Sony reveals prototype 13.3-inch e-ink slate with stylus

[Rizla]

5 characters.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Virtually all of it . It's the conductor who puts the artistic feeling into a piece. Which parts to play loudly or softly; which parts to play more slowly or more quickly. That's why great conductors are great artists in their own right. The composer composes, but the conductor brings the piece to life.



And it would be completely unplayable. I'm sorry, but music has its conventions, and no musician could play a piece written out as you describe. Musicians are a conservative lot. Getting them to change the way they do things is not easy .

I think that the convention that you are talking about was broken before I was born (source):

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is an orchestra with a difference: it has no conductor. The group was founded in 1972 by cellist Julian Fifer and a small group of like-minded musicians with the goal of bringing the chamber music ideals of democracy, personal involvement, and mutual respect into an orchestral setting. In an interview with Ron Lieber in Fast Company (May 2000, p. 286), Fifer stated, "I loved chamber music's clarity of sound and flexibility of temperament. I wanted to bring that camaraderie and spirit into a larger setting. And in order for everyone to be able to communicate more effectively, it seemed necessary to do without a conductor." Orpheus, widely considered to be one of the world's great orchestras, comprises 27 permanent members -- employees who cannot be fired -- and a number of substitute players who fill in where necessary, as well as a board of trustees and administrative management.

[ghero]

Just got some final little wishes on this device (hopefully final, since I can't come up anymore suggestions):

1. I wish the hand touch feature can be easily turned on/off (For the version that features both touch and stylus, if there is more than one version). So when writing on pdf, people don't have to worry about his hands contacting the screen, and accidentally turns the page as his hands moves on the panel.

2. I wish a screen protector (film) will be nicely pre-installed on this device (at least for the versions that features the stylus.). Attaching such large screen protector nicely will be hard for individual customers. And since people will write on this thing over and over, they will worry about scratches and want to have a screen protector on it. Hopefully sony will also sell replacement screen protectors in case the original ones wears out.

Thats basically my thought so far.

[Dulin's Books]

palm rejection is easily implemented nowadays with wacom pen technology and others like it. when the device detects the pen's proximity to the display it ignores the input from capacitive touches.

[ghero]

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

palm rejection is easily implemented nowadays with wacom pen technology and others like it. when the device detects the pen's proximity to the display it ignores the input from capacitive touches.

True, but words can be written discontinouesly. What happens if you lift your pen between words/lines/paragraphs, and you still have your hand/wrist touching the panel, moving it around or even accidentally lift your hand/wrist and then drop it, and then drift a bit before your pen ever contacts the screen again?

[iatheia]

Originally Posted by ghero

2. I wish a screen protector (film) will be nicely pre-installed on this device (at least for the versions that features the stylus.). Attaching such large screen protector nicely will be hard for individual customers. And since people will write on this thing over and over, they will worry about scratches and want to have a screen protector on it. Hopefully sony will also sell replacement screen protectors in case the original ones wears out.

Pretty sure that the screen protector is required to protect the glass in the display. If it is just a plastic sheet, can't see too many scratches, and the screens should be much more durable, too. In fact, I recon that scratches in screen protector would be more noticeable than in the device itself.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by ghero

2. I wish a screen protector (film) will be nicely pre-installed on this device (at least for the versions that features the stylus.). Attaching such large screen protector nicely will be hard for individual customers. And since people will write on this thing over and over, they will worry about scratches and want to have a screen protector on it. Hopefully sony will also sell replacement screen protectors in case the original ones wears out.

The stylus on my PB903 doesn't scratch the screen. The tip is soft, and more than that it must have some kind of spring inside because if you push it, it will go inside the stylus a little.

Originally Posted by ghero

True, but words can be written discontinouesly. What happens if you lift your pen between words/lines/paragraphs, and you still have your hand/wrist touching the panel, moving it around or even accidentally lift your hand/wrist and then drop it, and then drift a bit before your pen ever contacts the screen again?

As Dulin explained, it detects proximity, you don't need contact. It would be very strange that you would rest your hand on the screen of the device while holding the pen outside the range of proximity.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

The stylus on my PB903 doesn't scratch the screen. The tip is soft, and more than that it must have some kind of spring inside because if you push it, it will go inside the stylus a little.

Wacom touch screens are generally pressure sensitive - that's the reason for the "give" in the stylus tip - it's spring-loaded to detect pressure.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Wacom touch screens are generally pressure sensitive - that's the reason for the "give" in the stylus tip - it's spring-loaded to detect pressure.

It has nothing to do with pressure, it has to do with the distance between something inside the stylus and the screen. If I hold the stylus at a 45 degree angle I can write in the scribble application even if I keep the stylus 1-2 mm from the screen.

[ghero]

OK, I have just thought another potential features for this kind of device: faxing digital documents, which is a useful feature to distribute/transfer legal documents (which potiential markets include businesses, governments, lawyers etc).

First of all, if sony or other makers want to make this feature, please do your own market research on faxing, since I am not really sure how big or solid this market can be, however I will leave links that I read about value of faxing in today:

why faxing is still relevant in the 21st centry

Why Faxing is Still Relevant

First, let me briefly explain about the feature in abstract level: That is to allow user to fax a pdf document (can be annotated as well) through a faxing option in the menu and/or via a built-in faxing application.

Second, I will speak on some of the possbility which I think this might be achieved:

option 1: Fax via a third party and WIFI. Partner with a internet faxing service provider. They are originally websites, which allows you to request a fax online, and they will fax it for you. Sony/other makers who want to make this feature can find them, and help them make a built in app on this slate, and/or built-in menu option on this device, so customers can use those services on this slate very easily. This is probaly relatively easy to do, since wifi is all you will need for connection.

option 2: Fax without a third party and without cellular intergration. Basically it is to have this device to fax through cell phone. The slate will connect to a cell phone wirelessly and cooperate with that cell phone to do the faxing. I am not sure if simply make an app on the phone can achieve this.

option 3: Direct celluar connectivity build in. Basically fax through this device directly. If a celluar integration is made, then there should be tones of other related feature (directly or indirectly related to the celluar connectivity) to be integrated to fully take advantage of celluar connectivity, like to use this slate to make phone call (with mic headphone, which means this slate will have a head phone jack as well.) And from that, we assume since if it has a head phone, then maybe we can also use it to play music? For battery issues, I assume user will only use the celluar activity when he really need it, and for the rest of the time the celluar should be able to turn off in order to preserve battery life advantage, so it is probaly not expected to wait for phone calls, unless sony decides to dramatically increase its battery power.

option 4: No third party but wired connectivity. let it connect to a phone line (maybe through a mini-usb to phone line converting interface), and use it as a physical faxing machine to fax.

Thats basically my thoughts so far.

[ghero]

Just another thought that might help sony/other potential maker to make money on the faxing idea (please don't shoot me if you lose cash over it ):

Pick the first option (I am not saying it is the best option to take), and there should be a lot internet fax service providers out there, find and partner with the ones who wants to share revenue with you, that is, for every document faxed from this slate and through their app, they will pay you (that is, sony, and other potential slate makers) a fee, out of what ever the customers might paid them, since this device helped them to gain customers.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by ghero

why faxing is still relevant in the 21st centry

Why Faxing is Still Relevant

From the first link:

In many cases, it’s a headache to sign and scan a document into a computer.

From the second link:

The simple answer: faxing is a guaranteed delivery technology that email has yet to achieve.

[ghero]

I wish this could have collection support (and works with calibre) just as other sony readers. However, in addition to the traditional collection support, I wish it could have "subcollection support" as well. I wish the the subcollection system can be built on the exisiting collection support by the calibre, for example:
In the calibre, the user can name the collection tag of a book as "course/math", and the reader will interpret that as it belongs to the subcollection "math", which belongs to the high level collection "course". I think a sub collection feature will be a great tool for helping people to organize their stuff. I wish other future sony readers could also have subcollection support as well.

[manfred63]

I wish support more Micro SD HC! Not just than one!

PDF files very big. 32 GB not enough! Need more.

Thx.

[hamisertvurdu]

Hey,

I am new in the market and looking for a large screen (>9'') ereader with good PDF support and this Sony reader is one of the options, actually the one that I really wanna buy.
But the problem is that Sony doesn't inform the customers well about the release date. They informed the press in May and never said anything after that. As I know, it will first be released in Japan and then will be available in US and Europe.

Does any of you guys have some recent info about the release date? I can wait several months more but I really need to buy a device (10'' tablet or Kindle DX) soon. So, if this Sony reader is not released in a near future (two months at most), I cannot wait for it.

Any help about the release date in US would be appreciated.

btw, i assume that its price will be around $350-$450. Any price that is greater than a typical 10'' tablet (say, Ipad or Nexus 10) would be a bad decision for the company.