Other than the new Kindle Fire HD tablets with IPS touchscreen, Amazon also adds to the e-ink-based Kindle line the fifth generation Kindle reader. Called Kindle Paperwhite, Amazon said it is the most advanced e-reader even built. The reader features a new 6-inch 212 ppi Paperwhite display with 62% more pixels and 25% more contrast for sharper and clearer text. The new display also uses a patented built-in front light technology, instead of backlit, that guides light underneath an anti-glare layer and down toward the display so that the light never shines directly towards your

German company txtr is going to launch the Beagle, the world’s lightest and smallest 5-inch e-book reader. It is as thin as 4.8mm and weighs only 128g with batteries. Designed for reading books only, the Beagle is a basic (low-end) e-reader priced as low as Euro 9.9 that you don’t expect to find touchscreen, backlight, 3G and WiFi. It, though, supports Bluetooth for transferring e-books and documents from Android or iOS smartphones running txtr reading application. The txtr Beagle has a 5-inch Vizplex e-ink display with 800×600 resolution. It has 4GB onboard memory for

Kobo is going to release in October the Kobo Glo e-book reader designed to deliver comfortable e-reading experience. The reader features ComfortLight, which, like Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite, uses front light technology to direct light at the page instead of user’s eyes for comfortable reading with eyestrain. The ComfortLight also has micro-thin hard coating for durability and even light distribution. The reader has a 6-inch no-glare XGA 1024×768 e-ink Pearl touchscreen display. Users can create their own ideal reading experience with a choice of 7 additional font styles

Kobo is launching the Kobo Mini, the world’s smallest and lightest full-featured e-ink e-book reader. The palm-sized device features a 5-inch no-glare E-ink Vizplex V110 touchscreen and 2GB of internal storage that can hold over 2000 e-books. With a compact form factor, the Mini fits in your pocket for easy reading on the go. The Kobo Mini is powered by a 800MHz processor. It has built-in WiFi 802.11b/g/n connectivity for access Kobo’s e-book store and download e-books wirelessly. The e-reader supports EPUB, PDF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RFT, CBZ, CBR file formats.

Sony comes back to the e-book reader market, introducing the new Reader PRS-T2 e-reader with an enhanced touchscreen. The new Reader features a new 6-inch glare-free E-ink Pearl V200 touchscreen enhanced for long-term reader. You can swipe a finger to turn a page, pinch fingers to zoom in/out and write notes with finger or the included stylus. The new device comes with an improved default book layout that is easier to organize and find books. The PRS-T2 Reader comes with 2GB of storage and is loaded with two English language and four translation dictionaries. With built-in WiFi

Toshiba introduced in Japan its new BookPlace DB50 (model DB50/25E/PDB5025ENAW) color e-book reader, joining the company’s Excite X10, Thrive and AT200 tablets. The 7-inch e-reader offers direct access to Toshiba’s BookPlace e-book store for thousands of books. The DB50 comes with a 7-inch 600×1024 color LCD display with LED-backlight Toshiba’s BookPlace reader is powered by a 1GHz Freescale i.MX535 processor with 1GB of RAM, and comes with 8GB internal memory for storing your e-book collection. The device supports Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi 802.11b/g/n connectivity and has

  Korean e-book company is launching in Korea its e-book reading device using Mirasol display. The e-book reader features a 5.7-inch Qualcomm Mirasol display that combines the strength of LCD and e-ink, making it able to display colors and be viewed in direct sunlight.   Kyobo’s eReader Mirasol reader features 1024×768 resolution. It is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm SnapDragon S2 processor and runs a cutomized version of Android OS. The reader supports WiFi connectivity. [CNET]

NOOK Color   With the new NOOK Tablet joining the line-up, B&N lowers the prices of NOOK Color and NOOK Simple Touch (known as NOOK Touch before) to $199 and $99 respectively. While the prices are dropped, B&N releases software updates to both of them. NOOK Simple Touch The NOOK Color is going to has multimedia upgrade offering access to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandara..etc services, while the Simple Touch is getting 25 percent faster page turns and longer battery life. [b&n]

    Panasonic is launching in Japan its UT-PB1, an Android-based e-book tablet. The 7-inch device packs dual-core processor and runs Android OS. It has a 1024×600 touchscreen, a 1.3 Megapixel camera, 8GB internal sstorage, a microSD card slot, a USB connector, and built-in speakers. The PB1 supports WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. The Panasonic UT-PB1 is tied to Rakuten’s e-book store Raboo, which will be opened on 10 August. With Android OS, users can also use it for media playback and internet browsing.   [Panasonic][Impress Watch]

iRiver is launching its Story HD e-book reader in the US market exclusively via Target. The Korean company’s new reader is the first device to be fully integrated with Google eBooks platform offering more than three million ebooks at no cost and thousands of additional titles for sale. The Story HD features a 6-inch 768×1024 e-ink display offering 63.8 percent more pixels than other e-readers, a QWERTY keyboard, SD card slot, and USB 2.0 connector. It is powered by a Cortex A8 chipset. The e-reader has a sleek, signature style and a curve with two-tone colors at the front and