Foxit announces the eSlick reader, can it challenge the Amazon Kindle or Sony Reader?

FoxIt has recently introduced their ebook reader — the eSlick. To begin with, they seem to have reached a pretty attractive price tag at $229, but the reader is lacking when it comes to format compatibility. As for features, the eSlick has a 6-inch display with a resolution of 800 x 600, 128MB of internal memory, and an SD card slot with support for up to 4GB. The reader is powered by a rechargeable lithium battery that is said to offer up to 8,000 page turns. Additionally, it measures in at 7.4 x 4.7 x 0.4-inches, weights just 6.4-ounces and ships with a 2GB SD card and a set of headphones.

Now, as far as being a competitor in the ebook reader market, the price tag is certainly nice, but like I mentioned earlier, the eSlick does not offer a wide range of file compatibility. It has support for only PDF, TXT, and MP3 files. It does come with a conversion tool, but that just adds yet another step before you can enjoy your reading material. Not to mention, it does not have a book store of any sort. The Sony Reader has access to their eBook Store and the Kindle takes it a step further with wireless access built-in.

It is hard to judge without holding one in hand, however it does appear to have a nice design. I would be interested in getting some hands on time, but based on the format support I would think that version 2 may be worth waiting for. It sort of seems more like an expensive PDF viewer as opposed to an eBook reader.

Product [Foxit] Via [Yahoo! Tech]