The coolest gadget I saw at the 2009 O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing event wasn’t even on display.  It was an actual working Readius!  Back in September 2008 I interviewed Igor Smirnoff, Director of Strategic Development for PressDisplay.com on metaprinter.  In that interview he mentions the Readius and shares some pics.

When I bumped into him at TOC2009 today I told him that I was disappointed with the display by the Plastic Logic Reader (every working model had terrible vertical lines on the screens)  and I really wanted to see the Readius he mentioned and with that, Blamo!  Here it is!  within 10 seconds people started gathering around.

Above, Igor is  holding the device while cradling an iRex Tablet.  He was at the event to showcase NewspaperDirect‘s new iPhone Application and PressReader features for the iRex and Readius. Read more about that in their release.

The Readius is not yet available for sale to the general public so just watch this older YouTube clip below to get an idea of the functionality and style of this thing are and wait, wait, wait.

Weight:
Ultra light. At 115g just one third the average weight of current eBook readers

Display size:
Large 5″ display, 16 greyscales

Device size:
The only pocket sized eReader

Battery life:
30 hours of continuous reading

Connectivity:
Global wireless connectivity, with the greatest coverage of any eReader (Tri Band/3.5G HSDPA)
Supporting ActiveSync and USB mass storage (USB FS)
Communication with accessories and other devices (Bluetooth 2.0)

Processor:
Powerful processing engine (ARM11 400MHz)

Storage:
Flexible, today commercially available up to 8GB (High Capacity Micro SD)

User Interface:
Just 8 SimpleTouch Buttons