Fujitsu FLEPia - world's first e-reader with color e-paper

[Leaping Gnome]

1 minute per page change? What is the real point then? Anything I could think of using this for an LCD would probably be just as good.

[alex_d]

oh, and wth is up with 1024x768 on the 12" screen??? half the point of eink is the crystal-clear sharpness. We should have 1600x1200 (ie, to keep it the same DPI as the Sony Reader)! xvga... bah, what a joke.

[Azayzel]

Actually, the dollar-to-yen rate roughly sticks around 115 yen to 1 dollar. Course even at this rate and for a lot of ten, that still puts it at ~$1,370 for the A5 and ~$2,283 for the A4. Still well outta my price range, but man they look super sweet! Can't wait to see these puppies in person, maybe I'll have to check their showroom and see if they have any demos.

Thanks for posting pics/details!

[clabot451]

Originally Posted by TadW

And here some more photos (attached).

Official prices:
A5 type: 1,575,000 Yen
A4 type: 2,625,000 Yen

Hi everyone I'm a newcomer from Italy,pardon my english(I hope im writing readable stuff).

Just a few calculations : 1,575,00 yen = 10,000 euros for ten A5 prototypes . This gadget seems to me rather unconvincing : windows and refresh times, but the price outlook seems promising.

[nekokami]

I think the one minute per page was an estimate at how long they think the battery will last, based on someone changing pages at once per minute, not a refresh rate. At least, that was how I interpreted what was written.

[TadW]

Originally Posted by nekokami

I think the one minute per page was an estimate at how long they think the battery will last, based on someone changing pages at once per minute, not a refresh rate. At least, that was how I interpreted what was written.

Yes, I think this is correct. I found two more images via TechOn, who also said that the per minute spec refers to the battery life time. Screen redrawing takes in fact 2.3s for eight colors and 10s for 4096 colors, and they are working on improving it (commercial goal is 1s for eight colors). (Oops, I saw Alex had the information already in his first post).

Some more details:

• Battery size: 1,600 mAh
• Contrast ratio: 4:1 with a reflectivity of 30%.
• Formats: JPG, PDF, Word, Excel, HTML (Webbrowser)
• A dedicated website will be launched for the FLEPia to allow for content distribution of newspapers, magazines, books, etc.
• Target price for the consumer (!) editions: A5: ¥39,800 ($335), A4: ¥60,000 ($505).
• Planned sales: 1000 sample units in 2007 (launch in October 2007), 10000-20000 (including commercial models) in 2008

[nekokami]

Wow. Those will be very competitive prices.

A friend of mine is in Japan right now working with Fujitsu on an unrelated technical problem (high-end servers, nothing to do with consumer electronics). We don't know yet if any of the people he'll be working with at Fujitsu will know anything about the FLEPia, but he's said he would ask around. I'll post if we hear anything interesting.

[sea2stars]

10000-20000 in 2008? Maybe the prices will drop more with a higher production rate. Still at those prices, and if they can get the 8 color down to 1s, they might have something; though with the supported formats maybe they're gearing this more towards the corporate/business user? Then again, what options are their for MS Windows CE5?

[NatCh]

That is very good news, indeed!

Has anyone seen a mention of whether it will have any sort of stylus type input function?

[yvanleterrible]

A4, HTML, colo(u)r... Wow! $505.00 Great!
Where do I sign up!

[TadW]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

• Features: Touch panel, scroll button, six function buttons

I assume it has stylus input given that it has a touch panel

[NatCh]

Maybe someday I'll learn to read more carefully.

Thanks TadW.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by NatCh

Maybe someday I'll learn to read more carefully.

Nice smily, Nat I'd like to add it here. How would you call it? *smack* ?

[Wizard-mag]

Originally Posted by TadW

Some more details:

• Battery size: 1,600 mAh
• Contrast ratio: 4:1 with a reflectivity of 30%.
• Formats: JPG, PDF, Word, Excel, HTML (Webbrowser)
• A dedicated website will be launched for the FLEPia to allow for content distribution of newspapers, magazines, books, etc.
• Target price for the consumer (!) editions: A5: ¥39,800 ($335), A4: ¥60,000 ($505).
• Planned sales: 1000 sample units in 2007 (launch in October 2007), 10000-20000 (including commercial models) in 2008

If this is true, it will be a true heaven. The device by it's parameters is almost exactly what I am looking for.

However, I would doubt the planned sales figure, because the target segment of the market is very unclear - particularly for the A4 version. They are definitely not aiming it at e-books since (in my opinion) majority of the readers would consider it too big for that purpose.

Then, as it was said previously, they could aim more at the business customers. But since I think the core selling point of this device is still going to be EInk display, which for most of the business people probably won't be a killer, that also does not quite add up to me.

Finally, I can think of the academic sector and students generally, which looks suitable to me, but the question here transforms to whether there is so much money to be made in this sector.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

Nice smily, Nat I'd like to add it here. How would you call it? *smack* ?

I guess I'd call it "smack" "head smack" or maybe "D'oh!"

If you add it to the list, I won't have to go hunting for it on web next time I want it.