B&N prepping new tablet with 'revolutionary screen technology'

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm tired of rooting. I got the original NC and rooted it, because there were no other options in that price range. Things are different now and full Android access is readily available. That means new Fires and Nooks are non-starters for me.

The thing is that being locked down on Amazon is not that bad after all, with the Fire I mean.

For someone who likes Amazon's experience, you can get customized stuff using the default UI. Examples, book reviews, inside the same app, I mean, not using a browser.

Rooting the device will kill several of those features plus again, you will be slave of patches and afraid of official Amazon updates that may or may not break your rooted device. So I agree with you on that, rooting makes no sense with so many alternatives we have now.

So, for someone interested on certain customized features, like B&N in store reading, a Nook still can be a nice alternative, same goes for Kindle Fire.

[Anabran]

"Rooting the device will kill several of those features plus again, you will be slave of patches and afraid of official Amazon updates that may or may not break your rooted device. So I agree with you on that, rooting makes no sense with so many alternatives we have now."

Quoted for complete agreement

[carld]

Originally Posted by jocampo

The thing is that being locked down on Amazon is not that bad after all, with the Fire I mean.

Rooting the device will kill several of those features plus again, you will be slave of patches and afraid of official Amazon updates that may or may not break your rooted device.

I rooted my Fire, installed Google Play, gmail, connected my YouTube player to my account, and unrooted it. That gave me pretty much everything I wanted and didn't remove any capabilities. Root is supposedly protected, but even if it isn't, rooting is pretty simple. However, that said, my next device is almost certainly going to be a flat out-no mods need-completely open Android (or maybe Win8) tablet. I'll just have to wait for the right one to come along at the right price.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

They have to do something or this thing is dead.

According to Nate The Great, they have done *something* and Mirasol is effectively dead:
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...#comment-50082

Qualcomm has taken the Plastic Logic route: they can't get their yields up to economicaly viable levels so they're getting out of the Mirasol manufacturing business and will simply license their latest design to anybody who thinks they can do a better job building them.

That's pretty much the kiss of death--we might see the odd niche product but high volume affordable devices are off the table for at least the next two years.

So, no Mirasol Nooks incoming...

[usuallee]

"Mirasol is effectively dead" - Quote from fjtorres


Too Bad. I would love to have a tablet with color e-ink or mirasol that can display videos. Was excited about this technology. I can play games or view videos comfortably on an LCD screen for hours, but for some reason reading books with an LCD screen is torture. It's just irritating, and before very long the eyestrain begins. Not to mention I like to read outdoors, and battery life is still a big issue.

Maybe there's still hope on the color e-ink front.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

So, no Mirasol Nooks incoming...

Why wouldn't they license the technology?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Why wouldn't they license the technology?

And who would build them for B&N?
Qualcomm's problems aren't designing the things, it is figuring out how to mass produce them economically. This, after throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at the problem.

[fjtorres]

BTW, I'm thinking that if B&N really wants to pin their next-gen Nook Tablets to outdoor readability, they just need to get somebody to build them panels with strong LED sidelighting and reflective backplanes. If they found somebody willing to do that at a reasonable cost it wouldn't be "revolutionary" but quite welcome.

(My seven year old DELL AXIM does it fine at the 4in VGA size so scaling the tech up to 7in WXGA is hardly impossible.)

[JAcheson]

Originally Posted by charmian

I'm kind of skeptical about this revolutionary screen. I'm thinking it'll be some marginally improved LCD or possibly AMOLED screen.

B&N is in a pretty hard position now. If this is a tablet, can they make it either cheaper or better than the Nexus 7 or upcoming new Kindle Fire? (and then there's the rumored mini-iPad)

Given the news about Mirasol, yeah, I'm guessing OLED or similar.

Another possibility would be a Pixel Qi screen, as used on the OLPC. Very good visibility in daylight, and less power consumption.

[artifact]

Originally Posted by JAcheson

Another possibility would be a Pixel Qi screen, as used on the OLPC. Very good visibility in daylight, and less power consumption.

I think PixelQI could be a valid option considering their new screen 'better than iPad' hype back in April but the problem there is production. IIRC Notion Ink was almost always backordered on their PixelQi screens and they have far, far less volume than Nook would.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by artifact

I think PixelQI could be a valid option considering their new screen 'better than iPad' hype back in April but the problem there is production. IIRC Notion Ink was almost always backordered on their PixelQi screens and they have far, far less volume than Nook would.

To date that has been the problem with all the alternatives to LCD display tech.
LCD is such a mature and prevalent technology with such a huge manufacturing *overcapacity* that many vendors make little if any money off the facilities and have to sell the product dirt cheap just to generate income. So they keep updating the tech to try to justify higher prices but since eveybody updates it the same ways they end up right back where they started. They have to run as fast as they can to stay where they are.

In the process they are "running" faster than any alternative tech can so the alternatives get left in te dust before they can get into the race.

Most alternatives keep running into the same problem: they can't make money at the prices they can sell the panels and they can't sell the panels at a price they *can* make money at.

[MidnightBlue]

Originally Posted by afv011

So it looks like Amazon won't be the only one with a new 7 incher. It's getting crowded, and that's only good for the consumer.

Source

There was a rumour a few months back that they were developing a backlit screen technology for ePaper. Maybe this is it?

[elemenoP]

Originally Posted by MidnightBlue

There was a rumour a few months back that they were developing a backlit screen technology for ePaper. Maybe this is it?

If you mean a frontlit screen technology for eInk, B&N released that already! You can buy one today.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/nook...ble/1108046469

eP

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

If you mean a frontlit screen technology for eInk, B&N released that already! You can buy one today.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/nook...ble/1108046469

eP

Amazon bought a company that developed a different approach to the same goal.
There is also another independent company marketing *their* solution
We'll have to see which of the three "solutions" works best.

[MikeB1972]

I'm hoping for someone to come out with a colour transflexive TFT screen in an ereader (Like the Jetbook Lite screen but in colour with better res), I've got one in my hiking sat nav and it works great.