Hi!

Just to pass the time...
"build" your own eink reader, describe hard and software. Make it possible or impossible...whatever you like...^^

Here is mine:

Construct the casing using carbon fibre and give it a tight-fitting but removable and exchangable "skin" for grip and surface protection. Pad the device interior to prevent shock damage. Make the device as watertight as possible, provide easy "plugs" for unused slots like headphone and USB/Power. Make the card slot (SD would be enough for me) watertight too, especially when a card is slotted in.
Do not include a speaker.
Screen size somewhere between 6 and 8 in. would be ok for me. For input, use a few keys for basics and an Iliad style Wacom penabled touchscreen for annotatioans, calender, notes and scribbles (we're talking paper here after all).
Optionally I could live with a low-cost solution that uses the Hanlin style slave display.
Whatever display you use, make it depressed slightly to protect it from carelessness and "fall-down" damage and give it a good hardcover screen protector for transport (carbon fibre of course, coated with silicon).
Slap in a standard LiPoly battery and maybe an additional "battery pack" that takes normal AA batteries (like some walkman style MD devices use) for emergency.

Sotware should be some form of linux. Important: Provide an SDK and a "device simulator" so that anybody (even those who do not have a device) can develop software for it.
The OS should be as reduced as possible, containing only a comfortable user interface and good energy conservation subroutines (e.g. processor goes all the way down to shutoff when not needed. Create a good compromise between speed (especially page turning/preloading) and low energy consumption.
Provide readers for Mobipocket, DRM PDF, .txt and HTML out of the box. Make the device usable as "mobile harddrive" in windows explorer.

That's just about it...I could go into more detail, but I think the most important factors are all there.

incredible long battery life. (what about the new capacitor batteries that reload in seconds)
I would dig a rollable display, that "hardens" when its rolled out.
And you shoud be able to roll out A5 for reading books and further to A4 for magazines and newspapers.
would definatley need a touchscreen, but that in rollable will probably be in the far future.
textrecognition for handwriting.
Dictionary support (touch a word and it shows a translation)
color display :)
awesome bookmark handling

A 5" display would be good enough for me, but please ... no thick bezels ... I really have disdain for it. :P

Actually a device slightly bigger than a Zaurus would be ideal. A C1000 can fit a 4" screen into its LCD top ... so making it just slightly wider would give it a 5" screen and better keys! :D ...

Maybe a hybrid dual-mode display like the one that Palm patented and that the $100 laptop is using would be ideal! :)

Tough casing with rubber(ized) edges for a solid grip. Built-in screen protector. Detachable flip cover. Size about the same as the Sony reader. SD card slot. WiFi for internet access. Bluetooth for exchanging files. Freely available SDK for developing and running your own software.

available now :)

I still want the words "Don't Panic" on the front, in large, friendly letters, of course.

A 5" display would be good enough for me, but please ... no thick bezels ... I really have disdain for it. :P

Actually a device slightly bigger than a Zaurus would be ideal. A C1000 can fit a 4" screen into its LCD top ... so making it just slightly wider would give it a 5" screen and better keys! :D ...

Maybe a hybrid dual-mode display like the one that Palm patented and that the $100 laptop is using would be ideal! :)

Actually I would like to buy the Sharp Zaurus C1000 as well. Does it suit for reading ebooks and what is your overall impression?

Here's mine:

Battery is nanograss (something goofy a Russian thought up, mentioned in Wired)
Same Dimensions as the Penguin Paperback version of _On the Road_ I carried around for 6 years, though .375 in thinner
Rubberised body that is infused with smell of old paper,
Flexible colour e-ink screen,
Bluetooth and wifi, with ad2p to stream to headphones
8 GB Memory built in,

Oh! It should only cost $34.95. ;-)

And... has anyone made one? E-ink or not irrelevant.

Juxta

Computer + E-Ink. Tha's it.

I still want the words "Don't Panic" on the front, in large, friendly letters, of course.

Maybe once a Oberon starts offering custom leather covers, we could order one! That would be great!

This one. (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/album.php?albumid=155&pictureid=1530)

Kindle DX with a better web browser, better PDF support, official Overdrive library support, and wi-fi would match what I want very well. It wouldn't hurt if it was a bit faster and used a less-fragile plastic e-ink screen either.

My dream is well-beyond the current technology, but here's what my limited imagination can muster:

A) Hinged (highly flexible, backwards-foldable) dual-screen in the Plastic Logic vein for flexibility and requiring minimal border casing (less than 1cm around the edges--almost all screen, nearly no border at hinge seam).

B) Greater contrast and high resolution (600ppi+) with touch screen functions and simple hardware buttons. A smaller size with a 5-6 inch screen for semi-pocketable paperback feel, and a larger one approaching the size of an A4 notebook for school or office.

C) High resolution can combine with user-defined fonts, opentype compatibility, and customizable anti-aliasing settings for high-quality typesetting.

D) Faster refresh to allow rapid page flipping, done by a double tap and swipe. Single page turn similar to the PRS-700. Double-tap and a vertical drag along the edge allows one panel to switch to annotation mode, which allows high-refresh, high-resolution note-taking with a stylus (adjustable line width) on that panel. UI will have options of blank sheet or writing over the text with transparency. There would also be an independent "notebook" program with guide gridding for handwriting. The resolution would be high enough that handwriting would be manageable and legible.

E) Overall program minimalism...Apart from reading and note-taking, perhaps only the most minimum of options like a calculator program and calendar/clock or, on the more extreme side, installable dictionaries. I too am one of those folks who likes the specialized "book" concept...not a full-fledged PDA or netbook that has reader functions.

As far as menu structure, my imagination isn't too worried, though I suspect it would have to consider the possibilities of a dual-panel layout.

Of course, the technology is not there...it's just a pitiful dream for folks like me who really want to get a more complete paper-substitution experience.

As an addendum: I figure 600ppi is unrealistic since even LCDs don't go there. However, it'd be nice to have over 300ppi, with better contrast and a good anti-aliasing setup to produce more attractive fonts with fine serifs and the like. Try viewing a 9-10pt Garamond on a standard e-ink screen and it's pretty tragic.

Mine probably wouldn't be e-ink (unless tech improves).

I want a screen as easy on the eyes that can also do full color, movies etc. as good or better than LCD.

It needs to be an awesome touch/stylus screen so I can write notes legibly on documents. Screen should be large enough to handle pretty much any scholarly PDF with no problems.

So I guess I'm more describing a handheld tablet device. I'd love something I could use not just for reading novels, but also reading and taking notes on scholarly journal articles, grading papers, surfing the net, checking e-mail, watching videos etc. etc.

Not to forget, a good power management, possibly solar, like calculators.

Well, for me it wouldn't necessarily have to be e-ink. A 5-6" iPod Touch in a SwitchEasy cover would suit me fine, as long as the extra space is dedicated to batteries.. ;)

My dream ebook reader:

(1) super long battery life, it can last for months (at least on stand by!).

Is this achievable? Using NVidia Tegra processor? I read it claims: Listening to music for 25 days straight on one charge.

But again, I know nothing about current hardware tech of ebook readers. Probably it is already less than Tegra on power consumption?


(2) Scribble


That's it :) Thats all I want.

Just had a flash. Maybe it's something someone mentioned before that just surfaced in my subconscious but here it is.

A series of tiny playing card sized readers with no surrounding bezels. You put all of them next to one another, set one as master and they all work together via wifi to become a bigger display. You buy them as you need and clip them together to perform the task at hand. When you're done, put them back in their own pockets.

Nice idea, but won't you always see a grid across your page? And why wifi? I'd say make a physical connection.

What about a foldable screen that you unfold to the demesions youwant, say up to A4 or A3...

Mine would be a 7 inches e-ink tablet with internal search powered by Google and free 3g network. Or at least a very low cost monthly fee that would include subscription to an unlimited number of RSS feeds and the ability to access web pages stripped down from videos and flash to save bandwidth and keep cost low. It would also include a light weight text processor to write some blog posts or personnal notes. And a web browser, Google Chrome for example.