Spring Design Alex eReader Rooted

Artem Russakovskii — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:31:24 +0000

2 weeks ago on April 14th we saw the newest e-reader - Alex by Spring Design - finally go on sale, and now 2 weeks later, it is finally rooted. If you are wondering what rooting means, head over here, and then come back and read the rest.

The hacker by the name of Bluebrain from AndroidForums.com posted a message on the forum on Sunday showing his Alex running a shell as root (via the su binary, as usual).

Here are the rooting steps:

Download update.zip (view the post for an updated link if this one dies).

Copy it to the root folder of your Alex's SD card.

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Spring Design Alex eReader Rooted was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

eReader Mega Roundup: Spring Design Alex VS Barnes & Noble Nook VS Amazon Kindle 2 VS Kindle DX - Detailed Comparison

Artem Russakovskii — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 17:00:17 +0000

Last year was definitely the year of the Kindle - we've seen a whole new generation of eBook readers come out, finally making this gadget category popular. To help you navigate the eBook reader waters, we spent the last few days compiling a table comparing some of the biggest eReader devices:

Spring Design Alex
Barnes & Noble Nook
Amazon Kindle 2
Amazon Kindle DX

If a category has a winner, it is highlighted in bold (in some cases there could be more than one winner).

Kindle DX features that are the same in Kindle 2 are marked with "<-".

Without further ado, let the best eReader win:

	Alex eReader	Barnes & Noble Nook	Amazon Kindle 2	Amazon Kindle DX
Order of release	4	3	1	2
Release dates	April 14, 2010	November 30, 2009	February 9, 2009	June 10, 2009
Internal memory	2GB	2GB	2GB	4GB
Expandable memory	Yes - MicroSD	Yes - MicroSD	No - SD slot was removed	<-
Average # of books that can fit in internal memory	1500	1500	1500	3500
CPU speed	624 MHz	Unknown but in the range of 533-800 MHz	523 MHz	<-
Screen(s)	Dual, 6" E-Ink, 3.5" color LCD	Dual, 6" E-Ink, 3.5" color LCD	Single, 6" E-Ink	Single, 9.7" E-Ink
Screen resolution	6": 600 x 800 px 3.5": 480 x 320 px	6": 600 x 800 px 3.5": 480 x 144 px	600 x 800 px	1200 x 824 px
E-Ink display	Yes - 16 level grayscale	Yes - Vizplex, 16-level grayscale	Yes - 16-level grayscale	<-
WiFi	Yes - b/g	Yes - b/g (+free WiFi at B&N stores)	No	<-
Global wireless (3G, 4G, etc)	No but 3G, EVDO/CDMA, GSM support coming in a model that should be out later this year	Yes - 3G	Yes - 3G with fallback to EDGE/GPRS	<-
Web browser	Yes - on the color screen and the E-Ink screen	Stock Nook - no Rooted Nook - yes	Basic browser but a firmware update brought a more capable browser	<-
Content sharing/lending	No	Yes, up to 14 days, between nook, iPhone, iPod Touch, PC, and Mac devices	No	<-
FM radio	No	No	No	<-
PDF support	Yes	Yes	Yes	<-
Formats supported	EPUB, PDF, TXT, HTML, JPEG, GIF, BMP, MP3, MP4, Flash, 3GP	EPUB, PDB (eReader), PDF, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP, MP3	Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion	<- + Audible format 4, RTF
Speaker	Yes - stereo	Yes - mono	Yes - stereo	<-
Text-to-speech	No (confirmed to us by Spring Design)	No	Yes	<-
Auto rotation	No (confirmed to us by Spring Design)	Unknown	No	Yes
Connector type	MicroUSB	MicroUSB	MicroUSB	<-
Battery capacity	3.7V 1530mAh (confirmed to us by Spring Design)	Unknown	1530mAh	<-
Battery life	14 days with wireless off, 6 hours with LCD screen on	10 days with wireless off	7 days with wireless on, 14 days with wireless off	<-
User replaceable battery	Yes	Yes	No	<-
Book selection	Borders via Kobo, Google Books, any protected ePub book from any bookseller	Barnes & Noble - 1,000,000+ paid and 500,000+ free books, newspapers and magazines	Amazon - 450,000+ post-1923 and 1,800,000+ pre-1923 books at the time of this review	<-
Synchronized last page read between devices	No but promised later	No but promised in early 2010	Yes	<-
Operating system	Android 1.5 (2.0+ coming summer 2010)	Android 1.5	Linux	<-
OTA (Over-The-Air) software updates	Yes (confirmed to us by Spring Design)	Yes	Yes	<-
Size	8.9" x 4.7" x 0.4"	7.7" x 4.9" x 0.5"	8.0" x 5.3" x 0.36"	10.4" x 7.2" x 0.38"
Weight	11 oz	12.1 oz	10.2 oz	18.9 oz
Price	$399	$259	$259.00	$489.00
Buy it	Buy It	Buy It	Buy It	Buy It
	Alex eReader	Barnes & Noble Nook	Amazon Kindle 2	Amazon Kindle DX

So, who is the winner?

Done With This Post? You Might Also Like These:

eReader Mega Roundup: Spring Design Alex VS Barnes & Noble Nook VS Amazon Kindle 2 VS Kindle DX - Detailed Comparison was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Spring Design Alex eReader Rooted

eReader Mega Roundup: Spring Design Alex VS Barnes & Noble Nook VS Amazon Kindle 2 VS Kindle DX - Detailed Comparison