Icarus3D eBook Reader: A 3D April Fools’ Gimmick? [Update]
Even though the eBook reader market generally moves a bit more slowly than the rest of the consumer electronics sector, that doesn’t mean it is any less fiercely contested. Just like in other parts of the electronic consumer market, there are countless device suppliers that want to get their products into the hands of customers. Apart from the software, it’s particularly in the hardware sector where differentiation from the competition proves to be a problem, because chipsets and displays mostly come from the same suppliers and there usually aren’t other components available.
With the newly introduced Icarus3D, the Dutch company Icarus aims to sidestep this problem because the reading device takes an unusual approach: depending on the setting, you can read with a 3D effect on this eBook reader!
3D as a Gimmick
While the TV industry hoped to spur a similar 3D boom in homes following the cinema, it quickly became evident that for many customers, 3D at home isn’t a major selection criterion. Thus, Icarus’s move to bring a 3D reading device to the market comes as quite a surprise. On one hand, because 3D devices have not been successful neither in home nor mobile sectors, and on the other hand, because the benefit for a pure reading device is likely to be limited.
But no matter. It’s always interesting to see how various manufacturers, in a market that otherwise allows little differentiation, increasingly try to distinguish themselves from one another. As a marketing gag (read: April Fools’ joke ;)), the 3D eBook reader could indeed be quite successful.
The intensity of the 3D effect can be adjusted
Besides that, you can of course just read with the Icarus3D as well. It uses a so-called OE3D display, which offers a resolution of 1024×768 pixels. It’s reasonable to assume that the panel comes from the usual supplier: Guangzhou OED Technologies (short: OEDTech). This display manufacturer is already well-known in this country through companies like TrekStor and Icarus. Even Bookeen relies on this Chinese technology supplier for their latest devices.
In addition to the usual 16 grayscale levels, a 3D effect can also be displayed. This is adjustable in intensity via a slider (see image) and is only visible with the included glasses. Naturally, this poses the risk of worsening readability in terms of contrast, as the slightly darkened lenses of the glasses also dim the field of view and thus the screen.
The rest of the specifications largely match those of the Icarus Illumina HD: Wi-Fi, 4GB of internal storage with expansion options, and audio output via a 3.5 mm jack. The dimensions are also specified the same. The Icarus3D measures 180 x 125 x 10 mm and weighs 229 grams.
UPDATE: Even though Icarus has not yet officially revealed the 3D eBook reader to be an April Fools’ joke, I’ll go ahead and do so now. This was already hinted at in the article. For clarification: The glasses shown to create the 3D effect are from Sony (model: TDG-BR250B; in the press release, they were branded with an Icarus logo). These are 3D Active Shutter glasses, which can only be used with a display that operates at a minimum of 100 Hz. Therefore, use with an E-Paper screen in this form is out of the question.
