Well just spotted these on the jinke page, guessing they're more of the "what if" mockups that jinke like to showcase
http://www.jinke.com.cn/Compagesql/embedpro/futurepro.asp

It's odd that feeding it through Babelfish using Traditional Chinese yields a title of "Not Forecast", while feeding it through Simplified Chinese yields "Future Will Forecast." And the url of "futurepro" makes one think of "future prototype."

At any rate, those are some interesting designs, whether studies or prototypes. But they all look very interesting at any rate. The eBook / eInk future could be sweet indeed. ;)

ETA: From the main page, there's a reference to a "V9" model, the case of which is labeled "A4," and the specs list a 10" screen with 825 x 1200 resolution. I wonder if that's also a prototype, something in the works, or something available now. BabelFish translation link (http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=zh_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.jinke.com.cn%2fCompagesql%2 fembedpro%2fprodetail.asp%3fname%3dv9)

2nd ETA: And thanks for the link - those mockups (or whatever) were very cool!

The V9 model should be available later this year. With Vizplex, PVI started producing A4 screens: expect more devices with an A4 screen in early 2008.

Well just spotted these on the jinke page, guessing they're more of the "what if" mockups that jinke like to showcase
http://www.jinke.com.cn/Compagesql/embedpro/futurepro.asp

One word: paradise.

The V9 model should be available later this year. With Vizplex, PVI started producing A4 screens: expect more devices with an A4 screen in early 2008.

Dang - that seems like it would be sweet for the PDF market! :drool:

an A4 screen with Vizplex refresh rates and Wacom input would be paradis for people who actually work with their eink devices. Filling in forms, doing clipboard stuff and so on would really rock on that kind of device.
Reading A4 PDf files would also be great.


For fiction reading (my main point of interest) the current <A5 displays are just fine (in my opinion) although I must admit that the Iliad's somewhat larger display is nicer for reading (less pageturning) while the smaller (STAReBOOK, Sony Reader, Hanlin V3, V8, V2) are nicer to carry around.

If you could synchronize those, so you can start reading on one device and continue on the next. With mobipocket books and cybook and iliad, this should work. Just switch the SD card.

Or look back at Steve Jordan's notion of a reading device "core" that could connect to various display panels. You could have one display only A5 for carting about, one A4 with Pen input, color vs monochrome ... the potential to customize to individual needs are legion.

Yes, a modular approach would be slightly more expensive on a per component basis, but you'd only buy the components you needed, and the trade-off would be a lot of flexibility both in use, and in upgrading. And you wouldn't need to synchronize.

Or look back at Steve Jordan's notion of a reading device "core" that could connect to various display panels. You could have one display only A5 for carting about, one A4 with Pen input, color vs monochrome ... the potential to customize to individual needs are legion.

Yes, a modular approach would be slightly more expensive on a per component basis, but you'd only buy the components you needed, and the trade-off would be a lot of flexibility both in use, and in upgrading. And you wouldn't need to synchronize.

It would also be an engineering and UI nightmare. Explaining to a mass market how a modular device work will also be a lot harder for the marketing teams behind these products. Once again: it looks good on the paper, but it would be a pretty bad move for the industry.

I gotta admit the V9 is my perfect device. (It was the iliad, but the stupid 10 hour unreplaceable battery life killed it; making it no better than a laptop in my opinion, and i've already got a 10" hybrid tablet pc (Acer C110))
Here's hoping the battery life will be on par with my V2 which is AWESOME.
Weeks go by without need for a recharge. I even left it at home by accident this weeks, 5 days later i come back press the 'next page button' and within 2 seconds the next page appears (haven't turned the device off now for almost 6 months)

Whatever the next device I would maybe get, it should have a user replaceable battery. That way we can have spares if need be.

Whatever the next device I would maybe get, it should have a user replaceable battery. That way we can have spares if need be.

Yup, that's the one thing i really liked about my V2, that it used a standard nokia phone battery, in an easy access compartment.