Quote:
Originally Posted by Spiffy
You know when you see old pics of people using cell phones in the early 80s and they are the size of bricks? This is like looking at that kind of anachronism brought forward.
I mean... good god. A "tablet" the size of a Gutenberg Bible? Come. On.
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hahahaha...yeah it is HUGE, but so is the Entourage Edge....but remember most of this thing's size is likely due to the battery(ies). Still it fills a need for a bunch of people...well, potentially anyway. We still need to know more and see it work.
I had a buddy who had one of those cell phones which looked like an old WWII ammo box, funny as heck, but ya know, it was better than other options. My first "portable" computer weighed in at 22lbs or so and I was THRILLED to have it...the original Compaq "luggable"...the best looked like an old Singer Sewing Machine in it's case.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dmaul1114
Fair enough. Other than a few articles or text books that have tables that span a two page spread, I can't think of much of my reading needs that need two pages.
Of course, with research articles I'm usually reading printed out PDFs rather than the original journal anyway, so I've been reading one page at a time for most of grad school through starting my career as a professor this past year.
So I'd take having to flip back and forth--as long as its LCD or something else with instant page turns and not slow ass e-ink--to have a one screen device that's easier to hold and use.
But as you note, there seems to be some like you who do need/want two screen devices so I'm all for them coming out! Like I said above, the more variety in tablet devices the better!
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Yeah, it's just the reference books I need this for more so than articles or journals. I think if I were a student I would still take a long look at the Edge and hope to see what the next gen of it is like as I also like that device a lot too...the LCD panel on that pretty much will hold the normal content of an 8.5x11" page with the margins cut down.
But for me having dual color panels is really super. And it would be a one purpose machine for me with maybe the added bonus of online email access, google docs and such with some web browsing research as well.
Plus this will be doable NOW not in 3-4 yrs before we see EPD panels with closer to true color. And even when we finally get large EPD panels with what passes for reasonably accurate color I will still want two of them side by side...last the cost will be MUCH less. They should be able to do this well under $500...well, maybe close to $500...say in the $399 to $500 range. Not cheap but within reasonable reach for a good many. And as long as the publishers can crank out PDF, ADE & EPUB it just might to the trick.
One of my reasons for wanting this is I have over 1000 reference books which I can usually have to tote around a good 30-100 with me when traveling for work...with this device...I can glean it down to a 6lb device from several hundred pounds of books. And at home I can just slowly sell off my library as I replace with both old and new editions of each reference (old editions are ofter as important or even more important than new editions).
So I hope ya can see why it is a winner for many people in my same situation. yeah, a niche for now, but it's a BIG niche. And oh, to have a real search that works...heck coupled with 3G/Wifi access to the GoogleBooks database could almost eliminate the need for the device to have it's own comprehensive search. A basic search should be good enough since most of the time you have a rough idea where to begin.