Quote:
Originally Posted by Dutchbook
Do companies like Onyx and Kobo just order their devices from manufacturers and stamp their own logo on it, or do they have something to say about the specs?
I'm really amazed that these companies have been stuck in 2012 for such a long time now.
For a couple of dollars per device more, they would have a device that actually worked
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A (little) company like Onyx must order a 'batch' of products to a manufacturer, 1 000, 5 000, etc. pieces. They can ask a particular hardware, look at the Russian devices, there aren't the same that the 'international' devices.
From your point of view, few cents or dollars isn't a problem, but for 1 000 or 10 000 pieces the costs aren't the same and the risks too.
The market of e-reader is small. Some customers look at the best price, it's the main criteria in some case. Mdp is right, a device like the my M92 makes the job.Why I wait for the future Onyx Max ? Because I want a bigger and lighter screen, a better resolution, flip the pages easily, have many files opened simultaneously and I'm ready to pay for that.
Many times, a discussion was made about "What is the function of an e-reader ?". The expectations are various. I want read, flip the pages, mark some pages, use EPUB, PDF, HTLM, TXT files, SDCard, Internet isn't useful for me on this device. Some people ask some Internet capabilities.
To develop an e-reader isn't only a question of hardware, but a question of software too. The best hardware with a poor (or bad) software isn't interesting. You could search for all discussions about the good hardwares and the problems with the software. Some examples : Linux for M92 with Obuntu, the 'export' function for the PDF's annotations with Onyx, the discussions on the Sony's DPT-RP1 where some users want the software of the previous version on the new model.
To develop a new hardware, a chip better than an other is not enough. You need electronics engineers and software developers. For the software, an OS like Linux is good for a small device and can be very efficient, but from the user's point of view it could be not enough because he want all applications from GooglePlay ... The costs for the development, the people to pay, the problems to follow the versions of Android are important, bigger if you have a little team that make only a specific version of Linux but in this case the possibilities of the software can seem more reduced compared to Android.
So, for a company like Onyx, it's hard to develop (R&D) a new model and sell it a the best price without take too much financials risks.