A few days ago we commented that Bertelsmann had to be up to something "fat". That his name appeared in two important projects, one of them Spanish, that they plan to face Amazon is no coincidence and when the river sounds ...
Well, we already know more about why it sounds: from the hand of Bertelsmann and his German partners (Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel y Deutsche Telekom) born on Tolino Shine, a new electronic reader with quite interesting features and that arrives ready to unseat the Kindle (or so they say).
Its main features:
- Screen 6 ″ high definition electronic ink touch screen with a resolution of 1024 × 758, with front lighting and that shares technology with the Kobo Glo.
- Conference proceedings 4GB, expandable up to 32GB via MicroSD cards.
- Connections: USB 2.0, WiFi and MicroSD slot.
- Battery with a duration of 7 weeks.
- Use Android as an operating system.
- Processor 800 MHz and 256 MB of RAM.
- Supported formats: ePub, Mobi, txt.
- Price: €99
Technically the most remarkable novelty that it offers us is the use of Android, something quite demanded by the users of electronic readers due to the versatility that it supposes, in spite of requiring more resources for a correct operation (we will see if those 800 MHz are enough). However, the set is an interesting reader with features quite similar to the latest news from Kobo, Kindle or Onyx.
Edited: On the other hand, it is very interesting that from the union of these five companies, in addition to Tolino Shine, a online platform accessible from the reader that begins with more than 300.000 books, which is what can really be an important point of competition with Amazon (which only has 150.000 books in German). Apart from this, titles can be acquired in the individual stores of the five partners that make up the project.
The Kindle is a good device with an unbeatable price, but more than the reader it's the after-service that makes the difference. If you enter Amazon you have everything at hand and in one click: reader and titles, the convenience of sending titles to the reader by email, synchronization anywhere ...
If Tolino offers a full eBook store and reader integration, similar to that of Amazon, could mean the emergence of a strong competitor, backed by five major companies from the publishing and telecommunications world, that would offer a new option for users and that could "force" Amazon to improve even more. capabilities of its readers (I can think of software and firmware improvements, opening up to other e-book formats, etc.).
I had forgotten to put the most interesting data: the price. They are € 99 which, if we compare it with the Kindle Paperwhite, is more than attractive. If we think that it has a very adjusted price and that it supports various formats (so its owners can buy with the same comfort on Amazon as in Tolino's store), we only need to clarify the issue of convenience in the purchase.
If we already affirmed that we could not lose sight of the movements that Bertelsmann and his partners were making, now we have another element to follow closely: the Tolino Shine. Can it really stand up to Amazon?
Edited:
More information - Bertelsmann vs. Amazon
Source - TheDigitalReader, Tolino
Well, to see if they can really compete we need to look at the price, which is also quite an important factor.
With the excitement of the screen, the Android and the online store I forgot to put the price. But it is that even in that the reader is interesting, which is € 99 compared to the 129 of the Paperwhite.
a more than interesting price !!
Let's see if they enter into a price war for hardware and we can benefit 🙂 It seems that the clear trend is to get customers for the platform through hardware and win with services such as amazon
It's going to be complicated
It is true that until now Amazon "ties" its customers with the convenience of service. There are much better readers, but either the price skyrockets or it is more difficult to buy books.
A reader who can buy both on Amazon and in his own store with something like "One click", at low prices and with a large catalog could be a great competitor.
What happens with the price war ,. I'm afraid they will stay at 99 euros ... I don't think they will go down from there ... no longer because of the cost of materials, which I don't know, if it is much lower than the sale price ... but rather the large ones (kindle, sony, etc) ... They sell their brand ... and last generation ereaders below that price, it will be difficult to see ... one of these companies would have to take out an ereader with similar characteristics for a price lower than 90 euros ... so ... if that would be a price war ... that would do that the "unknown" brands will drop to 70-80 euros ... but I do not think that kindle or sony consider them rivals in terms of possible sales.
It seems interesting especially at that price. It will be necessary to see if Android applications can be installed and if it will be necessary to root it or not (as with the sony T1 and T2 or the B&N Nook), and if it can be purchased from Spain
We will see how it develops. Because that way, at first, it looks pretty good, but it's not just about launching a good product, something has to be done to keep it attractive to users.
I imagine, but I only imagine, that since Bertelsmann is also involved in the Nubico project they could be connected in some way.
What comes up.
In what sense "Install Android applications"? It is an eReader that you most want to install on the device?
I suppose that it should refer to the possibility of installing "alternative reading programs" of android with more functionalities ... or the android mail manager or similar ....
Thank you for explaining to me. As far as I know, it will not be possible to install other Android applications. In Germany, the device has free Internet in 11.000 Telekom Hotspots, that is, the possibility of browsing and downloading emails for free and without limits.
I was referring to what Alex was saying, installing other reader software like Coolreader, FBReader, Mantano, dictionary software and things like that. Let's go as it is done once rooted with a Sony T1 / T2 or a B&N Nook
There is an error in this article. The eBooks store is not 1, but 4 in Germany, 4 in Austria and 3 in Switzerland. In other words, each Partner of the cooperation has its own store installed in Tolino. The catalog that the different stores make available to their users depends on each Partner, more or less 300.000 titles. The 25 GB are the free space that each user will have at their disposal to upload their own content (it is the Telekom Cloud) and thus be able to access their books (it does not matter if they are bought in tolino or in other stores) from where want, that is, through the eReader but also with the iPhone, Android or HTML5 Apps
Indeed, the source article corrects the information it initially gave on storage capacity, clarifying that it is not the number of books but the space it gives to its users for purchases made in other stores. While it offers unlimited space for purchases made on Tolino's own network. Thank you very much for pointing it out.
However, the 4 stores in Germany, 4 in Austria and 3 in Switzerland, no matter how hard I look, I can't quite find it in any of the articles that I consult. All I see (with slight variations) is that there are five German partners, with five websites in Germany and a single online warehouse provided by Telekom and accessible from Tolino.
From the moment the reader appears, there are three more distributors on the Tolino website that have it available, but all of them with German dominance and having it available is not the same as being part of the project. I would appreciate if you could indicate the source to be able to contrast and complete the information about those stores.
Tolino works as follows. The device has been developed by Telekom (design and software) and is identical for each of the partners in the 3 countries where it is distributed. When activating for the first time, you must select the country (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). At that moment, based on the EAN code, tolino downloads the configuration of the store to which it is going to connect. In Germany for example, depending on where the device was purchased, the webshop may be Telekom (PagePlace), Thalia, Bertelsmann, Weltbild or Der Club. To these we must add the brands that only have internet distribution: Buch.de, Buecher.de and Ottomedia). You find all the information under the official url http://www.tolino.de/wp-uploads/tolino-shine-Benutzerhandbuch.pdf or also http://www.tolino.de/wp-uploads/tolino-shine-Benutzerhandbuch.pdf (all in German)
At the press conference they also announced the intention of taking the project to other countries but for now only the indicated countries are sold.
Thank you very much, I will read it calmly to make the appropriate corrections.
There seems to be something wrong with the software
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2013/03/08/tolino-aka-germanys-response-to-amazon-is-getting-off-to-a-rocky-start/
There is nothing new, it is like the Kindle: the tablet version does work with Android, the e-ink reader does not.
And from that time, when they published this column to today, have there been changes in the Tolino Shine? Well, I bought one 6 days ago (in Real Germany for € 60), I have not unpacked it yet, it is sealed in its original cardboard and with a 2-year guarantee, and I want to know what is new before opening it, because in case of I don't like it, I can return it sealed to the store where I bought it! I have a Kobo Glo, it is magnificent, but like everything, I always want to have a replacement.
Please, could someone tell me how I can search for titles in Spanish in Tolino. I bought it in Switzerland but I don't know how to do it. Thank you.