Funny...just after I posted the above about screens, I was reading a teleread entry about the Astaks which had this comment:
http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/07...ate-september/
Quote:
Screen breakage is indeed an issue for prospective buyers of E Ink machines. Photo shows a Kindle with a screen problem. Very unscientific TeleRead polls so far show that breakage rates are eight percent for the Kindle, 14 percent for the Sony Reader, and 13 percent for the Cybook. The Kindle did not become easily available until this spring, one possible reason why its rate appears to be less than for the others. Many and perhaps most of the screen breaks in the three machines may have been the fault of users—you can’t protect an E Ink machine against the slam of a car door.
Just the same, what’s the definition of "fault" here? How about more marginal cases? And so if Astak and other vendors are able to address the breakage issue, especially through new technology, that will be to the advantage of us consumers—including the masses buying at Walmart. I can’t wait for rugged, flexible E Ink displays.
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