Mobile Computing News

Photo: Aiptek

Late last year Aiptek released a revolutionary e-reader for children. The InColor Storybook was the first e-book reader released in full colour, a much needed development in the e-book reader market, and also the first e-reader designed with children in mind.

Reading should be fun

With making learning to read fun in mind, Aiptek’s e-book reader allows children to read along with  the 20 stories that come along with its internal memory. Cute illustrations accompany the stories, and the interface is fun and easy for small people to handle.

Features

The InColor comes with a generous 8-inch 800×600 LCD display, and a 512 megabyte internal memory, which will hold up to 45 e-books. An expandable memory slot will accommodate up to 16GB, though. Four-way buttons allow children to search for books to read as though browsing through a book case, and the page up and down buttons simulate the natural movement of pages when reading.

Extras

The InColor can also play MP3s, save pictures of up to 30 megapixels, and display photographs, functioning as a digital picture frame. It also has a slideshow function for children to play with. While these features aren’t necessary, they will help distract children from the TV for a while, and the timer will stop them from damaging their eyes by reminding them to take a break from reading every 20 minutes.

Dubious content?

Aiptek’s website offers a range of e-books in Chinese and English, starting at $4.99 (around £3). All books for this device need to be bought from Aiptek, and there is no guarantee that the content of the e-books available for the InColor e-reader will be of the quality consumers have come to expect from Amazon and the Apple iPad store.

Is it worth it?

At $199 (Approximately £130), this is an expensive piece of technology to give to a four-year-old (the target age group for the InColor e-book reader is four to eight). It’s fun to use, and educational, but will demand that parents constantly monitor children while they read and listen to stories on it. It might be a better idea to stick to hard copies of children’s books until something better comes on the market.