Alcatel brings tablets, smartphones, and a 4 inch eReader to CES 2014

Alcatel OneTouch is showing off a variety of new devices at the Consumer Electronics Show this year, including new 7 and 8 inch tablets, a 5.5 inch Pop C9 smartphone, and the OneTouch Idol X+ 5 inch phone with a 2 GHz octa-core processor.

For some reason, the product I’m most taken with, though, is company’s Magic Flip eReader which is designed to work as a companion to your smartphone.

Here’s the idea, pair the 4 inch eReader with a black and white screen with your phone via Bluetooth and you can use it as a low-power display for reading digital books. Since it has its own E Ink display it’ll offer long battery life and it won’t run down your smartphone’s battery the way that reading an eBook on your phone’s display would normally do.

The Magic Flip should support a range of eBook formats, but I suspect it won’t offer all the features you’d get from a dedicated Kindle, Nook, or Kobo device. Still, as a smartphone companion for folks who like to read on the go, it’s an interesting concept.

Engadget reports the Magic Flip is still a work in progress and that the software hasn’t been finalized. But it should launch in a few months.

As for Alcatel’s other products, the Idol X+ phone has a 5 inch, full HD display, a 13Mp camera, and a 2500mAh battery. The Pop C9 is a bigger, but likely cheaper device with a 5.5 inch, 1080p screen, a 1.3 GHz quad-core CPU, an 8MP camera, and a 2500mAH battery.

And the company’s new ablets are strictly budget affairs, selling for around 199 Euros or less (it’s not clear if they’ll launch in the US). The 8 inch model has a 1280 x 800 pixel display, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, and 4GB of storage, while the 7 inch model has a 1024 x 600 pixel display, and a 1.3 GHz dual-core chip.