Plastic Logic eReader tablet: Information, news, specs and video

A new contender is about to enter the eReader fray, but is it to little to late?

The Plastic Logic eReader looks very good in this video demo provided by the WSJ. The E-Ink display is uniquely different from the Kindle’s — it’s made of flexible plastic. One of the intriguing parts of this project is that Plastic Logic first built this tablet to be flexible — about the same rigidity that a Tupperware lid has — but after user testing people felt the flexibility was a sign of weakness. Now the screen is embedded in a tablet 1/4 of an inch thick. The good news is that the display is anti-glare and easy on the eyes. The downside is that it still uses the E-Ink display and suffers from the same blinking loads as the Kindle.

The other very interesting thing about the Plastic Logic eReader is that it’s a touch screen. There are no clunky keys that may result in accidental page turns. The menu is selected by touching the bottom left of the screen. From there you can access all of the eReader’s functions.

Read more about the Plastic Logic eReader in the rest of the post.

But what about content? Plastic Logic points out that the focus of its eReader is for business. It’s the same size as a sheet of paper (8.5″ x 11″ and larger than the Kindle DX) and can open any document that can be printed (specifically focusing on PDFs, spreadsheets, documents and Powerpoint presentations). In addition it allows for landscape newspaper and magazine reading as well as adjustable font sizes for book text. It cannot read web pages which is a minor disadvantage.

Plastic Logic assures us that the battery will be long-lasting due to the engineering and thought that went into the design of the eReader. E-Ink uses a lot less power but no battery tests have been released. It will also have 3G and WiFi connectivity.

Finally, Plastic Logic says it will have a store where you can buy and find content for the eReader. All in all this looks like an extremely capable eReader — one that could possibly rival the Kindle and Sony Reader. It all boils down to price. If Plastic Logic introduces this at a nice, low price point it could take off. That chances for that are low, however, as they’re already marketing this product as a business and professional’s reading device. Usually that means a higher price.