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NEWSPAPERS and novels are moving briskly from paper to pixels, but textbooks=20 have yet to find the perfect electronic home. They are readable on = laptops and=20 smartphones, but the displays can be eye-taxing. Even dedicated = e-readers with=20 their crisp printlike displays can=92t handle textbook staples like = color=20 illustrations or the videos and Web-linked supplements publishers = increasingly=20 supply.
The eDGe has an e-reader screen on the left and an = LCD screen=20 on the right for color displays.
Now there is a new approach that may adapt well to textbook pages: = two-screen=20 e-book readers with a traditional e-paper display on one screen and a=20 liquid-crystal display on the other to render graphics like science = animations=20 in color.
The dual screens are linked by a central processor so that, for = example, a=20 link on the e-paper display can open on the color screen.
A two-screen device called the eDGe will be released by enTourage = Systems in=20 February for $490, said Doug Atkinson, vice president of marketing and = business=20 development for the company, based in McLean, Va.
The dual screens of the eDGe open like a book with facing pages. The = e-reader=20 screen is 9.7 inches diagonally; the color touch screen on the = liquid-crystal=20 display is 10.1 inches. The two screens interact in many ways. For = instance, if=20 the textbook on the black-and-white e-reader displays an illustration = from a=20 file that is in color, =93the machine can move the illustration over to = the LCD=20 and run it there in color,=94 Mr. Atkinson said.
The e-reader screen is used with a stylus that can underline or = highlight=20 text, take notes in the margin, pull up a blank piece of e-paper for = solving=20 math problems, or touch a link for a video of a chemical interaction = that is=20 then displayed on the LCD screen.
The virtual keyboard is on the LCD side, as well as an audio recorder = and a=20 video camera. The device uses Google=92s=20 Android operating system, so other applications like word processing can = be=20 added, Mr. Atkinson said.
The two screens swivel, so that the LCD screen can be tucked beneath = the=20 e-reader if space is tight. Then the device can be used as a note-taking = tablet,=20 or it can be flipped over to the other side for sending e-mail.
Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at
E-textbooks have special requirements that can be addressed by = hybrids like=20 the eDGe, she explained. =93The devices have to render graphics = faithfully,=20 ideally with color,=94 she said, =93and students should have the ability = to take=20 extensive notes and share them,=94 as well as have access to whatever = interactive=20 elements publishers provide.
Until such features come to market, Ms. Epps said, =93electronic book = readers=20 are great for reading novels, but they aren=92t right for = textbooks.=94
Allen Weiner, a research vice president with Gartner, said that many = students=20 would simply read e-textbooks on their laptops. But even so, dual-screen = devices=20 are likely to find a place in the market, he said, provided the models = have=20 fairly large screens for both displays. =93The window you need for = effective video=20 interaction doesn=92t have to be giant,=94 Mr. Weiner said, =93but it = needs to be a=20 decent size=94 so that readers can click on a link and find out more. In = addition,=20 students can use the hybrids to take notes and underline text directly = on the=20 screen using the stylus, something they can=92t do on most laptops.
Two other new devices also use dual screens.
=93You will probably soon see combined e-reading devices with LCDs = that are=20 slightly smaller than the enTourage, but larger than the Alex,=94 Mr. = Weiner=20 predicted.
Electronic textbooks may one day offer a convenient way to study, = said Ms.=20 Epps, literally lightening a student=92s load. That=92s already happened = at Catholic=20 University of America in Washington, where Robert A. Destro, a professor = of law,=20 and his students are testing a version of the eDGe. Professor Destro has = 13=20 textbooks on his device.
=93It=92s wonderful not to have to lug those books around,=94 he = said.=20
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