More details have emerged about the upcoming Asus Eee-book reader ZDNet Asia's sister site, CNET News, reported last month.
The company is looking at two versions: budget and premium, a spokesman for Asus in the United Kingdom told the Times of London.
But most intriguing is that at least one version of the reader, the higher-end one, would have a hinged spine, opening like a traditional book and closing into tablet form. This design would let users view the text of their book on one screen (turning its pages using the touch screen), while browsing a Web page on the other.
One screen could also act as a virtual keypad, according to the Times report, which would move the device into laptop territory.
The Asus e-reader would have a full color screen, and it may also feature speakers, a Webcam, and a mic for Skype, enabling cheap phone calls over the Internet, the Times reported.
As for price, we don't have hard numbers yet, but Asus is known for low-cost products like the ultraportable Eee PC, and speculation has the budget e-reader going for around US$163 (Sony's Reader Pocket Edition, in comparison, runs from US$200 to US$300; Amazon's Kindle 2 also goes for around US$300).
The Eee-readers are expected to be out by the end of the year.
This article was first published as a blog post on CNET News.
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