Ex-Word, is it time?

Starting late last month, Casio began releasing a slew of new electronic dictionaries (電子辞書) on the market. While electronic dictionaries have been pretty much reiterations of the same ol' stuff, Casio has sparked my interest. I'm not so much interested in the basic dictionaries as I am in the new technology being utilized.

First of all, is the new screen dubbed Blanview® introduced in 2008. Reading up on this new screen brought up comments from Engadget on how bad the naming was. I think it's quite lingocentric to dismiss brand naming based on other languages as aweful. Blan, coming from the French word for white, blanc, and pronounced without the 'k-sound', completely sums up the screen. It's pure white, not the usual grey LCD! I certainly do think the name sounds better than Whiteview or Shiroview.

Aside from being a color backlit screen, this new technology makes the screen easier to view indoors and out, while at the same time reducing energy consumption (33-50%). This means you'll be able to learn more, outside of the library! Casio is touting the following main features on its corporate site:

• Excellent visibility both in low indoor light and bright sunlight.
• Power-saving LCD module reduces the energy consumption of the backlight to approximately half of the power required by conventional models.
• Display color achieves "whiteness," improving visibility in a variety of environments.

Looking at the estimated battery life of the previous versions they range between 45 and 130 hours on 2 AAA batteries. However the new 2010 models range between 65 and 150 hours on 2 AA's. With a color screen and a change in battery size, getting more usage time will be nice.

The other main feature I'm interested in is the unsynthesized pronunciation dubbed: True Voice. While this was a feature of the Canon Wordtank and a couple Ex-Word models last year, in the 2010 line-up 10 models feature about 70,000 words pronounced by real voices, in high quality low noise digital audio:

• NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary (69,000 words)
• Koujien - 6th Ed. (60,000 words)
• Meikyo Japanese Dictionary (47,000 words)

The dictionaries vary depending on the model, but most of them carry the NHK dictionary. Use caution however, because even though some of the models like the Medical dictionaries carry the NHK Accent Dictionary, it does not have the voice component.

Here is a listing of the new XD models that do feature True Voice for Japanese (~70,000 words):

• XD-A10000 (English)
• XD-A6800
• XD-A9800 (English)
• XD-A7100 (German)
• XD-A7200 (French)
• XD-A7300 (Chinese)
• XD-A7400 (Italian)
• XD-A7500 (Spanish)
• XD-A7600 (Korean)
• XD-A7700 (Russian)

Casio has finally peaked my interest in denshijisho. I just need to decide which one to buy. Do any of your readers own one? Would you consider upgrading?