Is it really that hard to make a good Ereader

[Ravensknight]

Have you checked out the sales numbers for the over 8" eink readers?

yeah, that about sums it up I think...

[tecweston]

Originally Posted by rolexconfuse

it's not just what I want, I think there's a good amount of people who would like to have a larger display E-reader. I'm not just talking about PDF's, I'm talking about Letter size documents, technical documents and etc.

Tablets are a little better for PDF/technical papers due to the fact that you can zoom in and out easily but they are far from perfect. Most tablets are still stuck at 10 or 9.7. Once you hit the 11 inch sizes you're looking at 2 lbs. Add in the fact that not everyone is comfortable with reading from a back lit screen.

But a larger display ereader already exists.

[sbroome]

Originally Posted by rolexconfuse

I never said it was easy to implement but the idea of how it could work isn't that complicated. The hardware limitation would be the screen size. The buttons/wheels/sliders and shortcuts are all programming related. I'm no engineer but big companies like Sony and Amazon should have people who are smarter than me who can probably figure it out.

It's not just the big companies.

[Kumabjorn]

I get the impression that rolexconfuse is a university student. The device you require actually exist, it is a Russian e-Reader (I think it is called JetReader or JetBook). To make a device like that successful the maker need to sell it to the public sector, every student (K-12) will have the same reader loaded with the same text books. Increases in manufacturing costs are cancelled by decreasing marketing costs. A device like this is only feasible in a centralised education system, the manufacturer can market it to a Dept. of Education that will buy 2 million devices and distribute them through the school system. In a decentralized system marketing costs and distributions costs will be prohibitive. Those reading material in science will have different demands than those reading in social science or humanities. In a centralized system the central authorities can shove one e-Reader down everybody's throat.

[rolexconfuse]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I get the impression that rolexconfuse is a university student. The device you require actually exist, it is a Russian e-Reader (I think it is called JetReader or JetBook). To make a device like that successful the maker need to sell it to the public sector, every student (K-12) will have the same reader loaded with the same text books. Increases in manufacturing costs are cancelled by decreasing marketing costs. A device like this is only feasible in a centralised education system, the manufacturer can market it to a Dept. of Education that will buy 2 million devices and distribute them through the school system. In a decentralized system marketing costs and distributions costs will be prohibitive. Those reading material in science will have different demands than those reading in social science or humanities. In a centralized system the central authorities can shove one e-Reader down everybody's throat.

I'm not a university student but I do work in the IT field. I have a ton of technical textbooks, documents, and PDFS that I have to read. Being that I'm stuck in front of a monitor 8 -10 hours a day frying my eyeballs I really don't want to read from a back lit screen for another 3-4 hours. As it is my eyes are strained.

[rolexconfuse]

Originally Posted by tecweston

But a larger display ereader already exists.

Yes but the screen refresh is slow as molasses. It hasn't been updated for 2 years I believe. And it's still no bigger than 9.7 inches

[tecweston]

Originally Posted by rolexconfuse

Yes but the screen refresh is slow as molasses. It hasn't been updated for 2 years I believe. And it's still no bigger than 9.7 inches

So then buy a tablet or read your PDFs on a 9.7 inch screen. You understand the device you're describing, an 11-inch eInk tablet with loads of buttons, a short-lived battery, and no wifi, appeals to almost no one, right? We have eInk readers for novels and text-heavy books like biographies. And we have tablets for picture-heavy stuff like textbooks, magazines, and newspapers. If the LCD screen gives you too much eyestrain, maybe look into buying the textbook in paper.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by rolexconfuse

I'm not a university student but I do work in the IT field. I have a ton of technical textbooks, documents, and PDFS that I have to read. Being that I'm stuck in front of a monitor 8 -10 hours a day frying my eyeballs I really don't want to read from a back lit screen for another 3-4 hours. As it is my eyes are strained.

I get your needs and sympathise, your problem is that you simply represent to small a market segment to garner enough interest among makers. In order to market a Reader like that to enough potential buyers would require it to be sold at around $150 and it will take some time before we reach that price point.

[rolexconfuse]

Originally Posted by rolexconfuse

I'm not a university student but I do work in the IT field. I have a ton of technical textbooks, documents, and PDFS that I have to read. Being that I'm stuck in front of a monitor 8 -10 hours a day frying my eyeballs I really don't want to read from a back lit screen for another 3-4 hours. As it is my eyes are strained.

I'm not engineer but I don't get how the battery life can be short lived as the screen of an e-ink consumers less power than a back lit LCD. And the processor for an E-ink reader is is not where even close to a tablet's processor.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by rolexconfuse

it's not just what I want, I think there's a good amount of people who would like to have a larger display E-reader. I'm not just talking about PDF's, I'm talking about Letter size documents, technical documents and etc.

Tablets are a little better for PDF/technical papers due to the fact that you can zoom in and out easily but they are far from perfect. Most tablets are still stuck at 10 or 9.7. Once you hit the 11 inch sizes you're looking at 2 lbs. Add in the fact that not everyone is comfortable with reading from a back lit screen.

Theses would have tons of uses in my work - having all our manuals which weigh a ton, reduced to relatively light package would be great.

[charmian]

The question is not whether it is easy, the question is whether it is profitable. Evidence suggests that it is not, as Amazon scarcely seems to care about updating the Kindle DX.

It's exactly because it would be good at reading PDFs and technical papers that it is not economical. The idea behind the Kindle is that Amazon will sell the Kindle for a relatively cheap price, and Amazon will make money selling the books. If you (the consumer) are reading your own documents or documents you do not buy from Amazon on the device, Amazon is not going to be making money from that.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by charmian

The question is not whether it is easy, the question is whether it is profitable. Evidence suggests that it is not, as Amazon scarcely seems to care about updating the Kindle DX.

It's exactly because it would be good at reading PDFs and technical papers that it is not economical. The idea behind the Kindle is that Amazon will sell the Kindle for a relatively cheap price, and Amazon will make money selling the books. If you (the consumer) are reading your own documents or documents you do not buy from Amazon on the device, Amazon is not going to be making money from that.

I'm not sure that's true. Many textbooks cost $250-$300 and more. E-readers are still quite new - maybe education is just an untapped market.

They could fill other purposes as well. I don't care for reading on my iPad - great though it is for many other things . I'm hoping for a large light weight e-reader that accommodates a common newspaper or magazine.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

I get the impression that rolexconfuse is a university student. The device you require actually exist, it is a Russian e-Reader (I think it is called JetReader or JetBook).

I have an old JetBook, it has a 5" transreflective Monochrome LCD screen which gives it a decent battery life (about a week) and fairly rapid refresh. What I didn't like about it was the firmware, it was a bit cludgy and did not support any form of DRM. I've since moved on to reading exclusively on Android tablets and my PC (K4A and K4PC), and haven’t touched the JetBook in years. I don’t know where the company went after that, of they are making a larger device and selling exclusively to educational systems, I hope they’ve improved the firmware.

There used to be a JetBook forum here, but I guess it went away due to lack of interest.

[Phogg]

Twenty eight posts and nobody has postulated that the LG flexible backed Eink screens recently revealed should result in larger ereaders at affordable prices - as it greatly improves screen durability during manufacturing as well as during use.

Posters on this forum used to be a lot quicker on the draw, at least with glaring correlations.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Twenty eight posts and nobody has postulated that the LG flexible backed Eink screens recently revealed should result in larger ereaders at affordable prices - as it greatly improves screen durability during manufacturing as well as during use.

Posters on this forum used to be a lot quicker on the draw, at least with glaring correlations.

Maybe we're getting more cynical and waiting for even one device to get released with the LG screen as we've been promised flexible screen devices for getting on for ten years and they've not made the market just proof of concept...