At its spring conference held on April 23, iReader announced the launch of its new Smart 5 e-note device which comes as an upgrade over the Smart 4 e-note that the company had launched last year. The company also announced the Neo 2 Pro e-reader at the same event.
Here is a lowdown on both the devices.
iReader Smart 5
iReader Smart 5 e-note device comes with a 10.3-inch E Ink display having 4:3 aspect ratio and 227 PPI resolution. It offers 256 grayscale system-level support that allows for a more natural rendition of texts and images. Behind it lies an 8-core and 8-thread Ink Screen CPU which the company said offers flagship levels of performance while ensuring superior energy efficiency as well. There is 4 GB of memory onboard along with 64 GB of storage.
One of the unique aspects of the Smart 5 e-note is its support for the X-Pen 5se for writing notes. The 4096 level pressure sensitive pen has a delay of less than 22ms. It supports advanced features such as intelligent handwriting recognition. It offers 21 different PDF trimming modes besides supporting PDF comic mode. The pen otherwise offers tilt pressure sensation and has a sampling rate of 360 times per second.
Sensors on board include a gravity sensor and a hall sensor. The e-note measures 226.4 x 183.9 x 6.6 mm and weighs a nice 372 grams. Connectivity is provided by a Type-C port while there is also support for Bluetooth and 2.4G and 5G Wi-Fi. It supports a myriad of digital content format types. Those include TXT, ePUB, PDF, UMD, Mobi, EBK2 e-book formats. Audio formats it supports include MP3, FLAC, WAV, M4A, and AAC. It also supports the most common comic book formats as well such as EBK3, AZW3, DJVU, and so on.
The iReader Smart 5 can be ordered via JingDong for 2499 yuan or around $359.99 USD. The e-note is available in color options of Obsidian Black and Ibis White. Similarly, the pen too comes in shades of black and white.
iReader Neo 2 Pro
The company had earlier launched the Neo 2 e-reader and it has not followed that up with the new Neo 2 Pro version. The e-reader comes with the same 6-inch 300 PPI display. The display offers 30 levels of independent brightness and color temperature controls. iReader said the display offers a soft reading light and benefits from the company’s i-Display refresh technology, all of which offer a superior reading experience in any ambient lighting conditions.
Under the hood lies a 2 GHz custom quad-core ink screen CPU as well as an independent graphics chip. iReader said this leads to 51 percent faster page launch times. It supports AI intelligent image and after-image optimization which ensures crisp and sharp visuals while reducing ghosting effects. The e-reader comes with 2 gigs of memory along with 32 GB of onboard storage. Power comes from a 1500 mAh battery.
The Neo 2 Pro supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless connectivity. Sensors the e-reader comes with include gravity and hall sensors.
The iReader Neo 2 Pro can be ordered online at JingDong for 1099 yuan or around 151.68 USD
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.