Reading between the lines
Asda has cut the price of a budget e-reader, which now costs just £52, around half the price of Amazon's best-selling Kindle.
Asda claims its View Quest Mediabox e-reader is the cheapest in the UK and is made an even better proposition for the pockets by the fact that it gives its owners access to thousands of classic titles for free.
It said that the e-reader recognises a ‘wide range of content formats' and in fact the e-reader seems to be a bit of a budget e-reader/tablet mash-up as it also allows music and video playback.
Sadly the spec details on Asda's website stop at ‘white' but with a back-lit screen, not e-ink screen like the pricier Kindle, it might be fair to speculate that Asda's e-reader has a fraction of the battery life of Amazon's more streamlined dedicated e-reader.
In fact Asda has marketed the e-reader/tablet's back-light as a good thing as it "is backlit for night time reading, and has a power saving mode to reduce eye strain and improve battery life."
Users can read e-books in portrait or landscape mode, store and view photos and images and it also has a built in voice recorder that students can use to make notes when they are reading.
Adam May, tablet buyer at Asda, said: "There's no doubt that the eBook is here to stay and we're doing our bit to put affordable literature in the hands of bookworms. We're also hoping that we can inspire a new generation of readers. At £52, which works out at £1 per week for a year, our reader is outstanding value and will give many years of pleasure to every generation of electronic bookworms."
Here is an image of the e-reader/tablet.
