Quote:
Originally Posted by Crowl
Another way of looking at them is that they are not being overloaded with pointless extra features to the detriment of their core functionality which for an ebook reader would be reading comfort, screen clarity and battery life.
Using your example, say adding video to a dslr had harmed the quality of still pictures then it would have been an idiotic addition to such a device and in the same manner some features will be fine to add to ereaders and others will be stupid to add even if they work just fine on other classes of device.
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Same argument the DSLR folks made...even though video function, gps tagging, voice notes, etc. don't reduce the quality of the experience. The only remaining legs to stand on are nostalgia and "wasted R&D money" arguments.
Same applies to ebook devices. They can do a lot more with the current infrastructure without detriment. They simply fail to offer those features right now. Some people have convinced themselves that it's for the benefit of their expensive justification-demanding purchases, and have irrationally applied that defensive silliness to the future.
A Swiss army knife analogy doesn't apply unless you mean physically altering the device in extreme ways. The devices as they are today are pretty awfully designed already...it's hard to make them much worse on the ergonomics front in both software and hardware. Companies are probably not going to add a corkscrew and crappy spring pliers to their ebook readers. There are many, many functions that are currently missing from ebook readers that could unobtrusively be added, but are not.
Ebook devices are not premium high-quality gadgets in any way. They are thoroughly mediocre and limited. They're not specialized. They're a crappy technological step that makes use of the crippled display technology in the cheapest possible ways. When e-ink is usurped or upgraded to handle something more than low-quality text, its features will diversify since it's gotta be marketable in a dynamic market that isn't as interested in sci-fi, fantasy, and romance novels as the ebook device community currently is.