Trekstor has seen a little bit of success with its Pyrus Mini e-Reader in Europe, but is virtually unknown in North America. Today, the company announced a new device that should resonate a little bit better, mainly due to its eight inch screen. It should fill the gap in the market with the severe lack of larger screen e-readers currently being offered.
The Pyrus Maxi features an 8 inch display screen with a resolution of 1024×768 with 160dpi. It has 4 GB of internal memory and the ability to enhance it further with a Micro SD card up to 32 GB. It will be able to read ePUB, PDF (including Adobe DRM), TXT, FB2, RTF, and PDB ebook file types. It also has a solid amount of language support with the ability to read English, German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, and Ukrainian
This device is fairly basic with no audio functionality, no touchscreen, and no WiFi wireless connection. Instead, you will navigate around the e-reader with physical buttons, like the older e-readers of yesteryear. Considering the entry level price of €149, when it comes out May 14th in Italy, it will be quite expensive if you consider what you get. It is also currently available via pre-order via Amazon.de for 160 euros.
Trekstor might see some difficulty in the global e-reader market mainly due to a lawsuit filed in November from E Ink Holdings. The company has been sued over two patents that have to do with electronic screens. This lawsuit basically made the Pyrus Mini e-Reader unsellable until the trial, which is set to formally launch within the next four months. The Chairman of E Ink Holding commented: “We have filed suit because E Ink intellectual property is unfairly exploited. E Ink is the market leader in the manufacture of high-quality intellectual property in the field of electronic screens and strives together with customers, suppliers and industry partners to build a sustainable eco-system. Our intellectual property is one of our major capital investments, which we have built with the hard work by hundreds of scientists and engineers for many years and spending hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development. ”
Trekstor is not using E Ink screens. Instead, it is using display screen technology from Technologies Co. Ltd. Guangzhou OED, which is made in China. It could be considered a knock off, and E Ink is going after any company selling similar screens with extreme vigor. It remains to be seen if E Ink will seek an injunction against this new device.
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.