For books there are a few good options. There's the Amazon Kindle, for abotu $150, the B&N Nook, also for aroud $150, and several other also-ran devices ranging in prince from $50-$300 or so. Since Nook and Kindle are at the top of the food chain, it seems that these would be the contenders.
The Kindle:
The Kindle is really the market leader. With almost 1 million titles available through Amazon, and a ton of extensions that allow me to take my library pretty much whereever I go (i.e. an iPhone Kindle App, a PC Kindle App, a Mac Kindle App, etc.) it's a very versatile product. It can store about 3,500 books and it's new battery supposedly last for a month, meaning I'd almost never have to charge the thing. It also allows you to read PDF douments, read blogs (though you apparenly have to pay for a subscription for somethingyou an get on the web for free), and get magazines and newspapers.
The Nook:
The Nook offer some pretty exciting options. It can do really everything the Kindle can do. Interestingly, the color version can be rooted, meaning you can install and run Andriod O.S. on it. Yes, the same Android OS that runs on tablets like the Samsung Galaxy and the Archos. So this adds an interesting dimension. Because not only can you get everything the Nook can do, and everything Android can do, but you can even install Kindle for Android and get everything the Kindle can do as well. The only problem with this, really, is the price. At $250, it's a little hefty.
Now, for full-on tablets, I think that there are really only two contenders. The iPad, of course. And the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. Of the two, iPad is definitely king of the hill.
The iPad:
OK. Slight bias alert. I'm a iPad fanboy. So in all honesty this is the one I REALLY want. But it's a bit out of my price range right now.
The Galaxy Pad:
Samsung appears to be the only player with an actual product on the market that competing with the iPad and making headway. So far they sold about 1 million of them. It has a 7" screen, as opposed to iPad's 10". It runs Android, which is quickly catching up to Apple's App store. But at $400 withg a two year contract, I might as well wait for the iPad.
Lastly, I started thinking how I could get rid of the paper address book sitting next to phone in my living room. The Sony Dash looks like a possible contender. It has a number of cool features including a real-time weather station, news, calendar, Facebook, email, and it apparently can sync up with and displat my Gmail and Yahoo contacts, thereby eliminating the need for a paper address book and allowing me the opportunity to only have to enter my contact information in one location and then sync it up everywhere else in my universe. At $150, it's really not a bad deal at all..
So it looks like I can get a pretty good collection of gadgets to help me achieve my paperless vision for under $1500, and that's if I get all the higher-end gear. If I go with the Kindle, the Galaxy, and the Dash, I'd be looking at around $700 all-in, not too bad.
