The new netbooks featuring ARM processors are touting a 10 hour battery life. I don't have one yet, but I have two other netbooks, an Asus EEE 4G and a Lenovo S10e. Both of these devices make perfect readers except for one thing -- battery life! They are easy to hold. They run FBReader nicely on a comfortable color screen that you can read in the dark, and since I didn't go to night school, that is some handy
Reading on a netbook is similar to holding a hardback novel, except not quite so heavy. FBReader can change orientation so you can lay back and hold the netbook like a book. The book cover can display in color so you can enjoy the cover artwork and any illustrations inside. You don't need to worry about document format because you can get converters and such that will run right there on your reader, er ah, netbook. Storage and internet access is also not an issue. So just when the ebook reader makers are bringing us the internet as a feature, we discover the netbook manufacturers have been giving us all those features all along, plus the ability to actually read books!
I know some of you are going to argue that e-ink screens are wonderful and easy on the eye, but let me tell you, My PRS-500 didn't last as long as any of my laptops or notebooks. The
screen developed a fatal problem. Are e-ink screens more fragile or lacking in longevity compared to LCDs? I have only had one e-ink device so I cannot generalize. Can you?
But truthfully, is e-ink all that hot? Have we been sold a bill of goods? Let's all go back to monochrome! Why? Mainly because e-ink screens promise to increase battery life. We want a device we can throw in a suitcase and use for a month. Well guess what! The monochrome Palm devices did that just fine.
Now that we have lightweight devices (netbooks and smartphones) with long battery life can the market for all these new e-readers sustain itself?