Plastic Logic Announces Their New Reader

[AJ Starr]

Did anyone see any I/O ports to connect to a computer, or an SD card slot for importing. How does it interface?

Otherwise, "looks" great for the stated use. People who need to see and use full sized documents.

My pet peeve with all these posts on this blog, is people seem to want "everything" in the ereader. If they want "everything", i.e., keyboard, IR, WIFI, Internet connectivity, note taking, etc, why not buy a tablet pc?

An ereader is to "Read" text material, i.e., books.....

Any comments?

[Mambo]

No way I'd pay double the price of an iLiad. Maybe 20% more - that's bearable. Anyway it will not be tomorrow so I can start saving right now

I hope they sell it on the web like it was with the iLiad. Actually I prefer this design over the iLiad because its much cleaner and simpler. The perfect opposite of a Kindle.

[Mambo]

Originally Posted by AJ Starr

An ereader is to "Read" text material, i.e., books.....

Any comments?

Exactly, this should only handle a couple of file formats. Maybe have one USB port which also serves as a charger. SDHC card reader would also be great. That's about it.

Although WiFi would be nice, it does not work very well in the office due to IT security restrictions.

[NatCh]

For a professional device, the requirements are rather different. For instance, a 20 hour battery life would usually be ample -- who works more than a 20 hour day?

The price can be much higher and professional usage would support it just fine -- remember that it was the office usage that brought PC costs down from astronomical to within reach for most of the population.

The size differential has already been touched on, so I won't belabor that point.

If they slap even a stripped down version of something like MS OneNote on this rascal, and allow it to share pages/notebooks back and forth to a PC easily, and develop a workable searching scheme, they'll have taken a quantum leap in the "Information Appliance" realm.

I'm looking forward to it with bated breath, myself.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

I think that means it's going to be expensive, don't you? I can't think of another reason for limiting sales.

Someone said they were saying $400. But, I didn't see that number anywhere in their press releases... and I have trouble believing it.

BOb

[Tectonic]

Pricing has not been announced either, but officials said the reader would be "priced competitively" with devices such as the Kindle, which currently costs $359.

Taken from the Wired.com article: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/0...ic-logics.html

They plan to announce the price in January. Regardless of how much it will cost, it looks like a solid entry in the ebook reader market.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by AJ Starr

Did anyone see any I/O ports to connect to a computer, or an SD card slot for importing. How does it interface?

Yes, if you look at the hi-res pic it looks like there is a miniUSB port on the top of the left edge.

BOb

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by jharker

Anyway, I thought I'd point out a brand-new demo video of this thing over on YouTube. Among the features mentioned by the Plastic Logic representative in the video:

I watched that video several times. I didn't hear anything about a virtual keyboard. I assumed that's what they would/could do though.

BOb

[jharker]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I watched that video several times. I didn't hear anything about a virtual keyboard. I assumed that's what they would/could do though.

Annotation of documents is mentioned at 1:14; and an on-screen keyboard is mentioned at 1:25. She does preface it with "we also have examples where you could...", so it's not clear whether this functionality is implemented yet or not; but it's possible that this is a basic prototype and enhanced software functionality will be added in the next few months.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

My assumption is that it will be running a version of Windows CE in order to display Word, Excel and Power Point.

Oh, yuck!

Originally Posted by jharker

Among the features mentioned by the Plastic Logic representative in the video:

• The touchscreen allows for note-taking and document markup.
• There will be an onscreen keyboard.

...

Good to hear from you again!

Annotation will be critical for this size device. This isn't a device for reading, so much as for interacting with text, I think.

Originally Posted by AJ Starr

My pet peeve with all these posts on this blog, is people seem to want "everything" in the ereader. If they want "everything", i.e., keyboard, IR, WIFI, Internet connectivity, note taking, etc, why not buy a tablet pc?

An ereader is to "Read" text material, i.e., books.....

Any comments?

I don't want an ebook reader, really, I want an InfoPad. I don't need to be able to play The Sims 2 or do 3d modeling on it, but I do need to be able to collect and interact with all kinds of text and some other content, and that means at least some of the features you've listed above. And I need it to be able to run all day, not be too hot, and not too heavy. A tablet isn't quite the right device -- I've tried them. A thin unit in A4/Letter size with a stylus interface (including HWR) and a wireless way to acquire/sync content would be pretty much perfect for what I need. (Meanwhile, my iLiad is meeting my needs fairly well.)

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by TallMomof2

My assumption is that it will be running a version of Windows CE in order to display Word, Excel and Power Point.

Why? OpenOffice in Linux can display/edit those types of documents perfectly well. I'm sure there are other viewers that exist in Linux too.

BOb

[Ea]

Wow! I think I'm in love. I want one

[AJ Starr]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Oh, yuck!


Good to hear from you again!

Annotation will be critical for this size device. This isn't a device for reading, so much as for interacting with text, I think.


I don't want an ebook reader, really, I want an InfoPad. I don't need to be able to play The Sims 2 or do 3d modeling on it, but I do need to be able to collect and interact with all kinds of text and some other content, and that means at least some of the features you've listed above. And I need it to be able to run all day, not be too hot, and not too heavy. A tablet isn't quite the right device -- I've tried them. A thin unit in A4/Letter size with a stylus interface (including HWR) and a wireless way to acquire/sync content would be pretty much perfect for what I need. (Meanwhile, my iLiad is meeting my needs fairly well.)

I agree. A compromise between a Tablet PC (too much we don't need) and an ereader (not enough for business, students, programmers, etc) is what is needed in the marketplace. The mini-PC's that are coming out just reduce the PC. An "InfoPad" maybe someday ....

[Dylrob]

Here's another news article. The accompanying video confirms that the device connects and charges via a micro-USB port (the article says mini, but I'm more inclined to believe the words of the PL spokesperson).

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39267/113/

[tirsales]

Originally Posted by slayda

But for that type of reference material the SW must allow easy searching for the particular document desired and the section within the document. Otherwise just having all your documents stored sequentially will cause it to be useless for those purposes.

Going even farer: You need a complete indexing-database. Something that allows you to say "Case XYZ - list of Data - get 'whatever-expert-statement'" without even thinking wether it is in its own file or a single page of a much bigger document.
AND the possibility to just click on the page and say "Add Index 'xyz' to project 'foobar' hier"
I wouldnt want to search for specific wordings or text through a waste of files - but indexing is fast, both in (automatic) searching and (manual) reviewing (clicking through the index-tables to find whatever you are looking for, refining the "listed indices" on the go)

@NatCh: From my discussions with professionals (mostly medical and project-reviewing commissions), I would say that they expect the battery-time to at least span a weekend:
Leave your charging station at work, take your reader home with you, and work over the weekend without thinking of the battery.
Charging would have to be done over USB or (better) via a charging station (simply slide your reader in) that connects to the PC. Professionals outside of the IT-world want *simple* usage - they do their work and expect devices to adjust to their workflow, not the other way round.

Regarding the virtual keyboard: If they go for bluetooth, they could add HID and allow users to use a BT-Keyboard. For note-taking the touchscreen, for real work the keyboard.