The future of e-book readers

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

9" or 10" would work for me if its thin and light. I have a brief case or book bag with me most of the time, so it doesn't ahve to be super small. Just preferably not as heavy as a tablet pc or laptop.

Seems a little optimistic to expect to save much if any weight on a tablet pc since the many contributors to the weight would be the screen and the battery, not to mention that the requirement to be a tablet, but not a tablet pc is awfully specific too.

Agreed. It's just based on what each person needs/wants. I just get annoyed on this site as so many people are just, bluntly put, fanboys of e-ink readers and get very defensive when people talk about preferring a good multifunction device to read on. I guess they worry such devices will kill off dedicated e-ink readers or something.

So you don't think you came across as being more than a little arrogant in your declaration that ereaders were a technological dead-end and that the future belonged to multifunction devices?

The reality is far more likely to be that as the size of the ebook market expands there is room for more diversity rather than less since even the niches will be big enough to sustain products, although some of the diversity will just lead to a blurring of the lines between other types of device too.

Also, people having a preference for the screen technology that is currently far superior to the technological alternatives when it comes to reading for an extended period of time hardly makes them fanboys nor do these continuing attempts to label people do anything to improve the points you are trying to make.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Seems a little optimistic to expect to save much if any weight on a tablet pc since the many contributors to the weight would be the screen and the battery, not to mention that the requirement to be a tablet, but not a tablet pc is awfully specific too.

It's not optimistic. I expect it to be at least 5 years of. Tablet without keyboard isn't that odd--just a larger iPhone with stylus support essentially.

Also, people having a preference for the screen technology that is currently far superior to the technological alternatives when it comes to reading for an extended period of time hardly makes them fanboys nor do these continuing attempts to label people do anything to improve the points you are trying to make.

I was only referring to those being antagonistic to the other devices. And I already conceded that maybe I went to far in saying there wouldn't be a place for dedicated readers.

[LDBoblo]

I'd like to see some studies that show the superiority of e-ink for eye strain beyond just household anecdote "well it's much easier for me" or "well it's REFLECTIVE and it doesn't need to FLICKER, idiot!"

Battery consumption I'll definitely give in favor to bistables, and a nod in bright daylight viewability, but I'm not 100% sure I buy the whole "backlit is bad for the eyes!" mantra.

Then again, if I want a wholly superior viewing surface for text, I use paper. Much better in every way than e-ink, except that the pages accumulate in thickness much more quickly. Too bad really.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by BlackVoid

What if they do not happen? It is really mostly in the field of computers where such rapid progress is being made, but sooner or later limits will be reached.
e-Ink is a long way from displaying videos and it may never get there. With its refresh rate being so low, it is best suited for ebooks. Other displays are faster but consume more energy and are not very good for reading. It is not at all guaranteed that we will get fast e-ink like displays.

Also ebook readers are to large to use as a PDA. PDAs are too small to read.

Video rate eInk has been demonstrated in the lab. And there are other technologies with similar advantages yet much higher refresh rates. 3Qi (from Pixel QI) already cuts down on a lot of the energy consumption by allowing the backlight to shut off and [when fully incorporated] allowing the rest of the hardware to cycle into a low power state. They're talking of further savings in future incarnations by reducing the minimum refresh rate. "Mirasol" displays are apparently bistable and yet have a high response rate. Then there is Electrowetting, which is supposed to be extremely low power and yet allow for fast refreshes and optional backlighting (not to mention color with or without the latter).

Looking beyond displays, Pine Trail (the next gen Intel Atom+chipset) should help lower power consumption in netbooks and similar devices.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

I'd like to see some studies that show the superiority of e-ink for eye strain beyond just household anecdote "well it's much easier for me" or "well it's REFLECTIVE and it doesn't need to FLICKER, idiot!"

I've read in an old big screen, in a TFT screen, in a Palm E2, in an iPhone and a e-ind device (Cybook). With the last three devices, I can't say that my eyes are more tired if I read in any of them. But, definitely, I can say that I'm much more tired with the first two screens.

[fugazied]

My prediction is that ultra thin generic tablet devices will eventually rule the ebook world. 10-11 inch devices with color and touch screens. They will do everything from applications to internet to ebooks to TV to shopping lists to homework.

It's just a matter of time, they will be powerful enough that we won't use laptops anymore, we'll just have an optional keyboard adapter for the tablets.

ASUS will lead the way as a hardware manufacturer they have technological skills to create cheap tablets. Apple will follow up with a more expensive but shinier version which is heavily integrated into their successful app store and has access to all of the TV, Music, Ebooks and Movies around. That will really popularise this type of device. Google will then partner with ASUS and release an Android version which will be great and much cheaper than the Apple device. Geeks will love the Google device but the mainstream will adopt the Apple device like they did the iPhone/iPods.

Then finally Microsoft will come to the table 3 years later with something buggy, proprietary and non-intuitive that tries to emulate the Apple device.

Other companies who lack the combination of hardware and operating system experience will be crushed and will continue to sell poorly implemented reading devices with 1/10 the features of the tablets, eg. Amazon. or they will release poorly designed tablets which people don't like. Main players will be Apple, Google, ASUS and Microsoft again.

[dmaul1114]

Well said, fugazied.

That's pretty much exactly my thoughts on what I want and how I'll think it will pan out.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

Looking beyond displays, Pine Trail (the next gen Intel Atom+chipset) should help lower power consumption in netbooks and similar devices.

Oh, the new Cortex-A9 deserves mention as well. It's an ARM based processor which could theoretically rival the best Atom in performance and yet consumes less than 250mW.

[Dylrob]

...nothing to see here...

[benham]

As long as we don't lose the formats of th books we are buying for the readers we have.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by benham

As long as we don't lose the formats of th books we are buying for the readers we have.

One advantage of an open device is that you could potentially install reader software for the particular format. Just as you can with PDA/smartphones now. In other words you wouldn't be limited to what was built in.

[benham]

Let's start with an easy one. What is an Open Device?

[delphidb96]

Originally Posted by benham

Let's start with an easy one. What is an Open Device?

That would be a device which has source code available under an open-source license for anyone who asks. That means not only the basic OS, but any hardware-specific drivers (e-ink requires different drivers than your typical LCD display) as well as source code available for the various apps, such as the ebook-reader or ebook-library-management applications.

Derek

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

One advantage of an open device is that you could potentially install reader software for the particular format. Just as you can with PDA/smartphones now. In other words you wouldn't be limited to what was built in.

Yep, that could be a huge plus to a tablet device as you could get apps to read different formats of e-books and have access to multiple e-book stores through the device etc.

Ideally you could get a Kindle app, a Sony store app, a Barne's and Noble Store app etc. On top of access to all the public domain books etc. As well as all the other features not related to e-books that could be built in for those who want them.

[eBook Ivor]

G'day eBook'ers
wondering if anyone has tried reading a DNLeBook?
there are plenty for free on www.ebook.com
could you give us some suggestions please?
cheers,
Ivor