Asus DR-570 and DR-950 ebook readers: Colour me well-read

Asus has decided to arrive fashionably late to the ebook reader party, donning a stylish pair called the DR-950 and DR-570 and swanning in a week or so after everyone else rocked theirs at CES.

The DR-570 is the more exciting element of the ensemble, pimping as it does a 5.7-inch full-colour display (pictured with Elle magazine obviously Photoshopped over the top, above right). It has a very commendable 768x1,024-pixel resolution, 4GB of flash memory, an SD card slot, Wi-Fi and 3G, a Web browser and a Flash player. It weighs a scant 200g.

The DR-950, by contrast, is bigger, with a 9-inch screen, but lacks the colour (pictured above left, not quite to scale). Rather than the usual E-Ink display tech (used by the Kindle and Sony Readers), it uses a 768x1,024-pixel, 150dpi SiPix screen. It looks like there'll be two models, one with 2GB of memory and Wi-Fi, and one with 4GB of memory and 3G as well as Wi-Fi. Built-in software includes a browser, an RSS reader, a dictionary, handwriting recognition and a virtual keyboard. It weighs in at 370g, significantly less than the 540g Kindle DX, which has a slightly larger 9.7-inch screen.

Launch is some way off, with Asus only committing to it being out by the end of the year. More details as we get them.

Update: Asus has announced the DR-950 will be available in April for around £250.