14 DAY TRIAL // Introduced all the way back in October, the solar-powered KDDI biblio Leaf SP02 is finally ready to make its market entrance, the device becoming available in Japan this weekend, December 25 to be more exact, for a yet-undisclosed amount.
In order to announce the introduction of its latest eReader, KDDI held a press conference this morning in Japan, the Akihabara News website taking part in this launch and spending some time with the device.
Compared to most other eReaders available out there, the biblio Leaf SP02 manages to differentiate itself by adding a small solar panel to the bottom of the device, this being used for prolonging the battery's life when found in direct sun light.
Based on the Android operating system, the Leaf SP02 is equipped with a 6-inch 800×600 eInk resistive touchscreen display and 2GB of internal memory expendable via a microSD card slot.
According to KDDI, the storage space is enough to accommodate up to 3,000 books, the device's battery life being rated at about 13,000 continuous page turns, although this figure doesn't account for the power provided by the solar panel.
Furthermore, KDDI's eReader features 3G as well as Wi-Fi connectivity, the built-in cellular modem being based on the CDMA standard.
According to Akihabara, at launch, the KDDI website will carry up to 20,000 titles, which are to be expanded over the course of the following year (the company expects 100,000 titles to be available at the end of 2011), the e-Books being delivered via the LISMO Book Store service.
Measuring in 198x130x9.6mm and weighting no more than 295.8g, the biblio Leaf SP02 will be available in Japan on December 25, no details about its pricing being known at this time.
Availability outside of Japan is also an unknown as no information was provided in this regard.