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Originally Posted by Bob Russell
I have fond memories of the old transister radios that bragged about the fact on the case! Some of them had really nice metal cases and were really sturdy. Not like the light, plastic that we see on cases these days. More practical and cost effective, but sometimes I miss the old feel.
I suspect that we may feel that way in 10 years about the Sony Reader. We'll miss the solid feel of the Reader, and future e-ink reader models may never have the same solid feel again.
I've often noticed that early models of a new product category are a bit over-engineered, and it's only after the initial model that we start to see cheaper cases and parts used. Probably because the focus shifts from making a product that works, to squeezing out the most cost and production efficiencies possible.
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If we go back to the first news of eink, the pictures accompanying the news show a flexible plastic sheet. This is the future of readers. A standard size will exist for every format of publication. News papers will share one size, novels an other etc. These readers will be cheap and reusable. The challenge now is to miniaturize computing power and data input sockets to a smaller size proportionnal with the sheet's thickness. That is one step not necessarily in line with novel readers but with the true meaning of e-ink.