BOOX ebook reader by Onyx International

[Gaurnim]

No trace of Mobipocket in the image you posted, Nate.
Maybe it's an overlook on their part.

EDIT : I saw that they put PDF twice, so it must really be a typo.

Anyway, thanks for the info.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by nelsonescorcio

Nothing new, really.

No better contrast (same screen as others), not faster, not anything.
Touchscreen? What in the hell for? Touchscreens seem cool, and it is "chic" to have one.
But no advantages at all - on the contrary!

Besides, and as many already said, no Epub?

I cant´t see what can this device offer to someone who as an Sony Reader, Kindle, iRex ou Cybook...

I guess I have to repeat myself: Onyx is looking for OEM partners. This is not a finished product. This is the manufacturer's preproduction demo.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by nelsonescorcio

Nothing new, really.

No better contrast (same screen as others), not faster, not anything.
Touchscreen? What in the hell for? Touchscreens seem cool, and it is "chic" to have one.
But no advantages at all - on the contrary!

Besides, and as many already said, no Epub?

I cant´t see what can this device offer to someone who as an Sony Reader, Kindle, iRex ou Cybook... And for those who have not already bought a dedicated e-reading device, will most probably prefer something that as proven itself on the market.

On last thing: is THERE market for all the players comming out? I doubt.

I only know I speak for myself, but...

I would like a touch screen, mostly because I don't like buttons.
As far as I know (checked the Famous E-book Reader Matrix on the wiki) they all use the same screen...
As they say themselves: more formats are coming
Kindle: US only
Sony: US only, only the 505 is (officially) available in Europe
iRex: has only 8 and 10" screens
CyBook: so, what does that offer that those others don't? (except that is its a different reader)
BeBook/Hanlin/EZ Reader/any other name: see CyBook
And maybe I'm looking for something new...

Lastly: yes, I think so. The more players there are, the more people will buy them, the more players will be made, the cheaper they get, the more people will buy them...

[nelsonescorcio]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I only know I speak for myself, but...

I would like a touch screen, mostly because I don't like buttons.

Fair enough.

But you do realize that touch screens do bring inconveniences attached? (such as less contrast - Sony 700 -, more dirty on the screen...)

[nelsonescorcio]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I guess I have to repeat myself: Onyx is looking for OEM partners. This is not a finished product. This is the manufacturer's preproduction demo.

Which, in a way, is worse: a preprodution device usually promises things that will never become reality in a production one. The other way around is less usual.

I hope I am wrong.

In a way, my frustration becomes from the fact that I haven't seen any significant progress in e-ink tecnology in the last year or so. I was expecting more. The contrast is still the same. Shades of grey, the same (no more than 16). Color? nope...

So I guess no company can introduce something really new - unless they create a new screen themselfs...

[grooks]

Originally Posted by nelsonescorcio

Fair enough.

But you do realize that touch screens do bring inconveniences attached? (such as less contrast - Sony 700 -, more dirty on the screen...)

The less contrast on the 700 may have more to do with the built-in light. The Iliad's have touch screen and don't think they have huge contrast issues.

Using 16 shades of gray should combat any touch screen contrast/clarity problems.

[Mycropht]

Originally Posted by nelsonescorcio

Touchscreens seem cool, and it is "chic" to have one.
But no advantages at all - on the contrary!

A touchscreen means on screen keyboard giving you easy text input for dictionary & Wikipedia lookup, searching and annotations. To me, that is a world of advantages.

I dislike a physical keyboard being all the time on the book so the touchscreen is a must-have feature for me.

Of course, if done properly, there should be no negative impact on the picture quality.

[grooks]

Originally Posted by nelsonescorcio

So I guess no company can introduce something really new - unless they creat a new screen themselfs...

I think you got it there. The device manufacturers are in a way hindered by the fact that all screens are produced by PVI. Until another technology arises that offers something different (less power consumption or color screen), then the only changes will be different form factors and maybe small tweaks to the options.

[nelsonescorcio]

Originally Posted by grooks

The less contrast on the 700 may have more to do with the built-in light. The Iliad's have touch screen and don't think they have huge contrast issues.

Using 16 shades of gray should combat any touch screen contrast/clarity problems.

The number of shades of gray does NOT improve contrast - in fact, it is pretty irrelevant on plain text.

And many people have already pointed the finger to touchscreen tecnology as the main responsible for the 700 screen. But I am no expert myself, so...

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by nelsonescorcio

Nothing new, really.

No better contrast (same screen as others), not faster, not anything.
Touchscreen? What in the hell for? Touchscreens seem cool, and it is "chic" to have one.
But no advantages at all - on the contrary!

Besides, and as many already said, no Epub?

I cant´t see what can this device offer to someone who as an Sony Reader, Kindle, iRex ou Cybook... And for those who have not already bought a dedicated e-reading device, will most probably prefer something that as proven itself on the market.

On last thing: is THERE market for all the players comming out? I doubt.

Nelson, are you going to get rid of your Cybook? It doesn't support Epub either.

[Abisha]

I noticed that epub support is really important for some of you. I definitely agree that device support for as many possible formats as can be included is crucial. My question is this, for the end user, what real difference if any is there between mobi and epub? Aren't they both developed by private corporations? Mobi is mobi, and epub is adobe? Neither corporation seems particularly benevolent. Furthermore adobe has had serious issues with its (digital restriction management) activation servers.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Abisha

I noticed that epub support is really important for some of you. I definitely agree that device support for as many possible formats as can be included is crucial. My question is this, for the end user, what real difference if any is there between mobi and epub? Aren't they both developed by private corporations? Mobi is mobi, and epub is adobe? Neither corporation seems particularly benevolent. Furthermore adobe has had serious issues with its (digital restriction management) activation servers.

ePub is an open standard and allows better flexibility for creation of works. It isn't owned by Adobe, but it has been adopted by Adobe.

http://www.openebook.org/

Originally Posted by nelsonescorcio

Fair enough.

But you do realize that touch screens do bring inconveniences attached? (such as less contrast - Sony 700 -, more dirty on the screen...)

The Sony 700 is a bad example, being compromised, I believe, by incorporating a front light. Touch screens can be totally invisible. As far as usability goes, they are miles ahead of menu driven UIs.

Also from what I've been told the iRex, which uses a wacom tablet under the surface, is just as clear as other, non-touchscreen readers

[Amalthia]

What interests me the most is that it looks like it supports RTF and mobi. (Though I do hope they add epub) I don't like the idea of having to reformat all my RTF files but I'd also like to be able to read mobi formatted ebooks. Though it looks like there is a catch in that it only reads non-encrypted mobipocket.

[Penforhire]

Competition is good but the angle I want to see pushed is the e-ink screen. They need more competition to push down price and accelerate improvements. It may be coming but it isn't here yet.