Txtr Beagle Scheduled to Ship Before Christmas
Remember last year when txtr unveiled their smartphone accessory, the beagle? It may have taken well over a year but this faux ereader with a 5″ E-ink screen might finally be about to hit the market.
I have just gotten an email from txtr which said, in part:
It will be available before Christmas, but we are not at liberty to say where and with whom.
This is good news; after txtr started and then stopped selling the beagle themselves earlier this year I was convinced that it had been discontinued. I am surprised to see that I am wrong.
The txtr beagle has a 5″ E-ink screen with a resolution of 600 x 800. It comes with 4GB of internal storage and Bluetooth. It’s powered by 2 AAA batteries, and it has no rechargeable battery or USB ports. eBooks are loaded onto the beagle via one of txtr’s apps for Android or the iPhone. The app is needed to convert from the Epub ebook format to the page image format which is used by the beagle.
The beagle launched last October with the billing of being a 10 euro ereader, so naturally some corners have been cut to achieve that price. This device was originally intended to be sold by telecoms and bundled into contracts with a new smartphone. The 10 euro price tag was supposed to be bundled into the monthly cost of the contract.
I have no information on whether that plan is still in place, but given the limited hardware and functionality I am not sure that this device has a shot in any other market.
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