Sep 27, 2010 08:30 GMT  ·  By

Coming to make a contribution of its own to the e-book reader market, Sharp has prepared a pair of electronics that, being tablets with color displays, will possess multiple capabilities besides just e-book reading.

The e-reader market has definitely grown since last year, with the companies involved even starting to create new technologies for them.

Alternatives to the e-ink greyscale screen are more or less foremost on the minds of those that deal in such devices.

Sharp, however, is thinking of more than just that, outfitting its upcoming devices with features besides just color support.

Basically, Sharp is getting ready to launch the Galapagos, a pair of so-called tablets whose primary purpose will be e-book reading but which will also be capable of gaming and multimedia.

Sharp has not exactly made the full range of specification known, but it did mention that the screen sizes of the two siblings will be 5.5 inches and 10.8 inches, respectively.

These two display solutions will have full color support and native resolutions of 1,024 x 600 pixels and 1,366 x 800 pixels, respectively.

Other assets include the 802.11 b/g WiFi connectivity, about 30,000 books at launch, access to magazines and newspapers and, of course, the aforementioned multimedia and games.

As for miscellaneous features, Sharp implemented such things as Automatic Scheduled Delivery Service and periodic software updates.

The devices are slated to make their debut, in Japan at least, sometime during the month of December, when the full list of hardware components should be made public.

“The first effort in this area will be an e-bookstore service that is planned to begin in December of this year,” states the press release.

“Two compatible tablet terminals have been developed specifically as e-book readers and will be introduced at the same time,” the announcement added.