Development of E-Readers - Next big thing?

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by spellbanisher

I don't think you understand what the word "ridiculous" means.

Ridiculousness would occur if we do obtain the "cheap" disposable eink readers, are able to hand them out to anyone and everyone in the WORLD who wants them and then hinder these devices by the ridiculous notion of copyright.

And you might as well live in the world you wish.

[patrickt]

A. I'd like a standard format so I can buy books from any source.
B. I am not one of those who thinks people should not be paid for their work. I think they're usually called thieves or communist. Ooops, redundant.
C. I would like to see a lighter background on my e-ink. I have a Kindle3 and a Kindle4 and both are lovely with a definite grey background.
D. I do not want a bigger screen. I want big enough to read but small enough to carry conveniently.
E. We need global publishers. This country by country nonsense is corrupt and tiresome. I would love to see epublishing being done just by individuals and corrupt publishers and their enablers in government could be neutered.

[Ken Maltby]

For the display.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=164870

Luck;
Ken

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by spellbanisher

Convergence...it's all about convergence. I mean how ridiculous is it that I have to carry around an ereader, tablet, cell phone, gun,water bottle, pen, lighter, and pocketknife? The next next big thing is a device that has all these things in one.

Water bottle ????

What's wrong with stout - or, at the very least, a decent malt.........

[sonofpendragon]

I am going to make a wild wild guess at a long shot. The ereader screens are in the main, a tad small. I think Kindle and others with the smaller devices may break away from 'small is good', and backtrack, a little, and make them all just a little under tablet computer size. The time is ripe for someone to say to the good old PDF, 'Come in, old timer, room for you too'. I know ereaders can open them, but they also make an unholy mess of them, and that's just reading, as for publishers, this is the most tricky format to convert. I know time may well prove me wrong, but, I did say it was a long shot.

[Ken Maltby]

The 87" display of the glasses should be large enough, wouldn't you think?

PDFs on my 3.5" PDA - Impossible!

PDFs on my 5" ereader - Doable, but a real pain.

PDFs on my 10.1" Transformer - No Problem!

The lure of small is practical, technical, mobile (as in MobileRead Forums), ascetic, ect...

The lure of a big screen display has been at odds with the lure of small, since mobile
devices came about. Something like the glasses makes it possible to have both small
devices and large displays. Include a "touch typeable" virtual keyboard and we are in
business. (Imagine what that would mean for our encounters on urban sidewalks.)

Luck;
Ken

[Xenophon]

The next big thing? Hmmm... In no particular order:

• Really good physical ergonomics. No available eReader has yet done as well as the late lamented Rocket eBook Reader.
• Good software support for large libraries on the reader. Current devices start to suck once you put a few hundred books on them. Heavy readers want access to thousands of books.
• Good software support for access to large (on-line) libraries. These could be public libraries, or they could be publisher catalogs, or even retailer web-sites. None are yet as convenient as a plain old card catalog. And that's really sad.

Xenophon

[spellbanisher]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

[*]Really good physical ergonomics. No available eReader has yet done as well as the late lamented Rocket eBook Reader.

Unfortunately, aesthetics trumps ergonomics.

[Ken Maltby]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

The next big thing? Hmmm... In no particular order:

• Really good physical ergonomics. No available eReader has yet done as well as the late lamented Rocket eBook Reader.
• Good software support for large libraries on the reader. Current devices start to suck once you put a few hundred books on them. Heavy readers want access to thousands of books.
• Good software support for access to large (on-line) libraries. These could be public libraries, or they could be publisher catalogs, or even retailer web-sites. None are yet as convenient as a plain old card catalog. And that's really sad.

Xenophon

My Ectaco jetBook Lite (JBL) has "really good ergonomics". The battery bump
on the back forms a perfect griping point and the resulting finger placement
can easily engage the controls.

The JBL uses the file structure of the media format FAT32 works fine on my
SD card with 6,670 Files in 49 Folders. The JBL works fine up to three layers
deep in example folder: Fantasy > subfolder: Author >subfolder: Series

Not sure what you mean by your third item. If you are talking about WiFi or
3/4G, then I think those power eating features are just a distraction, on a
dedicated ereading device. The features you want with that would be things
that are implemented on the site not the device.

Luck;
Ken

[akonobi]

I hear Qualcomm's Mirasol technology, which is a sort of color e-ink display, is now being sold in a wafer-thin e-reader manufactured by Hanvon, a Chinese company. Obviously I don't know all the details. Will try and find the link.

[Victoria]

My guess is that it will be colour e-ink. But I'd like a more natural way to read non-fiction. Straight linear 'page by page' works well for fiction. But it does not work well for footnotes, or the need to quickly refer back to an earlier passage or a map, diagram, etc..

[JSWolf]

Since it already is a reality, I'm hoping we'll get affordable 9.7" 1600x1200 eink readers. The Ectaco Jetbook color has such a panel but it's behind that god awful Triton color panel. making it worthless (IMHO).

[Vic333]

Color e-ink and writable screens already have function-able demos. Should only be a couple of years until they make their way to market.

[Andrew H.]

I don't think we need any major developments yet...just a better screen. Maybe one with 50% better contrast than Pearl.

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by carpetmojo

Couldn't we just have a reader that could be dropped without harm, .

PageOne (have one)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUW72qirX5o

Onyx Boox (have.. more than one) from 1:20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8JJLoMnu8w

Plastic Logic (will own one)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvCS4v8XMYQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVr6vTINSvI

All 3 companies are happy to drop the devices for you over and over to prove their robustness.

Originally Posted by Alohamora

I'd rather see a smaller e-ink screen. Maybe 4 to 4.5 inches and sturdy enough to carry in a front jeans/pants/trousers pocket.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVKlKbnfMtQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqCTF13baGI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxhCiLvi5LI