontech and Fujitsu Laboratories co-developed proprietary color e-paper, and announced the launch of FLEPia in April 2007 as the world’s first color e-paper mobile terminal. Previously, commercial samples of FLEPia were available for purchase on a limited basis for corporate use only, as part of field trials of the first ever color e-paper mobile terminal. Compared to the FLEPia commercial samples which were used in field marketing, the latest FLEPia offers 1.5 times higher brightness and greater contrast, enabled through optimization of the color e-paper’s optical properties. Re-draw speed was also enhanced by 1.7 times. In addition to previously available high-speed wireless LAN, FLEPia is equipped with Bluetooth, enabling users to easily download and access various content from nearly any desired location.
Key Features
1. Lightweight, thin and high-performance: 8-inch screen displays up to 260,000 colors in high-definition
Weighing just 385 grams (385g) and only 12.5mm thick, FLEPia is lightweight and easily portable, while offering an easy-to-view 8-inch screen. Featuring world-leading color e-paper technologies, the mobile display terminal enables users to view a multitude of documents and images in high-definition at 768 dots x 1,014 dots (XGA), with up to 260,000 displayable colors (4,096-color and 64-color display is also possible, if desired).
2. Power-efficient color e-paper; enables up to 40-hour continuous battery operation
As the color e-paper employed displays text or images by reflecting external light, FLEPia does not require power to maintain screen display, consuming power only during re-draw (power consumption is approximately just 1/50 that of standard notebook PCs under similar usage conditions). When fully-charged, FLEPia offers up to 40 hours of continuous battery operation (conditions: display of 2,400 pages at 1 page per minute with 64 colors).
3. Feature-rich external interface (Japan: Bluetooth, high-speed wireless LAN)
Equipped with Bluetooth in addition to high-speed wireless LAN, FLEPia offers dial-up connection via various Japanese mobile carriers, thus enabling easy download of content featuring images and text (excluding audio and video content) from nearly any desired location. Also included as standard features are a USB mini-B connector supporting USB2.0 (480Mbps) and a SD memory card slot. Stereo speakers (embedded) offer audio playback of e-books, including picture books.
4. User-friendly operation: touch screen, digital stylus, scroll key, function buttons
A touch screen featured on the 8-inch display screen, along with a digital pen, enables easy operation of FLEPia. Also included are a scroll key and 6 function buttons, enabling users to freely and quickly implement commands on the screen in all 4 directions (up, down, left, right), as desired.
5. Two e-book viewers included as standard features (XMDF and .book formats)
Two popular e-book viewers widely used on PCs or mobile phones in Japan - “BunkoViewer” (XMDF format; “bunko” refers to “library” in Japanese) and “T-Time” (.book format) are included as standard features. These e-book viewers enable downloaded e-books to be easily read with FLEPia. The e-book viewers offer an enriched reading experience compared to conventional paper-based reading, enabling readers to jump from the table of contents to desired sections and freely enlarge or shrink text or images. A vast number of e-book sites are currently available on the Internet, and a wide range of approximately 20,000 Japanese e-books in either XMDF or .book format can be downloaded with FLEPia (see “Content Storage Capacity” under Specifications).
6. Equipped with Windows CE5.0 (Japanese version)
In addition to the content browser, Microsoft’s Windows CE5.0 (Japanese version) enables use of an internet browser, e-mail, and various software on FLEPia. Microsoft’s Office can also be used to generate text documents, spreadsheets, or presentations, making it possible to view a variety of documents - including e-mail file attachments - while in transit or in the field and away from an office environment, thus fully maximizing FLEPia’s multiple functions as a mobile information terminal. In terms of text input, a software keyboard and digital stylus make it possible to send e-mails and other text.
Dedicated customer-support website offers technical support, maintenance, software upgrades (Japan)
Fujitsu Frontech will offer a dedicated customer-support site, FLEPia World, on its Japanese website. FLEPia World will offer product information to potential customers considering purchase of FLEPia, in addition to technical and maintenance support to FLEPia users. Software upgrades will be offered free-of-charge.
Furthermore, customers will have the option of purchasing e-books through the FLEPia World website via Japan’s largest e-book online retailer - offered through a collaboration between the retailer PAPYLESS CO.,Ltd. and Fujitsu Frontech - and downloading the e-books directly onto FLEPia.
Pricing, Options, and Shipment
| Product | FrontechDirect on-line purchase price** (Japan) | Availability (Japan) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| FLEPia unit set* (White or Black) | 99,750 JPY | From April 20, 2009 | |
| Options (sold separately) | Book cover (White or Black) | 5,800 JPY | From April 20, 2009 |
| Storage case (White or Black) | 5,500 JPY | From April 20, 2009 | |
*Set includes USB cable (mini-B connector), AC adaptor, stand, wrist strap
**Prices include 5% consumption tax
Sales Target (Japan)
50,000 units by the end of 2010
*1 Figure indicates theoretical maximum transmission rate for standard wireless LAN; does not indicate actual data transmission speed.Specifications
Dimensions, Weight 158mm (Width) × 240mm (Height) × 12.5mm (Depth. Thinnest section: 11.3mm) , Weight: 385g Screen Size 8-inch (123.6mm x 164.8mm) Unit Colors White or Black Resolution 768 dots x 1024 dots (XGA) Number of Displayable Colors 260,000 colors (3 Scans); 4,096 (2 Scans); 64 colors (1 Scan) Re-Draw Speed 1.8 seconds (1 Scan), 5 seconds (2 Scans), 8 seconds (3 Scans) Wireless LAN (embedded) IEEE802.11b/g（11/54Mbps *1） Bluetooth Bluetooth Ver2.0+EDR Memory SD Memory Card*2 (Maximum up to 4GB) USB Connector USB2.0 (480Mbps) mini-B connector × 1 Audio Stereo speakers (embedded), headphone connector x 1 Power Supply Lithium polymer battery (embedded), AC adaptor
Fully-charged continuous operation： 40 continuous hours
(Conditions: Display of 2,400 pages/at 1 minute per page/with 64 colors)Content Storage Capacity (when used with a 4GB SD card) Equivalent to 5,000 paper-based books when each book is 300 pages long with 600KB per book Security 128Bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) Software FLEPia application, Japanese version Microsoft Windows CE5.0, Japanese e-book viewers: BunkoViewer (XMDF), T-Time (.book) CPU (embedded) XScale RISC CPU Environmental Operating Conditions Operation: Temperature range: 5 to 35 degrees Celsius, Humidity: 20 to 80% RH
Storage: Temperature range: - 10 to 50 degrees Celsius, Humidity: 20 to 80% RH
posted by Juan at 7:56 AM
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