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Re-activatePandigital, a name known mostly for its digital picture frames, has unveiled its second e-book reader—one that appears a little less like a modified photo frame than the company's debut reader.
The new Pandigital Novel 7-Inch Color Multimedia eReader, with a suggested retail price of $199, is some seven ounces lighter than the older (and almost-identically named) Pandigital Novel 7-Inch Color Multimedia eReader White, which weighed and looked more like a frame than an e-book reader. The new model is also about a third of an inch smaller in both width and height.
It also shares the LCD screen technology of its sibling and it, too, has a touchscreen. However, where the original Novel allows navigation via fingertip touch the new model will seemingly require the use of the provided stylus to do so—which is less convenient, due to the need to store the thing and the possibility of losing it.
The new Novel also has an integrated link to the Barnes & Noble bookstore, and it offers some of the same functionality as the Nook, B&N's own e-book reader, including the ability to lend books you've bought to others for 14 days. Also like the Nook, and its sibling, it has a Web browser and other functions and services you access through a collection of widgets at the bottom of the screen.
As with its sibling, which is available (for $160 to $180 or so) at the likes of JC Penney and Bed Bath & Beyond stores, the new Novel will be sold at retailers other than dedicated electronics stores. The device is expected to be available at BJ's warehouse stores later this week and Kmart and Sears stores by the end of the month or so. Other retailers are to be announced.
We'll buy and begin testing the device as soon as it's available. We expect to add it to our Ratings of e-book readers (available to subscribers) next month, along with the older Novel and a number of other new e-book readers, including the new Kindle and Kindle DX from Amazon.
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