Another Asus ebook reader leaked: DR-950

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Here, try this comparison. The one on the right is a capacative touch screen using SiPix 6" like the above against an EZREader 5" screen.

Dale

Not a very good picture at all for comparison purposes. In fact, everything about it pretty much makes it useless as a "comparison". The biggest problem is the lighting and background reflection. It's not consistent enough over the photograph to make comparison useful. You cannot have a light that is biased to one side with possibly different reflected surfaces on each screen. Light must be distributed equally and both screens must also reflect the same surface.

The font on the SiPix does look darker, but so does the white point. Significantly so. How much of that is light and reflection and how much of that would play out in a real comparison is harder to assess.

The bezels cause a division that make it harder to compare in the first place, so I've taken the liberty of cropping out portions of the screens.

The lightness/darkness of the text and even the background isn't clearly indicative of anything until a good test shot can be done. I'm afraid I don't have a SiPix device handy to do such a picture.

If the black point for solid black is indeed darker on a SiPix screen, that could be a benefit for text display.

[m-reader]

I wonder why Asus didn't announce this device at CEBIT? They are either playing a different game altogether to the rest of the crowd, or this device is so far from hitting the market that they didn't want to make any commitments.
Either way it looks great! All I want to know is When and How Much ?

[osama_jamal]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Here, try this comparison. The one on the right is a capacative touch screen using SiPix 6" like the above against an EZREader 5" screen.

Dale

Actually, the one on the right looks better!

I'm glad Asus has a reflective reader coming out! Hopefully it will just be quick enough to allow quick annotations.

[DaleDe]

Try 2, hopefully this is better. I don't have a good light source but this is by the window with only very cloudy light coming in. It is raining today.

Dale

[jotas]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Not a very good picture at all for comparison purposes. In fact, everything about it pretty much makes it useless as a "comparison". The biggest problem is the lighting and background reflection. It's not consistent enough over the photograph to make comparison useful. You cannot have a light that is biased to one side with possibly different reflected surfaces on each screen. Light must be distributed equally and both screens must also reflect the same surface.

The font on the SiPix does look darker, but so does the white point. Significantly so. How much of that is light and reflection and how much of that would play out in a real comparison is harder to assess.

The bezels cause a division that make it harder to compare in the first place, so I've taken the liberty of cropping out portions of the screens.

The lightness/darkness of the text and even the background isn't clearly indicative of anything until a good test shot can be done. I'm afraid I don't have a SiPix device handy to do such a picture.

If the black point for solid black is indeed darker on a SiPix screen, that could be a benefit for text display.

I read a time ago about Sipix screens over the russian forum.

They are different, both in technical features and user reading/view experience. Darker, slower, but much cheaper, better in multitouch features, and no glare. Also, they promised, when really shipping to new readers (feb. or march), to have improved all of these to catch up eInk.

Wait....

Check here (and use google translate if need :-) ) :

http://www.the-ebook.org/forum/viewt...12635&start=13

Regards.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Try 2, hopefully this is better. I don't have a good light source but this is by the window with only very cloudy light coming in. It is raining today.

Dale

Thanks for reposting. I don't mean to be rude when I criticise the photography side of things. This is still not a great way to compare but much more fair than the previous attempt.

Let me redo the croppage that I did earlier.

The white point is definitely lower, but the black definitely looks a little more promising. I may need to go find some SiPix screens to try out and see if I can confirm a darker black.

[osama_jamal]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Yeah SiPix is very similar to E-Ink. They're both EPDs (electrophoretic displays), and operate on the same general principles. SiPix has some advantages in thinness and durability, though it is visually a little inferior to E-Ink (lower white reflectance in particular, making the screen a little more gray. The numbers I see are ~30% for SiPix, ~40% for E-Ink)

Here's a video that shows a reader that uses a SiPix Microcup EPD screen:

After 2 minutes you'll see the display in action, and you'll notice it's slow, just like most E-Ink devices. Demonstrators love to re-tap and re-swipe to try to conceal the lack of responsiveness in a device. To be fair though, that's likely the processor and software. Personally I think their huge demonstration "reading" text is hilarious.

Well the refresh rate is fine, but it seems that the software is slow. But I really don't think ASUS will risk going into the market with a slower screen than eInk. I think that they are getting a new technology from SiPix. Otherwise, they'd just use the Metal-Foil e-Paper Display used in the Skiff.
I heard it is very fast even with the large screen.

I just hope they release the device soon.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by osama_jamal

Well the refresh rate is fine, but it seems that the software is slow. But I really don't think ASUS will risk going into the market with a slower screen than eInk. I think that they are getting a new technology from SiPix. Otherwise, they'd just use the Metal-Foil e-Paper Display used in the Skiff.
I heard it is very fast even with the large screen.

I just hope they release the device soon.

The newer units flash to white instead of black. Black is the fluid color white is the small balls in SiPix. This may speed up the display a bit I don't know. It is very subjective as you say, hard to separate the processing of the page from the display update. My Pocket Pro changes pages faster than my EZ Reader basic but then it has a processor with twice the speed.

Dale

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Thanks for reposting. I don't mean to be rude when I criticise the photography side of things. This is still not a great way to compare but much more fair than the previous attempt.

Let me redo the croppage that I did earlier.

The white point is definitely lower, but the black definitely looks a little more promising. I may need to go find some SiPix screens to try out and see if I can confirm a darker black.

This shows more differences that I can see when I actually look at the devices. Not sure why.

Dale

[osama_jamal]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Try 2, hopefully this is better. I don't have a good light source but this is by the window with only very cloudy light coming in. It is raining today.

Dale

Well, the photo is good enough. And I really don't mind the darker white point cause the screen is still easy to read!

Please just be fast enough for annotations and zooming when in need!

[m-reader]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

The newer units flash to white instead of black. Black is the fluid color white is the small balls in SiPix. This may speed up the display a bit I don't know. It is very subjective as you say, hard to separate the processing of the page from the display update. My Pocket Pro changes pages faster than my EZ Reader basic but then it has a processor with twice the speed.

Dale

It makes me wonder what are the actual hardware refresh speed limitations for these screens. It seems that the speed of CPU/controller and driver make a big difference in refresh speeds.
It's always been said that the refresh rate is about 1 sec, but I've seen devices that do it a lot faster and a lot slower.
Also screen refresh with white as oppose to black is probably going to be less noticeable.

[dioib]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

The white point is definitely lower, but the black definitely looks a little more promising. I may need to go find some SiPix screens to try out and see if I can confirm a darker black.

To me a darker screen is more of an advantage rather than a downside. Plus the contrast seems to be better on SiPix. What I see as a major disadvantage in this device is the lack of support for .djvu.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by dioib

To me a darker screen is more of an advantage rather than a downside. Plus the contrast seems to be better on SiPix. What I see as a major disadvantage in this device is the lack of support for .djvu.

I wouldn't count this out. Jinke has supported this in the past and I would not be surprised if they put this on their new A6 and A9 as well.

Dale

[Nate the great]

Some more details are out:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2010/01...reader_update/

[m-reader]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Some more details are out:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2010/01...reader_update/

Alrighty then.

The DR-950 will hit Blighty in March/April

The plot thickens.