Wink: India's alternative to the Kindle
Bangalore based EC Media has launched India's first ebook reader, Wink. The ebook reader has been launched along with an ebook store for users to purchase books from. EC Media plans several models with different specifications available at various price points.
Wink XTS priced at Rs. 11,490 is the first model available for pre-order and will be shipped starting September. EC Media says they support 15 native languages for now. Feature wise Wink is powerful, audio playback, e-ink display and offers wireless connectivity, both GSM and WiFi based. Technical specifications of the Wink XTS are:
- 16-Level Gray Scale, 800 x 600 pixels, 6" e-ink display
- Powerful 400MHz ARM9 processor
- Wireless: 802.11 b/g, GPRS with Quad Band Support (850, 900, 1800 & 1900)
- 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack
- Micro-SIM card slot (you can cut the normal SIM cards.)
- USB 2.0
- SD expandable up to 16 GB
- Onboard Storage: 2GB
Running on a custom version of Linux, Wink has a claimed battery life of 10 hours audio playback (MP3 & AAC only) or 8000 page turns. The good thing is that Wink can be charged over USB as well and not just a wall charger.
For books, EC Media says they have Oxford University, Penguin, Harper Collins and Permanent Black on board. A Wink Store with around 200,000 titles (currently 197,606) has been launched where books can be downloaded from, there are some free ebooks available too. The different formats supported by Wink are:
TTXT, RTF, PDF, DOC, HTML, WOLF, CHM, FB2, DJVU
One of the more interesting services that EC Media plans to launch is the WinkWire which is an e-newspaper with both regional and international news papers, magazines and journals. Probably, Indian publishers won’t have to struggle too hard to survive.
Weighing in at 260 grams I really like what I see. You can pre-order your Wink online or head over to the closest Croma outlet to get a hands-on.