Insdream SX601 Borrows Kindle Style But Not E-Ink Display

Given that Amazon have spent the past few weeks shouting about the Kindle's sales success, you can't really blame Insdream for looking over there for a little design inspiration.  The Insdream SX601 has a 6-inch display, like the Kindle and the B&N nook, but rather than using E Ink's Vizplex panel they've opted for a 16-greyscale-level DSTN panel.

According to Insdream, the benefit is faster refresh times with the same power efficiency as an e-ink panel.  However the panel does have reduced contrast in comparison to e-ink screens, so low-light readability may be affected.  There's also no wireless onboard, meaning users will be relying on wired USB connections to transfer files over to (up to 4GB) SD cards.  Supported formats include TXT, HTML, PDF, EPUB, PDB, FB2, CHM, RTF,TCR, OEB and OpenReader.

Battery life is up to two weeks of regular reading, and the display flips between portrait and landscape orientations at a button-push.  There's also an MP3 player (with integrated mono speaker and 3.5mm headphone jack), text-to-speech in English and Mandarin Chinese, a calendar, image viewer and calculator, and search functionality.  Insdream have also added a digital diary function – which they call a "Blog" – that can be password protected.  No word at this point on price or availability.

[via MobileRead]