Samsung E60 e-reader offers handwriting, audio capabilities; $299, Barnes & Noble

Samsung on Tuesday announced its first e-book reader for the U.S. market, the E60 e-reader, which will use the Barnes & Noble e-book library and arrive in the spring for $299.

First previewed at CES 2010 in January, Samsung's e-reader offers 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0, "advanced handwriting capabilities" for taking notes via an electromagnetic resonance (EMR) stylus pen and a 6-inch, 8-gray scale e-ink display that manages 800x600 resolution.

The device also has voice recording functionality for audio memos and annotations, as well as journal, scheduler and memo applications.

The E60 supports e-pub, PDF/a, TXT, BMP and JPG formats. It has built-in front speakers and a headphone jack, to be paired with text-to-speech (TTS) technology. (It's also got an MP3 player.)

It also has what Samsung calls EmoLink technology, which enables users to write angsty coffeeshop odes, er, I mean, share content between other Samsung e-readers.

Interestingly, the E6's scheduler can sync with Microsoft Outlook on your PC.

The E60 has 2GB of internal memory, which allows for 1,500 books. It's got an external microSD card slot that expands to 16GB.

The E60 will be available in the spring for $299. (No word on the 10-inch E10 or QWERTY E61.)

Editor's note: Samsung has decided to change this device's name from E6, originally announced at CES 2010, to E60. Also, the original post indicated the Samsung E60 would be available at Barnes & Noble. That is incorrect; it will merely use the B&N book library. We regret the error.