iPad Without Pixel Qi, the Apple iPad fails

[scottjl]

dawn, since you decided to hang your dirty laundry out for the public. i don't know what your problem is with my postings but you've been trolling me for a few days now in public and in private messages. you seem to be a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to "back seat" moderation as my previous post pointed out.

i was reading a number of your back posts. you have your share of trolls, and you certainly like to participate in arguments which are completely off topic

i'd say you're the old lady at the end of the street with nothing better to do than harass everyone else. it's not to say you don't contribute some useful discussion, i've seen that in some threads too. you should focus on that.

if you don't have an apple product, and have no plans on buying an apple product, and can't contribute some positive conversation about apple products why don't you go poke your nose elsewhere?

do us both a favor, put me on your ignore list, because you now have the honor of being the first on mine.

my apologies to everyone for letting her hijack this thread even further into a mess

[DawnFalcon]

You've apparently taken exception to my posts and are determined to backseat moderate against me. And in that post you are doing it again in that post. You have no right whatsoever to do so and the agenda is very clearly yours, and moreover I refuse to be driven into ignoring anyone (and again you have no right whatsoever to dictate who I ignore or not either) by your actions.

The only dirty laundry is your backseat moderation and your tendency to throw terms like "childish" around, attacking people rather than their arguments. Glass house, stones. It's not coincidence that I'm having a good conversation with other people even in this very thread...

[Dr. Drib]

The Moderation Team is currently in discussion about the unpleasantness of certain Members who continually disrupt and rant in their posts, or those who post - seemingly - to intimidate with their writings.

Please let this be a reminder about the tenor and tone of the postings that occur throughout MobileRead - and lately and especially in this Thread - and that, ONCE AGAIN, I urge all Members to read our GUIDELINES when in doubt.

Your participation in a less destructive tone and one that does not engage in self-righteousness is highly encouraged.

The use of conditionals rather than making blanket statements is also highly recommended.


Don
(Moderator)

[SCION]

Originally Posted by nikkie

...
If you have no interest in reading on an LCD screen, and consider it an offense against your religion that the device will require nightly charging, this is not the device for you....

There are many who feel this way about devices. I don't.

[dmaul1114]

Yeah, nightly charging doesn't bother me in the least. As long as it lasts me a day of normal usage, no biggie to plug it in at night. I'd just do it when I plug in my cell phone.

[leebase]

I can read my iphone easily in shade and adequately in full sun. But really -- I read indoors FAR more than outside in sunlight. Reading in bed without a nightlight is a BIG plus for my iPhone.

For those few times when I'm outside and want to read -- and it's too bright for an iPad (if that's ever the case) -- then I'll just bring a BOOK. It's not like you lose the ability to read books just because you buy an iPad.

If I ever go on vacation where there's not going to be an power for weeks on end....I'll bring some books and magazines. I've never been on such a vacation, but if I ever do -- the iPad will be no hinderance.

For the 99.9% of the time when I'm indoors -- that iPad screen is going to be lovely.

Lee

[Charbax]

Originally Posted by leebase

For the 99.9% of the time when I'm indoors -- that iPad screen is going to be lovely.

Imagine reading the newspaper with a bright spotlight shining right into your face from behind the thin newspaper page. That's basically how it feels for ones eyes to read on backlit LCD screens.

Sure the backlights are not exactly directionnal spots but more like spreading the light in a wider angle, still the basic idea is that the experience is like staring into a light bulb. Especially if you do that for extended periods of time. Even if you don't really notice it too much because you try to concentrate on the content on the screen, your eyes do actually go under the same kind of stress as looking at the sun for extended periods of time.

My main point here is that Pixel Qi does have exactly as good colors and backlight as any regular LCD screen, it just ads a second mode that provides readable very low power fully reflective mode for having the optimal ambient light reflection mode making the experience of reading books much much easier on the eye, not even considering the 10x increased battery runtime.

[cmdahler]

Originally Posted by osama_jamal

I am disappointed with Apple as much as I am disappointed with Plastic Logic. Thinking about it, they both spent ages in product development and missed very important requirements of their users.

I would say that they missed very important requirements of you, as well as an extremely tiny subset of the potential users of this device. And that's why they didn't bother with Pixel Qi. 99% of the people who will buy the iPad aren't going to read with it in sunlight and are predominately not going to read with it at all, which is why the iTunes Bookstore got such little press time in the initial presentation. You're missing the whole point: Apple did NOT set out to create a book reader with the iPad. They set out to create a media tablet that will, in addition to the many other things it does, allow the user to read books. It is the absolutely perfect media device for anyone who doesn't actually need a computer, which probably accounts for somewhere around 80% of the computer-using public. And that's why Apple made this device the way they did. To be frank, they couldn't care less if you want to read your books in e-ink. Jobs would just tell you to go buy a Kindle if it's that important to you.

[Charbax]

Originally Posted by cmdahler

To be frank, they couldn't care less if you want to read your books in e-ink. Jobs would just tell you to go buy a Kindle if it's that important to you.

More likely, apple wants to sell you another ipad a few months later when they are forced by competition to also integrate the Pixel Qi LCD screen technology.

That's the way apple operates, milking the same cash sheep as many times as they can.

I don't know exactly when the first Pixel Qi based devices are going to be available on the market. But I am sure that if Apple had wanted to be the first with the screen commercially available on the market they could have.

Just as if Apple wanted they could support Flash on the iphone, they could support DivX, Flac, Ogg vorbis, Mpeg2 on the iphone, they could support other devices in iTunes, they could provide subscription music services, they could provide an open applications platform for the iphone, they could provide a removable battery on the iphone, they could provide an applications platform for multi-tasking on the iphone, they could support Google Voice, Apple could even use Android. The fact is that they don't do any of these things.

The reason Apple doesn't do all those things are not in terms of considerations for what may be best for consumers, but based on their choices for how they think they can make the most money.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by Charbax

More likely, apple wants to sell you another ipad a few months later when they are forced by competition to also integrate the Pixel Qi LCD screen technology.

That's the way apple operates, milking the same cash sheep as many times as they can.

I don't know exactly when the first Pixel Qi based devices are going to be available on the market. But I am sure that if Apple had wanted to be the first with the screen commercially available on the market they could have.

Just as if Apple wanted they could support Flash on the iphone, they could support DivX, Flac, Ogg vorbis, Mpeg2 on the iphone, they could support other devices in iTunes, they could provide subscription music services, they could provide an open applications platform for the iphone, they could provide a removable battery on the iphone, they could provide an applications platform for multi-tasking on the iphone, they could support Google Voice, Apple could even use Android. The fact is that they don't do any of these things.

The reason Apple doesn't do all those things are not in terms of considerations for what may be best for consumers, but based on their choices for how they think they can make the most money.

Yes, that's how many companies work. Once we get over the fact that Apple is a company and not an altruistic organization, we can move on. There will always be people who mistakenly believe the company does what is best for the consumer, and they'll never really be convinced otherwise.

Of course, using Android or supporting open formats is rarely borne of generosity or a beautiful company philosophy, but rather a compensation for a misgiving somewhere that jeopardizes their market positioning. They milk customers too, but in a way that seems more noble to the technologically-inclined.

As far as your Pixel Qi zeal...it has become the "I caught a fish this big" of battery life stories. It's gone from "it'll add about 30 minutes of runtime" to "10 times the battery life". That's not even the technology advancing, just hype about it (IIRC, the most recent 10x comment was based on the 2W to 200mW = 10x efficiency statement made by Notion Ink, even though Pixel Qi stated around 500mW). Mirasol, which has a far lower power consumption than even Pixel Qi's reflective mode, has yet to boast such massive differences in device power consumption. That is interesting to me, since they do actually do an awful lot of boasting.

Looking at a backlit screen is looking at a light source yes. You do not appear to understand how light works though, if you believe it is like looking directly at a light bulb or looking at the sun. Going by that logic, looking at the reflected light off a piece of paper or off a Pixel Qi screen is just like looking at the sun as well. A diffused source and a reflected surface of the same luminosity are not going to affect the eyes differently. If the intensity of the light is too high, or too mismatched to the ambient environment, then yes it may be a problem, just like looking at a piece of paper that is too brightly lit.

I like Pixel Qi's concept, and I hope to get a device or two with it so I can save a little bit of power and get some better daylight readability. For a tablet the likes of the iPad though, I don't think it's going to be a big deal for Apple unless Pixel Qi's a surprise hit. It may take several years for widespread market acceptance of Pixel Qi-style transflective screens, and they may not be the only, or the best, provider in that time. Ultimately though, Apple does not need to use Pixel Qi to be popular. Yes, some people wish for it and are disappointed that Apple hasn't taken it up, but those people are not important or common enough yet, and likely won't be for a year or three, if ever. For now, Apple needs ooh shiny, and not ooh not bad, and rather practical. Good IPS/LED LCD and AMOLED are where the ooh shiny is going to be for a while yet, and it seems like the latter is a bit too expensive at tablet sizes for now. Perhaps a Gen2 or Gen3 device will go that way, if the costs come down.

I'm more disappointed that the screen's resolution is as low as it is. I'd have liked something 1280x1024 or higher. I probably won't get an iPad, but my reasoning is unrelated to Pixel Qi. I probably won't get a Notion Ink Adam either, even though I am eagerly awaiting a good multifunction reading tablet.

[cmdahler]

Originally Posted by Charbax

I don't know exactly when the first Pixel Qi based devices are going to be available on the market. But I am sure that if Apple had wanted to be the first with the screen commercially available on the market they could have.

Of course they could have. They could have made the iPad a e-ink device, or used Mirasol for it, or made it out of rock, for that matter. They could have done anything they wanted with it. They chose to stick with LCD because that's where this device is marketed: mass market, people like my mom and my wife. You guys are flying off on a tangent and totally missing the point to this device. You are acting like Jobs was marketing this device at you, the ereader market. What colossal ego. Jobs couldn't care less about you - the die-hard e-ink sunlight-visible ereader market is an inifinitesimally small subset of the potential mass market appeal of the iPad. This device was never intended to be a targeted ereader. It is a mass market multi-media tablet device that, by the way, can also read books, if you want. Jobs couldn't care less about your desire to read in the sun. He'd tell you to go buy a Kindle if it means that much to you.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Yes, that's how many companies work. Once we get over the fact that Apple is a company and not an altruistic organization, we can move on....

Touché

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Yes, that's how many companies work. Once we get over the fact that Apple is a company and not an altruistic organization, we can move on. There will always be people who mistakenly believe the company does what is best for the consumer, and they'll never really be convinced otherwise.

Absolutely true. And I don't know why Apple gets more flack for doing it than other companies.

All companies care about one thing relating to their customers--how to keep them loyal enough that they can get as much of their money over their lifetimes as possible.

As consumers, we should be wary of that and expect nothing else. Buy products that do what you need them to do and cost what you think is a fair value for them. That's it. No need to be loyal to a company or to hate a company. Buy what you feel is the best product from a quality/features/price standpoint, and don't worry about what companies who don't fit that bill for you are doing. Wasted energy/emotion IMO.

[leebase]

I'm not going to assume the iPad will be a great book reading device. I'm just saying I won't know until I try it. I know I don't like reading books on my laptop -- but that might be the size of the screen, how far away it is, etc.

I know I do like reading on my iphone -- and it's an LCD screen. I have indeed read for 10 hours on a few lazy Saturdays. No problems with eye strain. Just had to plug it in while I ate and it was ready to go for more reading.

So -- will the iPad be like iPhone or my laptop? We'll wait and see.

Oh -- and as a software developer I look at my laptop screen 8 to 10 hours a day as it is. It only kills my eyes when I'm reading long form books. Don't know why that is.

For me -- sharing my photos is more important than reading ebooks on it. I've seen those beautiful Apple screens and love that my photos will look great on the device.

Lee

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by leebase

I'm not going to assume the iPad will be a great book reading device. I'm just saying I won't know until I try it. I know I don't like reading books on my laptop -- but that might be the size of the screen, how far away it is, etc.

Yeah, to me form factor is even more important than screen tech. A laptop is uncomfortable to read on for me as I can curl up on the couch or bed with it like I can a book, or e-reader or Tablet. I'm stuck sitting with it on my lap.

A tablet I could hold to read about as easily as a hardcover. Screen tech like e-ink is a key for avid readers who read for hours at a time and need the ease on the eyes and long battery life. For someone like me that reads at most an hour or two a day, it's not a deal breaker.