Wink X-Lite: India's most affordable e-reader at Rs. 7,990
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With support for 15 regional languages, 14 file formats, 8000 page turns, and 10,000 charges, E-ink technology, used by Wink's XTS and X-Lite series readers is shaping up to be one the greenest ways to read books. We met up with EC Media at their book store in Bangalore to get a hands-on and an eyes-on with the X-Lite series reader.
EC Media, makers of India's first e-reader claim to have the largest ecosystem of books among Indian publishers - their current tally stands at 350,000 titles, with over 5,000 titles in Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, and Bengali. The economies of consuming digital content have been discussed here, but we were more interested in the hardware - and how it compares to importing Amazon's $139 Kindle. Add shipping and overheads, and we reckon it would work out to Rs. 10,677, going by today's exchange rates.
The New Wink X-Lite
Last we checked, the 6-inch Wink XTS was going at a special festive price of Rs. 8,999. The company is known to make festive offers on the Wink Store, which may shave off a thousand or more off the list price. IMHO, the X-Lite is more attractive at a price tag of Rs. 6,990, which happens to be price of India's cheapest Android phone.
As a stand-alone device, the X-Lite drops all pretentions of being anything other than an e-reader, and a smaller screen does not impair the readability all that much - like the larger version, there's no glare, refreshment of pixels, strain to the eyes and neck. We can imagine cozying up upto one of these for hours.
Specs:
Processor: 400 MHz Samsung 2416
Screen Size: 5 inches
Screen Resoluion: 600x800 pixels
Connectivity: USB
Expansion Slots: Micro SD card supports up to 32GB
Support File Format: EPUB,PDF,TXT, HTML, FB2, CHM, PRC, MOBI
Battery Support: Lithium battery 1500mAh
Weight (incl. battery): 200gm
The Wink X-Lite is 1-inch smaller in screen size, and 60 grams lighter compared to the Wink XTS (pictured above). Specs wise, quite a few features have been pruned - there's no Wi-Fi, QWERTY keyboard, or onboard speakers, and it is missing the hardware buttons found on the XTS that make page turning easier. All in all, we're still partial to specs and features the Wink XTS, which was launched in India last year in August.
The X-Lite has its own charm though, it's quite handy and fun to read on. We'll put up a review once we get a decent amount of one-on-one time with it, stay tuned to this week's Technoholik show for an exclusive look at their Mags-on-Wink app for the iPad, and the X-Lite.