New Pandigital Novel e-reader available on 18 August
I have confirmation from Pandigital that the black Novel will officially launch on 18 August. It’s expected to arrive in Kohl’s and Bed, Bath & Beyond stores some time during that week.
The black Novel is a completely different set of hardware from the white Novel. There are really only 2 key differences, though. The first is the touchscreen and the second is the amount of internal storage.
The white Novel has an internal microSD card slot (which can be upgraded). The black Novel, on the other hand, has 2GB of Flash soldered to the mainboard.
I have one of the early review units, and I will post the review as soon as the embargo is lifted. Until then, here is a brief unboxing video:
Comments
Scott_T August 8, 2010 um 9:40 am
Too bad they didnt add another button we could mod as home
carly August 8, 2010 um 11:50 am
What’s the touchscreen difference? Is one capacitive?
Nate the great August 8, 2010 um 12:03 pm
I’m actually not sure.
But I do know that on the black novel the touch screen is a separate layer and it’s considerably more fingertip friendly. On the white Novel the touchscreen is integral to the LCD and it really needed a stylus. (This will be important later.)
Scott_T August 8, 2010 um 5:20 pm
Whats the date you’re going to post the full review?
Nate the great August 8, 2010 um 5:22 pm
The 18th.
RobBrown August 8, 2010 um 7:06 pm
Can you say if the weight has changed? It would be great if it’s got a bit lighter…
Nate the great August 8, 2010 um 7:19 pm
It’s slightly thicker as well as not as long or wide. It also weighs a little less.
Whitney August 10, 2010 um 1:59 am
Hey Nate, thanks for your input and reviews of the ereaders. I actually had a random question. I purchased one of the white versions about a week ago, did the firmware update etc. Worked well aside from occasional pauses when icons were pushed too rapidly. Today the darn thing completely froze – it could not be turned off, reset, or anything else – I had to let the battery run out to restart it. First have you heard anything about this problem, and second, any idea if and how the black version’s firmware is different?
Nate the great August 10, 2010 um 6:32 am
It’s using a different firmware from the white Novel, yes.
offbeatmammal August 13, 2010 um 3:05 pm
does it still have the dumb 12v charger seperate from the USB (looks that way), and is it still locked down (Android 2.0, no 3rd party apps, no buttons, no market)?
the thing that’s killing me with the Novel is the lack of a comic reader… I have a lot of content in CBZ format that doesn’t convert especially well to Epub… if they could fix that it would be an easy decision vs an iPad…