$13 eReader?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

Also read the IOS/Android App has to do all the book rendering and it can only hold 5 books at a time despite the 4gb which doesn't make a lot of sense.

Actually, it does. Technically speaking, the txtr beagle uses the same technology as a digital picture frame. And since it cannot display text files, each page needs to be converted to an image and images take up much more space than text.

[Teknikal]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Actually, it does. Technically speaking, the txtr beagle uses the same technology as a digital picture frame. And since it cannot display text files, each page needs to be converted to an image and images take up much more space than text.

Still doesn't make much sense in honesty it's not the first device to do this if true, I've converted books to the PSP before as image files and they really don't take all that much space. If I remember right it was usually about 40 to 50mb a book.

But then again maybe it's using bmp's or something I think the PSP just used png or jpg files.

I guess this would mean fonts or formatting options on the reader are also unavailable.

[frostschutz]

Originally Posted by Soldim

I'd buy it. At this price, I am pretty sure it will be rooted fast.

Actually it could be the first unrootable reader, as an image viewer is trivial enough to not need Linux at all. With uncompressed bitmap images - every image the same size regardless of content - they'd not even need a filesystem but could address the internal storage memory directly. Such a device could be built with next to no RAM and very little CPU power. Especially if there's is a smart device behind it that could do the more complicated things, like figure out how to (re)arrange multiple books in the internal storage.

I hope they didn't do it that way, but we won't know until it's out I guess?

Another possibility would be that they made it smarter than it need be, for example even an image viewer could allow changing font size, if the smartphone created prerendered versions of several font sizes, stored them all on the reader, and the reader had a concept of how to link reading progress between the differently sized versions. It would probably tenfold the storage capacity required per book, but it could be made to work.

Question is how much thought the developers of this thing put in it and which design descisions they made.

[spindlegirl]

Nice idea, but it's about as applicable to me as a "steak of the month club" would be to a vegetarian.

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by frostschutz

Actually it could be the first unrootable reader, as an image viewer is trivial enough to not need Linux at all.

But, an Android phone should be able to render the contents and send it to the reader. So, there are probably two chances of getting in -- if you have one you've probably got part of the other as well (if you're stuck with one .... eh, well ... never mind ).

I was thinking it would be a rather dumb device that just serves pre-formatted images without compression/decompression. So, unless they use a very complicated format (I don't know how images are served to the e-ink screen) and weird memory allocation I've high hopes

[Rob Lister]

Originally Posted by Soldim

But, an Android phone should be able to render the contents and send it to the reader. So, there are probably two chances of getting in -- if you have one you've probably got part of the other as well (if you're stuck with one .... eh, well ... never mind ).

I was thinking it would be a rather dumb device that just serves pre-formatted images without compression/decompression. So, unless they use a very complicated format (I don't know how images are served to the e-ink screen) and weird memory allocation I've high hopes

It would be like rooting an earthworm. There's just nothing there. From the sound of it, it may well be that there is no on-board processor worth getting to. The operating system is likely partly hardwired and partly firmware.

So suppose you can get your own app to talk to it (what little of it there is) through the bluetooth interface. What then? Display your own custom pages? To what end? Use it as a picture frame? Something designed for that would suit you better, and probably be cheaper.

[rlowe]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Amazon

Definitely maybe.

[AJ Starr]

My thoughts....

Looks like a great "library book". The libraries have the books loaded on with their code and check them out to their readers.

The libraries don't have to worry about the books being stolen because it is read only. It's cheap enough to buy this with the books instead of the hard back books.

That is, if this reader actually arrives at $13 or so dollars.

[charmian]

Saying this is $13 is like saying the iPhone is $0.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by charmian

Saying this is $13 is like saying the iPhone is $0.

Correct.
The report I saw said the unsubsidized (true) cost is 60 euros.
That is more than at least two *real* ebook readers available in Germany. (Current low price king is 50 euros).

[Scott Nicholson]

Well, I am still excited about this--always applauding innovators to add new ways of getting and enjoying books.

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by charmian

Saying this is $13 is like saying the iPhone is $0.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Correct.
The report I saw said the unsubsidized (true) cost is 60 euros.
That is more than at least two *real* ebook readers available in Germany. (Current low price king is 50 euros).

Would you have to happen a link to said report, or at least a document where something similar is stated? All I have seen are the price quotes, witout mentioning of caveats. I am happy to believe the company put on a spin, but getting some more info would be useful to confirm these statements.

[Freeshadow]

Originally Posted by Soldim

But, an Android phone should be able to render the contents and send it to the reader. So, there are probably two chances of getting in -- if you have one you've probably got part of the other as well (if you're stuck with one .... eh, well ... never mind ).

I was thinking it would be a rather dumb device that just serves pre-formatted images without compression/decompression. So, unless they use a very complicated format (I don't know how images are served to the e-ink screen) and weird memory allocation I've high hopes

As for the format their site says 'raw bitmap'
And as the transfer shall be done via BT, all some skilled people would need to do is sniffing.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Soldim

Would you have to happen a link to said report, or at least a document where something similar is stated? All I have seen are the price quotes, witout mentioning of caveats. I am happy to believe the company put on a spin, but getting some more info would be useful to confirm these statements.

Sure.
It's in the comments to the originally cited article:
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...uros/#comments

Cited there is a german report that highlights all the hidden gotchas:
http://www.lesen.net/ereader/txtr-be...ezeichen-5446/

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Sure.
It's in the comments to the originally cited article:
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...uros/#comments

Cited there is a german report that highlights all the hidden gotchas:
http://www.lesen.net/ereader/txtr-be...ezeichen-5446/

I've read the comments to the originally cited article as well as the original German article. In that article it says:

Der Clou am txtr Beagle soll sein Verkaufspreis sein: Das Gerät soll von Mobilfunkunternehmen vertrieben werden und nur um 9,90 Euro kosten (wohlgemerkt: *schätzt* txtr aus unseren Gesprächen mit den Telekommunikationsanbietern), Geld soll mit über den txtr eBook Store gekauften Inhalten verdient werden.

Paraphrased, they intend to earn money by selling books through the associated bookstore. Nothing about having to pay a subscription rate (directly or through telecom provider). German comments negative on that aspect as well.

So, the additional and hidden costs seem rather a MR fabrication than based on facts.