Hands On: Skiff Reader

I just got a chance to play with the big-screened, touchscreened Skiff Reader, which is targeted at periodicals. It's incredibly thin, incredibly light, and they've even got a color screen prototype—Kindle and Nook should be scared.

I should add first that this is not a final version—they haven't announced pricing or availability yet—but it feels very finished and I suspect any delay in getting the Skiff to market will be due to the store not being quite ready. The color version is the exact same form factor, and while it's pretty deep in the prototype stage, it was impressive. Color was minimally pixelated and pretty clear, if obviously nowhere near as sharp as an LCD (or paper, for that matter). I don't have any info on its release date or price, unfortunately.

Once you hold it, you're struck by how thin and light it is. Just a hair over 0.25 inches thick, it's also super light and feels good in the hand—it's solid despite it's airy heft. The screen feels huge compared to the Kindle or Nook, because it is—its 11.5-inch touchscreen is huge, significantly bigger than even the Kindle DX (at 9.7 inches). The size is actually a little awkward for reading books (it's wider and taller than even a big hardcover book) but it's excellent for newspapers. The touchscreen works well, responding to both taps and swipes easily, and the refresh rate is pretty good (meaning, it's still e-ink, but it's not slower than existing readers). It can also handle 12fps animation, which is pretty primitive compared to LCD but just fine for little ads or whatever.