The Mobileread Interview: Karl McGoldrick, CEO of Polymer Vision

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by mrdini

No. Think of it like those ATM machines you use. You see the options on screen, & these options are aligned against the buttons at the side of the display.

No touchscreen.

I could have sworn I read it had a touch screen. All these readers, current and future, are blending in my head.

Thanks.

[mrdini]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

Maybe one of the "8 simple buttons" activates a touch screen keyboard (I hope).

http://www.readius.com/support/faq

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I could have sworn I read it had a touch screen. All these readers, current and future, are blending in my head.

Thanks.

Heh. It's clearer once you've seen the YouTube video of the Readius demo that was shot approx. a year ago by someone on here. But lot of Readius videos anyway...

[sf_reality]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Only being able to dial your contacts (as mentioned, I'm perfectly fine with the "import from your PC thing) and not be able to dial a number that's not in that contacts database (and I understand why - I just wasn't completely certain if that was the case), is not optimum for me. However, like using the Iliad as a web browser, it's not the kind of thing that would get in the way of me buying one. To me, it's an exciting device, fitting almost perfectly with my desires in such a thing (I'm not generally fond of "do everything" devices, but a little convergence doesn't hurt). I'd buy one.

So, since you have one, I'd love to hear your reaction to it.

Cheers,
Marc

Sorry, Marc, I don't have Readius yet. I think nobody does, as Readius hasn't been launched yet. However, I had a chance to hold Readius in my hands. And I subscribed for their updates on availability - http://www.readius.com/register

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by mrdini

No. Think of it like those ATM machines you use. You see the options on screen, & these options are aligned against the buttons at the side of the display.

No touchscreen.

However there could be a way to code the 8 buttons so they allow entry of a phone number. If they can get the entire alphabet in 9 numbers then it should be a piece of cake to get 10 numbers in 8 buttons.

Dale

[tobyb]

"It won’t be SIM-locked?

Well, it is one of the areas I am working on. But my ultimate goal is that, whatever else, the solution will be very easy. I want to make it as easy and transparent as possible for the customer to start using it."

He also talks about still being in discussion with telephone companies. I am really worried that the Readius may end up being limited by the commercial deals PolymerVision strikes. For example being SIM locked to providers, who you can imagine will require 18 month data tariffs.

Have they also discussed whether ContentWorld will be the only content provider for the Readius? I am worried that it will only sync (at least over the air) with ContentWorld, which Polyervision can control and charge for.

Lets hope soon enough they can be clear on these issues.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by sf_reality

Sorry, Marc, I don't have Readius yet. I think nobody does, as Readius hasn't been launched yet. However, I had a chance to hold Readius in my hands. And I subscribed for their updates on availability - http://www.readius.com/register

Ahh, okay. I saw it in your profile and thought you might have been in a position to obtain extra-special, privileged advance ownership. Still, you've held one in your hands, which is more than most anyone in the world outside of Polymer Vision can say.

Cheers,
Marc

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Is the Readius durable?

Polymer Vision is the display company; the Readius is our first commercial device. The display the Readius uses today is the same we’ve been doing extensive tests on; these tests were according to standards in the mobile market.

To demonstrate its mechanical lifetime, we have machines that constantly roll the display in and out. We’ve rolled it over 25,000 times without a sign of degradation.

If I kept folding a material, I’d think that eventually it should show a folding joint.

You are right, you would imagine that. If a material is bent too far it will not return to its original shape. But by fixing the roll radius of the display in the Readius (to 7.5mm) we avoid this problem. In all the roll tests we did, folding joints never appeared.

Based on failure modes in the iLiad display what I'd be dubious about in terms of durability in the Readius display would be:

Electrodes

I'd personally be worried about the electrode material breaking down due to extra mechanical stress from the rolling. We've all seen pictures of E Ink panels that experienced electrode failure on static flat displays.

I'd also be curious about the impact upon the electrode material of rolling the display during a refresh (the oops got a phone call use case) when the electrodes have the voltages running through them. Especially since the panel has a PPI of 254. The electrodes are even smaller and more tightly spaced than in a conventional statically mounted panel.

E Ink tattoo

The other failure mode we've seen with E Ink's panels is ink tattoo, where the ink moves into a non-electrophoretically reachable area and essentially tattoo's the panel. As the sandwich that is the E Ink film is rolled what keeps the ink capsules from being gradually pushed beyond the reach of the electrode's EMF, especially when they've been driven to full black? Doesn't the panel gradually lose contrast as it is rolled? Especially at 104F?

And again, the high PPI works against the tattoo issue: smaller electrodes mean a smaller capture area to manipulate the ink capsules within making it easier for them to slip away.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

Especially since the panel has a PPI of 254.

320x240 on a 5" (diagonal) screen is relatively low resolution for E-Ink. Where does the 254 PPI come from?

[CommanderROR]

I think Scotty1024 got something a bit mixed uo here...

In the interview, there was talk of a prototype with this incredibly high resolution, the Readius will have a rather low-res screen...let's hope not too low-res, I don't want blocky text in my books...

I just stumbled on this Interview today (must really go back to being more active on mobileread.com... ) and must say that I'm thrilled. Maybe contracts will be a deal-breaker (like with the iPhone) or something else will get in the way of total success, but the though of plucking a little box out of my pocket and then unrolling the display and starting to read just contains soo much geek factor that I can hardly remain seated...which reminds me that itä#s about time to go out with the doggie...^^

I seriously hope somebody at mobileread.com will get a chance to review one of these soon...

Oh, and to spread some completely unfounded rumour...isn't the Kindle 2.0 supposed to go to market sometime in October and isn't it supposed to go on display at the Frankfurt Book Fair???
Imagine a 5" Rolleable, Mobile-Internet connected Kindle for us outside the US...

Ok, it's not really a very believable rumour, but maybe somebody will fall for it...

[seamusfp]

E Ink’s material is excellent, and what we’ve already demonstrated earlier this year is an e-paper display with 254dpi, the highest resolution ever shown.

I would take issue with that statement. Epson demo'ed a 350dpi A6 display 2 years ago.

Granted that is an impressive resolution for a rollable display, it does not earn superlative he attached to it.