Foxit eSlick: The New Bargain eBook Reader on the Block
Foxit eSlick is the new ebook reader to hit the street. Foxit Software, a PDF software developer, is hoping to carve out a niche with it’s incredible low price.
The eSlick will be available for just $229.99-that’s $130 less than the red hot Amazon Kindle and $170 less than the Sony Reader 700. It will begin shipping in 5-7 weeks but can be preordered sometime in January from its website.
Like the Kindle and the Sony Reader, it will have a six inch display capable of displaying four levels of grayscale with a resolution of 600×800. It also uses e-Ink technology.
This eBook reader, however, will be slightly smaller and lighter than its competitors. The eSlick is just under an inch thick (0.4 inches to be exact) and weighs about as much as a 200 page paperback book (6.4 ounces).
It supports PDF and text files and audio files in MP3 format. The internal memory is half of that of the Kindle and the Sony reader at 128MB. The eSlick comes with a 2GB SD card and supports cards up to 4GB.
A rechargeable lithium battery powers the eSlick and is good for about 8,000 page views on a single charge. It can be recharged in about three hours.
You can buy the Foxit eSlick in three colors: black, gray, and white.
Other than its low price and slight size and weight advantages, I’m not sure how it’s going to compete given that you’ll be restricted to PDF and text files. There’s ample material in PDF and text format but you won’t have access to current best sellers or the vast selection of books found at the Kindle Store or Sony’s eBook store.
You also won’t have access to newspapers and magazines like you do with the Kindle and there is no wireless access to download material like the Kindle either, but then again the Sony Reader doesn’t have those features either.
So who will the Foxit eSlick be for? Most likely business people and academics who work with a lot of PDFs and text documents. Given the limited files it supports and not having an ebook store itself, the eSlick definitely is not geared for the avid book reader.
Given its weaknesses, will it be able to compete and carve out a niche for itself? It will be interesting to wait and see!