Quote:
Originally Posted by Rizla
It would be innovative if it was released because no one is doing it (in the US). The DX was innovative, but those were the early days. The DX is interesting. But it's no Android tablet. If it had blue-tooth and I could install Android on it, I would have bought one. So perhaps size in itself (even in a market that is so lacking in innovation) is not enough. We need a truly feature-rich device--blue-tooth and Android and size so the device could double as an e-ink monitor and can interface with a keyboard.
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No, it would be innovative if no one had ever done it in the US. Innovation is doing something that's never been done before, and that's not the case with large-screen e-ink.
A full Android tablet with an e-ink display that doubled as a computer monitor would be innovative, but it's unlikely to ever happen.
The biggest advantages of e-ink are daylight readability and low power consumption. It's biggest disadvantages are color reproduction and refresh rate. Any manufacturer is going to put it in devices where the use case maximizes the advantages and minimizes the limitations.
If you look at how tablets are marketed, it's generally as media consumption devices, with video very high on the list. It's so important that video conventions even determine the aspect ratio of many Android tablets. So you have to ask yourself why would a tablet manufacturer cut out the majority use case, watching video, for the minor benefits of improved battery life and daylight readability.
The monitor use case is even worse. The reduced power consumption is largely irrelevant when plugged in, and daylight readability doesn't help when computers are primarily used indoors. It just isn't worth the trade-off of losing access to videos and games; not for the majority of users.
I can see the benefits of it, I'd love an Android tablet with e-ink; but there are five people in my household, all with multiple gadgets and I'm the only one with any interest in e-ink for any application.
The benefits aren't worth the costs for most people, or manufacturers.