With the push toward convergence these days, does your prospective gift recipient really need a dedicated device for reading books on? Well, if they’re a heavy reader their eyes might just thank you. The E Ink displays used on a majority of these devices is very similar to reading off of regular paper, and therefore much more easy on the eyes than those now-ubiquitous LCD screens we’ve all surrounded ourselves with. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite devices, though be warned: with a market this much in its infancy, there’s always going to be something just a bit more exciting right around the corner.

Stocking stuffer

Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-300 – Representing the bare bones of the bare bones for major manufacturers, the Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS-300 has a one of the smaller screens around (5-inch), no wireless capabilities, and doesn’t even play back music. It makes up for these shortcomings with a sweet price tag and Sony’s much improved 3.0 software, which is available for Mac and PC and syncs the device iTunes-style not only with Sony-bought books, but with thousands of free titles available through Google Books and even content available from your local library — making it not only easy on your pocket, but easily replenished by your knowledge-loving recipient.
$199 – Buy from Sony

OpenMoko WikiReader – It’s not exactly for reading books, but the OpenMoko is a single-purpose device for browsing a cached version of what is perhaps the greatest paper book killer of them all: Wikipedia. Of course, any decent smartphone has access to Wikipedia online or through an app, but for somebody unwilling or incapable of pulling up Wikipedia articles on their phone, this little touchscreen, monochrome device provides a nice alternative.
$99 – Buy from OpenMoko

Gift certificate – Like we said at the outset, many people don’t even need or want a dedicated device for reading e-books, and if the book lover in your life already has an iPhone or an iPod touch it’s no trouble at all keeping them drenched in prose. They simply need the free Kindle or Barnes & Noble app and they can use a Barnes & Noble gift card or Amazon gift card to purchase e-books for download and reading. Alternatively they could use an iTunes gift card to purchase one-off e-book apps, but those are a bit of a mixed bag in interface and quality, so buyer beware.
Buy from Barnes & Noble
Buy from Amazon
Buy from Apple

Oh, you shouldn’t have

Amazon Kindle – The clear leader in e-book land (marketshare-wise, at least) is of course Amazon’s Kindle, and not for no reason: the device itself is simple enough for your parents to love, but has enough tech to impress the nerds in your life. The well-established Whisper Sync technology lets people keep track of a single book across multiple devices, there’s a physical keyboard right up front, and the device can even browse the web. Your recipient will be pretty locked down for content, since the Kindle doesn’t support the open, Google-backed ePub format, but you can’t do much better for paid content than the Kindle Store.
$259 – Buy from Amazon

Barnes & Noble Nook – While Barnes & Noble has shown off its new Nook e-book reader to the masses, at the time of this writing we haven’t actually played with it, and odds are most holiday shoppers won’t get an opportunity to try before they buy either: current pre-orderers will receive their device on December 18th. Still, Barnes & Noble brings a formidable force to the e-book market, and its dual-screen interface, open format support and in-store tie-ins differentiate it from Amazon’s offering. So it’s a bit of a risk from a gift giving perspective, but if you’ve got a Barnes & Noble fanboy in your sights, it might just be worth it.
$259 – Buy from Barnes & Noble

Sony Reader Daily Edition PRS-900- Up against the Kindle and the Nook, Sony’s Daily Edition reader seems dramatically overpriced. However, for that price you get the only 7-inch touchscreen among the trio. It’s also the winner on format support, and of course works with those afore-mentioned Sony e-book store advantages. Unfortunately, it’s also on backorder at the time of this writing, and has an even lower chance than the Nook of being spotted in the flesh before Christmas.
$399 – Buy from Sony

We can’t afford the rent now, can we?

Amazon Kindle DX – Aimed at businesses and students, with a 9.7-inch screen and wider format support (like PDF), the Kindle DX still seems prohibitively pricey for what you’re getting, but if you can swing it we’re sure the much loved PDF junky in your life won’t mind.
$489 – Buy from Amazon

IREX DR 800SG – With stylus input and an 8.1-inch screen, the IREX DR 800SG is a luxurious way to approach the e-book market, and includes a number of wireless-accessible stores to choose from for content. It also has a world roaming modem capable of downloading books in the States and internationally. It probably won’t be on as many wish lists as the Nook or Kindle, but for a few (very particular) readers it might be just the thing. Unfortunately, its product page at Best Buy is down at the moment, but hopefully it’s back in time for the holidays.
$449 – Buy from Best Buy

“Wait” – No, there’s no e-book reader catchily dubbed the “Wait,” but there’s plenty of interesting stuff happening in e-book land in the near future, particularly in the premium space. Plastic Logic’s QUE proReader 8.5 x 11-inch behemoth quickly comes to mind, as does the Spring Design Alex — whose dual-screen design is litigiously similar to that of the Nook. There’s also of course the steady drumbeat of technology, the ever-rumored Apple tablet and an inevitable 3rd generation Kindle to look out for, so perhaps your gift recipient would be understanding of an IOU this holiday season.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

• Processor, processor, processor. Oh, and did we mention the processor? The N900’s Cortex A8-based core yields significant improvements in day-to-day usability over the N810’s ARM11 unit.
• Though it’s still quite raw and feature-incomplete, Maemo 5 is by far the most user-friendly version of the platform to date, if for no other reason than the fact that it’s very pretty. Screen transitions are smooth and look great, the home screen is as attractive and versatile as any widget-based home screen on the market today, and the Expose-style task switcher is a welcome addition.
• The N900 may very well offer the best browsing experience of any smartphone on the market today (yes, including the iPhone). What little ground it gives up in user friendliness is more than countered by the fact that you have the closest thing you can get to a desktop-class browser in a device of this size and form factor; it’s straight-up Mozilla, after all, and everything renders faithfully. Flash doesn’t blaze, but at least the Cortex A8 makes it usable.

Follow the break for more impressions and a quick rundown on video!

Gallery: Nokia N900 quick hands-on

• The hardware’s a mixed bag. It doesn’t feel cheap, per se — but considering that this will become Nokia’s highest-end smartphone, it doesn’t necessarily feel the part, either. On the bright side, it’s narrow enough to rest comfortably in the hand while using it as a phone, and it’s not annoyingly thick — don’t get us wrong, it’s a beefy phone, but not to the point of causing a problem in your pocket.
• The keyboard is medicore. The N900 doesn’t seem to slide open as much as it could, which means that it’s got a uniquely narrow three-row QWERTY keyboard; fortunately, Nokia did a great job of shaping the keys to give them about as much feel as possible. The spacebar and directional keys are strangely located, which might necessitate a learning curve for some users.
• As we mentioned before, this is a pretty raw phone. Basic features like MMS and portrait mode aren’t supported; MMS won’t be a big deal for many users, but being forced to use the N900’s non-phone functions in landscape is a pretty big deal.
• The N900 may have a “good” resistive touchscreen, but it’s still a resistive touchscreen, which means it’s not going to be as finger-friendly as it could be — we were repeatedly disappointed by how much pressure was required to actuate scrolling gestures in menus, for example. Thing is, the N900 is a device where we can see many (if not most) users still preferring to have access to a stylus from time to time for precision input, and that being said, this is probably about as good of a resistive display as Nokia is capable of manufacturing.

The bottom line? We’ll hold back on final judgment until we use a review unit, but our initial swipe at this thing has us ready to drop a “for early adopters only” stamp on it — for your average consumer just looking for an effective smartphone, it seems like it’s got too many quirks and functionality holes to recommend.

[Via jkkmobile]

[Thanks, Ron]

Update: Nokia’s official blog says to expect the Maemo 5 device to land in “Europe, the Middle-East, Russia and North America” shortly. However, it won’t be compatible with the new 3G SIM cards from 3 in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Austria until a software update hits sometime later this year.

[Thanks, Juhana J.]