The txtr Reader is a feature rich (and expensive) German eReader currently only for sale in Central Europe, but if they expand they will give serious competition to the established Amazon, Sony, and iRex eReader industry leaders. The eReader is certainly elegant--rather than buttons, it is the the first eReader we've seen with a capacitive slider interface--a sliding touch interface in the vein an iPod's scroll wheel, but not circular in this case.
The bells and whistles continue, with a an integrated orientation sensor, so if you tip the reader, it will switch from portrait to landscape view and vice versa. It also has features like a built in dictionary and in depth search functions. It doesn't have text to speech.
The unit is shipped with a very generous 8GB microSD card included, which should be more than enough for the vast majority of users--in fact, it's the most memory of any eReader on the market.
We are disappointed the txtr only supports five file formats; oddly, though missing out some prime ebook formats, they include powerpoint compatibility. The txtr supports German and English language menus.
Connecting: The txtr has a USB 2.0 wired connection, WiFi, and Bluetooth, and optional 3G/GPRS mobile broadband internet access--unlike with many eReader like the Kindle, this internet access is not free with the txtr. This "txtr Net" wireless service is €14.99 ($22) a month for a three month contract or €11.99 ($18) per month for the year, so far in Germany only. The wireless service is to be added in Switzerland and Austria by 2010. The unit is designed for close integration with the company's ebook store at txtr.com (still quite small with about 20,00 titles at launch, German language-oriented, though there are English and German versions of the site). Connection to the ebook store is free, but for any other internet access, the monthly charges apply as mentioned.
Users of the txtr reader are able to buy books comfortably and easily from the txtr bookstore, and synchronize their private documents stored on txtr.com. txtr offers a complete, open, and mobile method of storing, publishing, and exchanging digital documents for ebook readers.
Accessories: We're not aware of the details of accessories for the txtr.
Price: The txtr costs €319 and is available only in Germany, Austria and Switzerland initially, though we've heard rumors they wish to launch in the rest of Europe soon and then the US somewhere under the $475 price point in future.
The feature-rich txtr may yet threaten the Amazons and Sonys of the industry if it can quickly expand coverage beyond central Europe.
eBook Reader Basics