Quote:
Originally Posted by LDBoblo
Once you can get better technology with satisfactory battery life, e-ink will go the way of the dodo.
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I wouldn't mind a superior technology replacing it - it's just that history has shown that all too often the winner is determined not by quality but by good or bad marketing and business decisions. (E.g. Betamax vs. VHS, the demise of DAT, HD-DVD vs. BluRay, MacOS vs. DOS/early Windows, etc.)
E-Ink is far from perfect and might turn out to be a dead end, but it isn't useless just yet. Sure, it would be great to have a media tablet with e-ink readability, LCD capabilities and ultra-low power consumption, but IMHO it'll be quite a while before such a beast is released.
Until then, I want to have the option of reading the latest books on a device that is easy on the eyes and can go for weeks without a charge even if that means I have to compromise in other areas. I'm worried that too much hype surrounding one technology might take away that choice. Should the format wars force me to upgrade my e-reader, I don't want to be stuck with terrible battery life, just because marketing people managed to convince the buying public that absolutely every device needs to be able to display full motion video.
Sorry about the rant. To get this back on topic: Pixel Qi's displays certainly do sound intriguing and might even solve the readability problem. I'm just not too optimistic about the power consumption, but maybe they'll surprise me there, too...