The only eInk reader I would buy right now is a Pocketbook 360.
The thing that keeps me from buying an ebook reader right now is that
none of them support CSS. Dependence on FBReader limits the display to a somewhat primitive rendering of text. (If firmware supported CSS, you'd start to see some beautiful books, I think.)
Add some magic code to FBReader to support CSS in ePub and (X)HTML and you'd be doing a great thing. Bookmarks are a must, too, but FBReader doesn't support
them either.
Or better yet, write your own ePub/XHTML reader using code from the Dillo project. Dillo is super-fast, standards-compliant and very small. Just avoid their bookmarking system, it's insane.
The water-resistant idea is good. Keep the ergonomics -- the old REB1100 was
rockin' and the PB360 is the next best thing. I sorta like the jog wheel idea, but where would it go? Rotating the device and changing hands would put it at the bottom corner, wouldn't it?
You don't need wireless. You don't need 3G. But Bluetooth might make sense for keyboards, etc., and data-exchange. It'd be nice to be able to send someone a book, or receive one. Or receive other data (as suggested below.) If you did do wireless, support for mesh networking would be awesome.
I do think that you need a touchscreen (and hyperlink support if it's not there already.) Touchscreen allows you to add useful PDA apps. And it allows you to remove the d-pad as you replace everything it can do with screen input. (Keep the new, quiet wing-buttons, of course.)
Developing some excellent note-taking and checklist apps is a
great idea. Think early Palm, as was implied previously: Memos, Contacts, and Checklists. Maybe you could skip a Calendar -- but not if you add wireless: if you
do add wireless, you
must add Google calendar support.
I see this form-factor as a reader/
writer. You're carrying it; it's bigger and a lot more legible than your cellphone; use it productively. It's a "book" and a "notebook". It should be like carrying an infinite pad of paper and a complete library. Displaying high quality images and diagrams are important too.
But it doesn't need to check my email or help me chat, nor play videos or music. It shouldn't be a video gaming system, a photo-manipulation suite, or a web browser. Just something excellent for reading, writing, sketching and research.
$0.02,
m a r