Google Ebook Reader

The iRiver Story HD At A Glance

The first ebook reader to be fully integrated with the Google eBookstore.
The world’s first XGA 6″ e-ink display.
1024 x 768 resolution – 63% more pixels than standard SVGA e-ink displays.
Memory card slot allows for expansion up to 32GB.
Dimensions 7.5 ” x 5.01″ x 0.37″.
Weight 7.3 ounces.
3 weeks, or 14,000 page turns, between battery charges.

If you had come to the conclusion that the ebook reader market was a straight two horse race between the Kindle and the Nook then that would be perfectly understandable. To be frank, it was looking a little that way for a while there. The Kindle was the clear leader with the Nook in a rather distant second place.

However, that all changed when iRiver released the Story HD reader, pictured right. It has some nice technical features, explained in a little more detail below, but the really big selling point is the fact that the Story HD is the first ebook reader to be fully integrated with the Google eBookstore. Story HD users can choose from the millions of books available on Google’s store and download their selections direct to their reader via Wi-Fi.

One of the important considerations when you buy an ebook reader is whether or not you will be able to get the books you want for it. That has been one of the key factors in the success of both the Kindle and the Nook to date. Clearly, with its link to the Google eBookstore, anyone who chooses the Story HD will be assured of a massive selection of books to choose from.

The Story HD is the product of a partnership between iRiver and Google. Almost inevitably, it has been christened the “Google e-reader” or the “Google ebook reader” by many. However, iRiver’s nose isn’t likely to be put too far out of joint. It’s a partnership which will benefit both iRiver and Google and which will provide a much better product, and subsequent service, to Story HD owners.

Technical Highlights

The World’s First XGA E-Ink Display

The Story HD is actually the third generation Story reader which iRiver has produced, so it’s hardly an untested prototype. In fact it has some very nice technical features.

One of the key features included in this model is the world’s first XGA e-ink technology display. It has a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels – higher than the 800 x 600 of the SVGA e-ink displays used by other ebook readers. That equates to 63% more pixels – and it makes reading an even more enjoyable experience.

Expandable Memory

The Story HD has a slot for an SD memory card. This allows memory to be increased to a maximum of 32GB, which is a feature that many ebook reader owners find desirable.

Multiple Ebook Format Support

Many potential ebook reader buyers are concerned about what might happen if their reader goes out of production – or if they just decide to buy a new, different type of reader. It’s unlikely to be a problem with the Story HD. If you had to, for whatever reason, start using a different reader then, with one notable exception, it would be able to work with books from the Google store.

The universal appeal of Google aside, it’s worth noting that the Story HD supports a wide variety of ebook formats including; PDF, EPUB, TXT, DJVU. It also has an office viewer which supports PPT, PPTx, XLS, XLSx, Doc, DOCx, HWP files and a comic viewer which supports Zip, JPG, BMP, PNG and GIF files.

In short, whatever you want to read, you will be pretty well covered.

The current price for the Story HD is $ 139.99.

<<Check out the Story HD on Amazon>>

iRiver Story HD Technical Specification

World’s first 6″ XGA e-ink technology display (1024 x 768 resolution).
Display has 16 grayscales and 8 fully adjustable font sizes.
38 key QWERTY keypad, plus navigation key and HOME/OPTIONS/ENTER/BACK key.
2GB internal memory – enough for 1,500 books.
Slot for SD card which allows a further 32GB memory to be added – enough for 28,000 books.
ARM ® Cortex™ processor provides fast page turns.
Long battery life – 14,000 page turns, equivalent to about 6 weeks of reading.
Lightweight and portable – just 7.3 ounces in weight.
Dimensions 7.7″ x 5.01″ x 0.37″.
Fully integrated with Google eBooks.
Comes with Collins dictionary included.