Earl

Earl is a 6" Tablet using an E Ink screen. It runs Android making it very suitable as an eBook reader. This device is unlikely to see the light of day. It would seem that it will never ship.

Overview

Meet Earl, a revolutionary tablet engineered for the most extreme of outdoor situations. Built for survival, Earl works where today's smart phones and tablets cannot. Style meets efficiency with Earl's intuitive design, fusing Android 4.4 together with an energy sipping E-Ink screen and the latest in GPS, weather sensor, and radio communication technology. With Earl at your side, stay in control of your journey no matter where it takes you.

Features

From the web site.

• explore

Working together with cutting-edge motion, force and orientation sensors, Earl's GPS chipset gives you precise reading of your location, direction and elevation. Combine Earl with http://everytrail.com and have access to over 300,000 trails at your fingertips. Connect ANT+ or Bluetooth 4.0 devices to measure your heart rate, pace and cadence. Share your routes with friends using Android Beam™ technology. Rugged water proof case.

• alert

Always stay ahead of mother nature using Earl's internal weather sensors to accurately forecast changing conditions, even in the most remote locations. View current temperature, humidity and barometric pressure at a glance. A built-in compass will guide you in the right direction. Using GPS, Earl can tell you when and where the sun, moon and stars will shine the brightest.

• guides

Always prepared. Earl works with thousands of Android apps already available. With support for EPUB, MOBI and PDF e-reader formats, have access to all your favorite reads while you're on the trail. Developers will have access to a range of new sensors to create apps and interactive guidebooks built specifically for Earl using our open api. Upload, share and sell your creations through Earl's gear shop.

• Other

It is also a two-way radio (GRMS, Amateur in the US; 2 watts) and a AM/FM/SW/LW tuner. (a removable folding antenna included) Laminated solar panel provides up to 20 hours of battery (3000mAh). Earl charges in 5 hours in direct sunlight using high efficiency 22% mono crystalline solar cells. A USB lanyard is include which is useful for charging and exchanging data.

2 Way Radios

For Europe they will be releasing a VHF/UHF (2m/70cm) radio, however take note, users are required to be licensed. This is due to a CE requirement. For Australia and New Zealand, Earl will be available in two editions, a UHFCB radio, open to anyone without a license as well as the VHF/UHF variant which again would require operators to be licensed. For the USA and Canada they will be releasing both a Part 90 certified VHF/UHF radio for licensed amateur radio operators as well as a Part 95a GMRS version for the use by the public.

Specifications

• Android 4.4 KitKat
• Screen size: Flexible 6" E Ink Mobius (1024x768)
  • Glove friendly capacitive touch screen
  • front light (doubles as emergency flashlight)
• CPU: Freescale i.MX 6 DualLite 1GHz Cortex A9 with integrated EPD controller
• RAM: 1GB
• Flash Disk: 16GB
• expansion: microSD card SDXC to 128GB (located inside the unit)
• Wireless: WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, ANT+, NFC, GMRS/MURS at 2 watts which can be reduced to .5 watts when desired.
  • Note that FRS has been dropped due to the use of a removable antenna. However it is possible to communicate with an FRS radio so long as FRS rules are used (only voice, except for location service, only .5 watts, and only approved antenna for example). There are 7 overlapping channels available for this use.
  • In Canada this unit would probably qualify as an FRS/GMRS radio for licensing purposes.
  • MURS is VHF while GMRS is UHF frequencies
• Navigation: GPS (/w WAAS US) + GLONASS (Russia) + Galileo (EU) and Bedidou (China)
• 9 AXIS Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Magnetometer (Compass)
• Weather: Temperature, Barometer, Humidity
• Radio: AM/FM/SW/LW - Worldwide FM band (64–108 MHz). Worldwide AM band (520–1710 kHz). Shortwave band (2.3–21.85 MHz). Longwave band (153–279 KHz) including NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Weather Band (162 MHz).
• Antenna: removable with waterproof SMA connector.
• Wolfson WM8960 audio codec
• Waterproof microphone and speaker, 1 watt
• 20+ hour Li-Ion 3000mAh removable battery with 5 hour solar charging
• 3.5mm TRRS headphone/microphone jack (waterproof connector)
  • TRRS means tip, ring, ring, shaft permitting a common ground and 3 signal connections such as microphone plus stereo audio.
• microUSB 2.0 with lanyard cable (waterproof connector)
  • this provides a charging port and well as data.
• weight: just under a pound.
• Dimensions: 178 mm x 125 mm x 15 mm (24 mm with antenna) (7" x 4 3/4" x 0.6")
• Waterproof: IP68 (2 meters, 6.6 feet, for 60 minutes)
• Rugged: 2 meter drop
• buttons: In addition to the touch screen there are 5 re-mappable hardware buttons around the edges of the device for user input control.

For more information

• See http://forum.meetearl.com/ for the latest status of this product.
• http://www.meetearl.com
• http://www.meetearl.com/updates/
• Discuss on MobileRead