Nook, meet Alex: Yet another e-book reader announced

Apparently it's The Week of the Wireless-Connected, Android-Powered, Twin-Screen E-Book Reader.

Obviously eager to capitalize—or tread on—publicity for Barnes & Noble's Nook, Spring Design has rolled out its own new e-reader, Alex. And it seems a heckuva lot like the Nook, albeit with a few twists.

Like the Barnes & Noble device, Alex, planned for release by the end of the year at an unspecified price, has a second, 3.5-inch LCD screen below its main e-ink screen; runs on the Android operating system; and connects wirelessly to a mobile network to download content (no carrier has been announced).

It also shares with Nook a feature I didn't highlight in my first impressions of the B&N e-reader: WiFi connectivity. For now, Barnes and Noble only plans to activate that capability when people are using the Nook at Barnes and Noble stores, where they'll be able to browse any title in the B&N e-book library for free and receive special in-store offers and the like.

Alex promises to use WiFi and have access to 3G networks everywhere, and for "full Internet browsing." Spring Design even says that you can browse pages on the color LCD, then transfer them to the black-and-white main screen if you wish. It'll be interesting to see how well that works, and how much the frequent use of the color screen—and of the browser—reduces Alex's battery life.

A browser was vetoed for the Nook, according to BarnesandNoble.com president William Lynch, because "Web browsing on an e-ink device is a clumsy experience." (Based on my own experience with the Kindle's rudimentary Web browser, I concur.) Lynch also said that the Nook's LCD screen won't compromise its battery life, which "is very competitive" with that of other e-book readers, which tend to run for days on a charge. —Paul Reynolds