The not-so-terrible $10 e-reader

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

If you still had your younger eyes would it be a good idea?

When I read books on a Palm PDA, I choose a font size larger than than in a typical paper book. Yes, I flipped pages quite frequently.

[mbovenka]

I started on a Palm Vx, which was 160x160... My first color device was an HTC Wizard, which was both smaller (2.8") and had worse resolution (320x240) than this thing.

Worked fine as an ereader.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

I started on a Palm Vx, which was 160x160... My first color device was an HTC Wizard, which was both smaller (3.2") and had worse resolution (320x240) than this thing.

Worked fine as an ereader.

Yep. I think that some people here are dismissing it never having actually read on such a screen. The point here is that this device costs $10. Nobody is suggesting that if you can afford to spend 4 or 5x as much money, you couldn't get a better reader.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

I think 4x the resolution is about as low as I go, for a readable pocketbook sized reader. With 320x480 pix, I'd have to compromise too much, either on few info on the screen, but readable letters in a variety of fonts, or Reasonable info on the screen, but small letters, and only few font types. Small sized fonts would not have enough pixels to display a variety of font types.

My first portable device for reading ebooks was Cassiopeia A-11 with FSTN LCD, 480 x 240 Pixel, 4 shades of gray
With a carefully selected font the reading experience was surprisingly pleasant.
We all like to complain about Microsoft, and Microsoft Windows CE 1.0 Handheld PC edition gave us PLENTY of reasons to grumble and swear. But they do know how to make really well hinted fonts for reading.

[Xianxia]

In a 2-3 years time,

A $10 Android prepaid phone (which is subsided by the prepaid carrier) will have a 5" screen and 720p screen resolution.

p.s. the Moto E was on sales for $10 on Best Buy. Look at its specs:

http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_e-6376.php

Available. Released 2014, May
Size 4.3 inches (~63.0% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 540 x 960 pixels (~256 ppi pixel density)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 200
CPU Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7
GPU Adreno 302
MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB
Internal 4 GB, 1 GB RAM

It's almost comparable to a $199 Ipod Touch right now but just for $10.

[Robotech_Master]

Originally Posted by Xianxia

In a 2-3 years time,

A $10 Android prepaid phone (which is subsided by the prepaid carrier) will have a 5" screen and 720p screen resolution.

Yep, and phones like the Sunrise will be given away free in cereal boxes and Happy Meals.

p.s. the Moto E was on sales for $10 on Best Buy. Look at its specs:

http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_e-6376.php

Available. Released 2014, May
Size 4.3 inches (~63.0% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 540 x 960 pixels (~256 ppi pixel density)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 200
CPU Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7
GPU Adreno 302
MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB
Internal 4 GB, 1 GB RAM

It's almost comparable to a $199 Ipod Touch right now but just for $10.

I did mention that deal in the article. Of course, that was a Black Friday deal, which means it's a ridiculous good-for-one-day-only price intended to draw people into the store, and they had like maybe a dozen or so of them in stock so nearly everyone drawn out by that price was in for a disappointment.

At least the Sunrise was sold in normal quantities for a much longer period of time, giving more people the opportunity to get their hands on it.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Xianxia

In a 2-3 years time,

A $10 Android prepaid phone (which is subsided by the prepaid carrier) will have a 5" screen and 720p screen resolution.

p.s. the Moto E was on sales for $10 on Best Buy. Look at its specs:

http://www.gsmarena.com/motorola_moto_e-6376.php

Available. Released 2014, May
Size 4.3 inches (~63.0% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 540 x 960 pixels (~256 ppi pixel density)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 200
CPU Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7
GPU Adreno 302
MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB
Internal 4 GB, 1 GB RAM

It's almost comparable to a $199 Ipod Touch right now but just for $10.

That's the wrong Moto E. Best Buy was selling the 2nd Gen Moto E for $10 and its specs were:

Moto E Specs

• Mfg: Motorola --- Released: Feb 2015 --- Name: Moto E 4G LTE (2nd Gen)
• Carrier: Verizon --- Type: prepaid - no contract --- Price: $9.99 @ Best Buy (Nov 2015)
• OpSys: Android 5.1 (Lollipop) --> will NOT be upgraded to Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
• CPU: 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 410 quad core --- GPU: Adreno 306
• RAM: 1 GB --- Storage: 8 GB (5 GB user avail) --- mSDHC: ≤ 32 GB
• Display: 4.5" - 960x540 - 245 ppi - Gorilla Glass 3
• Rear Cam: 5 MP - no flash --- Front Cam: 0.3 MP VGA
• Speaker: mono - front facing --- Battery: 2390 mAh - not removable
• Features: GPS - FM Radio --- Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0 - WiFi b/g/n - 4G LTE
• Dimensions: 5.11" x 2.63" x 0.48" - 5.1 oz --- Warranty: 1 year
• does NOT have: cam flash, compass, gyroscope

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by Robotech_Master

I did mention that deal in the article. Of course, that was a Black Friday deal, which means it's a ridiculous good-for-one-day-only price intended to draw people into the store, and they had like maybe a dozen or so of them in stock so nearly everyone drawn out by that price was in for a disappointment.

It was also available online all day and anyone who wanted one could have easily picked one up for $10 without leaving their house. There was a limit of two per order and I ordered two myself.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

It was also available online all day and anyone who wanted one could have easily picked one up for $10 without leaving their house. There was a limit of two per order and I ordered two myself.

Ditto. Quite easily, online.

And I'm also of the crowd that started reading (voraciously) on the early Palm devices. I read hundreds of books there, between say 1995 and 2008 when the first Kindle came around. By that point, my eyes were getting older, and really objected to the small screen on the Palm and on my then-new iPhone, though I kept reading there anyway. But that's WHY I bought the Kindle in early 2008 (I waited a few months to see if they were any good!) for the e-ink.

Now I use e-ink for any long periods of reading, but it was still nice to get a $10 phone for reading in the line at the supermarket. For instance!

[barryem]

I'm another one who's read a LOT of ebooks on Palms. The first 3 Palms I owned had 3" screens if I recall, with 160x160 resolution. I won't guess how many books I've read on those but it was certainly in the hundreds.

I later got a Palm Tungsten, I forget which model but it was the cheaper one, with 320x320 resolution and I liked that a lot more but I was fine with the older ones.

The very first ebook I ever read was on an HP48 calculator. I don't recall what the book was. I downloaded it from the HP forum on Compuserve. Someone there scanned and uploaded it.

That was long before the word "ebook" was used and long before you could buy ebooks. I'm not sure what year it was; probably early 1990's. The resolution was 131x64. I don't recall how many books I read on it. Probably 15 or 20. It was far from perfect but it was okay.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to go back to that. But I could if I just had to.

Barry

[4691mls]

I could probably live with the resolution, but I think the small screen size would be annoying - you'd be constantly turning pages.

[badgoodDeb]

When it's a GOOD book, who notices???

edit: it's not like it's *difficult* to turn the pages, like a tiny physical book would be!

[Robotech_Master]

Originally Posted by barryem

I'm another one who's read a LOT of ebooks on Palms. The first 3 Palms I owned had 3" screens if I recall, with 160x160 resolution. I won't guess how many books I've read on those but it was certainly in the hundreds.

Hear, hear!

I later got a Palm Tungsten, I forget which model but it was the cheaper one, with 320x320 resolution and I liked that a lot more but I was fine with the older ones.

For me it was one of the Cliés. First I got the monochrome LCD one with the 320x320, then a color 320x320. Man, I thought I was in heaven! It was the retina display of its day.

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I could probably live with the resolution, but I think the small screen size would be annoying - you'd be constantly turning pages.

You'd be surprised. Palm Pilot screens held even less text, especially if you used one of the fancy serif fonts that you had to make bigger to read. And they used resistive touchscreens that needed a stylus for the best accuracy in tapping. But as the next guy says:

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

When it's a GOOD book, who notices???

Indeed. Ludic reading really is a kind of a miracle, because once you get sucked in, you don't even notice the screen size or additional page turns. Just like you stop noticing that glowing red EXIT sign right next to the movie screen if it's a good film.

edit: it's not like it's *difficult* to turn the pages, like a tiny physical book would be!

As anyone who's ever read a Gideon New Testament would know...

[ProDigit]

I suppose you COULD read books on a Sansa 8GB Clip, I mean, it has enough size to display 3 respectable words on it's tiny 96 by 128 pixel oled screen!

But one thing these devices of old had, was that their screen refresh was almost instantaneous. They where no e-ink.
I don't know how I'd feel if I had to read books of a 128 or 320 pixel e-ink ribbon, with a refresh rate of 1000ms, refreshing every page....

[GERGE]

I used to read with a Nintendo DS. It was nice. But now I can't even read with paperbacks. My eyes demand either eink, trade paperback or hardcover (Books in Turkey are all trade paperbacks, they are nice too).