HyRead has just announced their first color E INK e-note and e-reader. It is called the Gaze Plus Color and it is using Kaleido Plus color e-paper technology. You will be able to draw in 17 different colors using an optional stylus. There is a drawing app which you can use to freehand draw, make to-do lists or create art. Likely, the most likely task people will be doing is editing and annointatins PDF files or ebooks. It is available as a pre-order from the Good e-Reader Store for $430 and ships in September.
The HyRead Gaze Note Plus Color features a 7.8 inch E INK Carta and Kaleido Plus e-paper display. The resolution of the black and white is 1448 X 1072, with 300PPI. The resolution on the color panel is 482 X 357 with 100 PPI. It has a front-lit display to be able to read at night and there are around 17 white LED lights. The screen is completely flush with the bezel and protected by a layer of glass.
One of the most exciting factors is being able to draw in color. There are around 19 colors to choose from. You can use these as a color palette for drawing, grading papers, writing notes or making annointatins in any document or ebook. The screen has a WACOM layer on it, so you can buy the optional stylus or use your own. There is total of 4096 degrees of pressure sensativity and the screen also has palm rejection.
Underneath the hood is a Quad-core processor 1.8 GHz, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. You should have amble room for your book collection, but since you will likely want to import a bunch of PDF documents to edit, there is an SD card that is capable of an additional 512GB, which is really amazing. The vast majority of e-readers or enotes on the market have abandoned SD cards, but Hyread is a pleasant exception. There is a USB-C port to charge and transfer data to the device, it also has Bluetooth 4.0 so you can listen to audiobooks, podcasts or music with wireless headphones. If you don’t feel like using headphones, there is a single speaker that has a capable audio system. It is powered by a 3200mAh battery and can become fully charged in only about 2.5 hours. It also has a built-in microphone for voice communications or audio dictation.
Android 11 is the operating system and there really isn’t any app store to speak of, instead you will want to install a 3rd party app market such as the Amazon App Store, Samsung Galaxy Store or the Good e-Reader App Store.
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.