New ebook reader -Simplicit.E.reader

[Nate the great]

Second Update: I just heard back from Books on Board. Yes, that is their coupon. They were a little puzzled about why the product page was up. The last they had heard was that the device wasn't ready yet.The release had been pushed back until Spring.

[mtravellerh]

Did maybe someone try to hype the thing a little bit?

[TGNY]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

It also only has one screen, which is not ideal for books.

I disagree with this, a second screen is distracting

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by TGNY

I disagree with this, a second screen is distracting

A second screen can be handy... But for general reading, I prefer one screen.

[The-eBook-Reader]

There seems to be a lot of 5-inch ebook readers hitting the market lately. We've got the Cybook Opus, PRS-300, the various HanLin clones (BeBook Mini, EZ Reader Pocket PRO), Jetbook lite, Aluratek Libre, and the PocketBook 360.

Wonder when we'll see a 5-inch Kindle? The keyboard might be a problem though.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

A second screen can be handy... But for general reading, I prefer one screen.

I honestly don't see the point, myself - at least not if we're talking about two screens which just display two pages of the book. You're only going to read one page at a time, and is that worth halving the battery life for?

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by The-eBook-Reader

Wonder when we'll see a 5-inch Kindle? The keyboard might be a problem though.

well I don't know about with the Kindle name but a 5" e-ink ereader with a qwerty...... soon

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I honestly don't see the point, myself - at least not if we're talking about two screens which just display two pages of the book. You're only going to read one page at a time, and is that worth halving the battery life for?

Most people only read 1-10 words at a time when reading novels in a linear fashion. All those extra square centimeters of screen space are wasted for most readers.

I've been doing a lot of testing with Chinese typesetting and the general opinion of most people I've been interviewing is that if the book is to be presented with vertical formatting, a second page is very useful. Merely flipping the reader to landscape mode does not allow small enough text to display on e-ink, and many users find it slightly disturbing to read that way.

Of course, my post was just a response to the statement that the screen aspect ratio was not ideal for books. Low-quality monochrome screens with noticeable glare (e.g. e-ink) are pretty far from ideal for books in the first place. Most ebook formats are pretty far from ideal for books too, but most folks around these forums seem pretty content with low quality.

[mtravellerh]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Of course, my post was just a response to the statement that the screen aspect ratio was not ideal for books. Low-quality monochrome screens with noticeable glare (e.g. e-ink) are pretty far from ideal for books in the first place. Most ebook formats are pretty far from ideal for books too, but most folks around these forums seem pretty content with low quality.

Please enlighten us: What would be ideal, then?

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by mtravellerh

Please enlighten us: What would be ideal, then?

Nothing available, I'm afraid. Bear in mind though, ideal is pretty damn hard to define in the first place, and my choice to use it in this thread is only as a response to another post that used it.

[The-eBook-Reader]

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

well I don't know about with the Kindle name but a 5" e-ink ereader with a qwerty...... soon

Oh yeah! Forgot about the Hanvons. Are they out yet? Or just in China or something?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by The-eBook-Reader

Oh yeah! Forgot about the Hanvons. Are they out yet? Or just in China or something?

There are several distributors in Europe. Scan has a rebranded one with a 5" screen+qwerty. Two German companies and a Dutch company are also distributing Hanvon devices.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

And software specs...

It really looks nice, but the software is as important to me as the hardware...

More!

[DawnFalcon]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Nothing available, I'm afraid. Bear in mind though, ideal is pretty damn hard to define in the first place...

Define the device in at least general terms though, please...

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

well I don't know about with the Kindle name but a 5" e-ink ereader with a qwerty...... soon

It would be nice if one of these companies making the 5" devices would try and make as compact a device as possible, having more portability over a 6" device is one of their advantages and most seem to then have a thick border slapped on them to waste that advantage.