Acer enters e-Reader arena with LumiRead

Sometimes it pays to sit back a while and wait to see what everyone else has to offer before revealing your own hand. But at this late stage, what could any manufacturer possibly bring to the e-Reader table? Well, in addition to offering wireless connectivity, access to a vast library of eBook content, a QWERTY keyboard and a 6 inch e-Ink display, the LumiRead e-Reader from Acer also allows users to scan ISBN codes on actual books to help quickly locate their digital counterparts.

The LumiRead promises to be both ultra thin and very lightweight, and will sport a sunlight-friendly 6 inch e-Ink display with a QWERTY keyboard underneath. It will be capable of storing well over 1,000 books on its 2GB of internal memory but is infinitely expandable via microSD. Just as well really, as the company has scored content deals with big players like Barnes & Noble in the U.S., Libri in Germany and Founder in China, making millions of eBooks available. French and Italian readers will shortly be able to enjoy content in their own languages too.

Multiple eBook formats will naturally be supported and an auto-layout function will adjust the display for optimum reading pleasure. As well as WiFi and 3G connectivity, the device will also seamlessly integrate with Acer's clear.fi solution. Clear.fi is a technology which allows different devices to talk to each other wirelessly and allows for "real time sharing and playing of multi-format content over multi-platform devices." It'll be DLNA compliant too, which gives users the option to share content like eBooks and audio books. There will be a built-in browser and a "Smart Download" feature that saves website content for offline reading.

All well and good, but more or less what we've come to expect from an e-Reader. But this one holds the promise of another trick up its slender sleeve - it will come equipped with an ISBN scanner. If you find yourself in a library (remember those?) or book store and spot a book that you particularly want to read but can't be pestered with all that paperback nonsense, you can scan the ISBN code into the LumiRead to locate and download the eBook version.

The Acer LumiRead will likely appear later in the year, price yet to be announced.