Kindle PW 2 speculation

[just_jeepin]

I too am staying with my K3 until a PW2 is released. I am hoping for a higher resolution screen, better consistency in the lighting, and color would be cool for the cover view.

[BobKat]

Originally Posted by omega34

I'm not making fun of anybody, but I don't really understand the mentality of keeping all of your ebooks on your physical device. Is it a mental thing? I have always had a couple books on there at once and my actual library of books resides in Calibre. When I want to get a new book from my library, I just plug the PW into the USB and I have a new book in about 20 seconds. Using my method, 2 GB is fantastic and more than enough space for my needs. Do you mind explaining your (and so many other people's) reasoning for keeping everything on one device? Sorry, just curious.

I don't keep everything on the kindle, leaving some on the HD in a calibre library. However, that being said, I keep enough books to keep me reading for long long time in many different genres to suit my varying moods
Plus I like a large amount of books as I do alot of camping and I don't always have the laptop handy, or wifi. Now all I need is a solar charger

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by BobKat

Now all I need is a solar charger

Here: PowerFilm USB+AA Solar Charger only one left in stock a bit worrysome though. That what you are looking for?

[runtmms]

I'm still loving my Kindle 3. But I admit I'm intrigued by the PW. When I consider upgrading, a couple of things stand out for me.

I don't want to give up storage on a non-expandable device. Period. Why do I want all my books loaded? So I can do the periodic search for the quote or phrase that I'm sure I read before without going back to my computer. (Was that Shakespeare, or Harry Potter?") I also have an inherent mistrust of "The Cloud" - reminds me of all the horror movies with the same naming structure like "The Blob" or "The Thing"...

The thing that would really tempt me to upgrade is higher resolution eInk. After seeing the difference resolutions makes in LCD screens, (Fire vs Fire HD) I can't wait to see what "HD" eInk looks like.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Here: PowerFilm USB+AA Solar Charger only one left in stock a bit worrysome though. That what you are looking for?

Notice in the photos of that product, there is a picture of it on a motorcycle with a shadow cast upon part of the array. That would totally kill the output of a monocrystalline or polycrystalline solar cell array. Luckily, this appears (from the title) to be a thin-film array, and thin-film solar cells are not subject to those severe limitations imposed by partial shadow coverage on crystalline arrays.

For camping use (where there could be trees and shadows) that film array should work quite well. Although there is only one from amazon fullfilment, amazon shows other sources too...

[tomsem]

At this point, I'm waiting for a less bulky 7" Android tablet to replace my PW. One with minimal bezel, like iPad mini, which would make it no larger than my PW and maybe even a bit narrower. Then I'll have something with a slightly bigger, higher resolution screen, with great color, great contrast, none of the weird eInk artifacts, plenty of storage, with a decent web browser. I think we'll see something like this in the fall, if not sooner.

I almost love my PW, but as I discovered this weekend, it doesn't have enough storage to house even that part of my modest technology book reference library that I am actively using (they tend to have lots of screenshots, one is 256MB!) and I miss the TTS. The battery life is not what it is on my Kindle Touch (both are 3G). Okay, so I do prefer to keep wireless on all of the time, but I generally don't have the light turned up very far (10 or less), so I can only assume the battery capacity is reduced, or power management is not as optimized on the PW 3G model as it is on KT. I'm seeing the glass 1/3 empty here, none of these things has kept me from largely sidelining my KT. Just wish I could have spent another $10-20 for a device that maintained the hardware features of KT.

Also I don't think dedicated devices are going to attract as much development resources and innovation going forward, from Amazon or anyone else, simply because it is a race to lower the price as much as possible. I predict the 3G model will go away in the next gen (a 7" Fire 3G will show up), Kindle Keyboard will be retired (they are adding better accessibility features to Fire early this year, the only reason KK is still with us is because it is Amazon's only accessible device right now). With dedicated readers chasing lower prices, we'll see fewer, less significant updates.

If CES 2013 is any clue, we're not going to see improved low cost low power reflective displays (e.g. with color or other magical properties) to replace the existing technology any time soon.

How depressing. Or maybe I just need some caffeine...

[JLeighs]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Don't let the pics posted keep you from getting one. My PW has none of those issues. It seems the 503 batch has better quality control.

I'm really glad you got one without issues. But, as I've posted about in another thread, I've had four PW's, and they all have color hues. Others have posted about their 503's having color hues, and even recent Amazon reviewers are complaining about color hues. If after 4 tries Amazon hasn't managed to send me a device that doesn't have rainbow colors in certain lighting conditions, and people with 503's are still complaining about color hues, there's a problem somewhere that hasn't been fixed. I did decide to try one more time for a good replacement. I don't have high hopes at all.

I'm sorry if I'm derailing the thread!

[peter12345]

Originally Posted by just_jeepin

I too am staying with my K3 until a PW2 is released. I am hoping for a higher resolution screen, better consistency in the lighting, and color would be cool for the cover view.

Amen, PW is the Arab Spring - PW2 with Colour will be a true revolution. No more b/w comics.

[peter12345]

Originally Posted by BobKat

I don't keep everything on the kindle, leaving some on the HD in a calibre library. However, that being said, I keep enough books to keep me reading for long long time in many different genres to suit my varying moods
Plus I like a large amount of books as I do alot of camping and I don't always have the laptop handy, or wifi. Now all I need is a solar charger

I need 3 devices for all my ebooks, I have some large PDF'S. And some b/w comics such as The Big Book of Death...it is a very large pdf series.

[beninma]

I love my PW (no screen problems, etc..) but it is not at all hard to think of ways it could be improved:

- Even higher contrast (it is still not as good as paper )
- Even higher resolution (300+ dpi please!)
- Same device footprint, bigger screen (less bezel and more screen area.)
- Even better light distribution (get rid of the little shadows at the bottom)
- Faster operation
- More storage space (not a biggie for me)
- Keep improving the software, it is not perfect
- Improved battery life
- Color (maybe a separate model?)
- Kindle DX Paperwhite (pipe dream but I can wish right?)

The current PW is still the best reading device on the market IMO though. Hopefully someone pushes amazon to keep improving it. I have a tablet but it is the paperweight among my mobile devices. Smartphone and a Kindle are the winners for me.

[ProDigit]

my bet is it can go both ways.
Cheap devices based on flexible e-paper, and expensive devices based on color e-ink.
Though these devices will not be popular, because of their low battery life.
Look at the Jetbook color,
it lasts only a few weeks on a charge, and that's despite the huge battery it has.

I think there will be more technology break troughs, like a capacitive TFT screens or so, where the battery life can be extended while performance goes up, kind of like where Pixel Qi was working on for so many years already...

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

I think there will be more technology break troughs, like a capacitive TFT screens or so, where the battery life can be extended while performance goes up, kind of like where Pixel Qi was working on for so many years already...

What are you talking about? Active-matrix TFT is already capacitive, as it it is full transistors and capacitators for each subpixel. Going from backlit to frontlit as Pixel Qi is where the energy savings come in. You still need to constantly feed energy into the tft, or the picture goes poof.

[BobKat]

Originally Posted by ixtab

If WW3 starts tonight, an e-book reader is what I personally worry about least (SCNR)

I would grab dogs first and then my reader

[krazy4katz]

Fair point, BobKat! I didn't even think of my 4 cats or my husband.
Shame, shame shame!

[ProDigit]

At least the PPW would make up for an excellent nuke shelter package. You've got the light, the books, the battery life. Buy a hand generator, and charge an extension battery, and you can use the device for weeks on end. No need to get out of the shelter anymore!