Good e-Reader is proud to give you guys a first look at the brand new Icarus XL HD. This 7.8 inch e-reader will be available to ship out next month and we have an early production unit. This device is fast and robust and will have full access to Google Play.
The Icarus XL HD features a 7.8 inch E INk Carta display with Regal Waveform. The resolution is 1404×1872 and 300 PPI. Underneath the hood is a 1.8 GHZ processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. It also has a 3.5mm headphone jack that you can use to plug in a pair of headphones or speakers.
The front-lit display is glorious and it has 10 LED lights which evenly distribute light across the screen. We review a lot of e-readers and normally we can tell exactly where the LED lights are positioned, due to light spillage from the LED lights, the Icarus is the exception. It was challenging to determine exactly where the LED lights were, because the lighting system is really polished.
The Icarus is bundled with a number of fonts to get you reading right away, including the Amazon Bookerly font. Reading is really good with the stock app, but likely you will want to download your favorite such as KOREADER, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Moon+ Reader or any other e-reading app you want. This device is running Android 4.2. If you want to purchase this device you can checkout the Indiegogo Campaign.
It is important to note that the video below features a handcrafted prototype. The software and shell are not completely finalized yet, but they will be in the coming weeks.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
