CES 2010

Video Hands-On With The PDA-esque Astri Dual Screen Android eReader

January 9th, 2010 by K. T. Bradford

I was walking the show floor today at CES when I spotted the Marvell booth. The semiconductor company is showing off the full range of devices powered by their technology — that includes tablets, multimedia devices, and eReaders. I was passing by a display that included the Entourage eDGe and Alex eReader when I spotted what looked like a smaller version of the same device. About the size of a PDA, the dual-screen gadget had an e-paper screen on the left and an LCD display on the right. It runs Android, fit easily into my hand, and weighed very little.

At first no one I asked knew anything about it except that it came from a Chinese company company called Astri and, of course, had Marvell technology inside. It appears to be called My Interactive Device, or MID. Later on a booth attendant told me that it’s a reference design, so it’s not being sold anywhere just yet, but something OEMs or ODMs may be interested in. Who knows, we may see this in the US this year.

Check out our gallery and hands-on video below for a closer look.

Comments (2 Responses)

Tags: Astri eReader, ereaders, eBooks, ces 2010, hands-on, events, ces, ces

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2 Responses to “Video Hands-On With The PDA-esque Astri Dual Screen Android eReader”

Peter Says:
January 13th, 2010 at 6:26 am
Would anyone prefer this form factor or Barnes and Noble Nook? Technical Nook is also dual display and with WiFi and 3G, too.

Not sure if anyone would want this if they already have an android phone?
K. T. Bradford Says:
January 13th, 2010 at 10:57 am
The Nook’s second screen is really limited to choosing or browsing for books. The LCD on this little guy would seem to be fully-functioning Android, which would mean fewer limitations. Also, since it’s a reference design it probably can have 3G and wi-fi.

People who have Android phones probably wouldn’t need one, though they might get it, anyway, for the eReader bit. But consider that the majority of phones sold in the US aren’t smartphones. Plenty are sold, obviously, but a lot of people are buying those weird in-between devices (we’ve called them dumb phones, carriers call them quick messaging devices, I think) that have a keyboard, maybe, but aren’t fully-fledged Android, WinMo, WebOS or similar devices. If you don’t want the data plan on your phone, maybe you wouldn’t mind it, here. Or you just deal with the wi-fi.

There are a lot of different ways for people to combine their technology, and devices like this could provide a neat alternative.