What will e-readers be like 10 years from now?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Conan46

5-10 years ago E-ink looked like it was going to be so good it would end up on laptop computers. It has barely moved an inch over the past decade. We still do not have color e-ink devices in the mainstream and affordable. Meanwhile, led/lcd screens keep leaping forward, battery life increases, Android's operating system keeps improving. I was all in about a decade ago for e-ink, but mostly 6" black and white screens haven't excited me. I would have expected a 10" color e-ink device in the mainstream by now. I think e-ink at its snail pace of improvement hasn't gained much ground compared to years ago. Indeed, my first e-ink Kindle had more features than my last Paperwhite 3 exception only being the light on the Paperwhite.

I guess I look at it completely differently. Nothing about LCD screens "excite" me. I still find eInk superior for reading – now that I've found how to embed Constantia font into ePub documents, I'm finding my eight and ten year old Sony eReaders to be even better. I don't see the need for color eInk screens (I mostly read novels and non-fiction – not manuals or magazines). I like the battery life, size and clarity (and lack of eyestrain) on the non-front-lit eReaders and find them superior to any other electronic medium. I don't really see any real need for improvement.

So, for me, the eInk screen (alone) is superior to LCD or LED. When you add in the smaller size and much better battery life, it's not even close. Tablets still have a long, long way to go to catch up to eInk eReaders.

And Android doesn't do anything for me either. Even my phone uses Blackberry's OS10.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by sealbeater

Which report are you referring to? There are several, involving both kindle and firestick. I mean, it's not like Amazon didnt file a patent to listen in on people's conversations. I'm not sure what you mean by "no one could show any proof that Amazon does that". What more additional proof do you require?



I prefer people not know what I am reading. I also prefer corporations not know how much battery power I have on my device, where I am when I am reading, how fast I am reading, what books I have in my library, what web calls my devices makes, etc. Know what books a man reads and you know the man.



There's a bit of a difference between maintaining server logs and collecting analytics about your individual reading habits en masse. Glad you found something to laugh at.

On farther thinking, they have to keep track of how far you have read one of their books so the sync between devices will work.

Now as to the cookies why I found it amusing was the
OMG Amazon tracks your reading. We use cookies to track usage but that it is ok. What Amazon does is not ok.
Now I don't know about you but to me tracking is tracking.
Same dang thing. Hence they belong in Harper Valley.
Don't ever complain about one big company doing something when you are doing pretty much the same thing.
I don't know what that site does with the data they receive from me.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I guess I look at it completely differently. Nothing about LCD screens "excite" me. I still find eInk superior for reading – now that I've found how to embed Constantia font into ePub documents, I'm finding my eight and ten year old Sony eReaders to be even better...

Have you ever looked into a Kobo Glo or Aura? They can be had fairly cheap on Amazon (the Aura is cheaper than the Glo for some reason). You can install any font you would like fairly painlessly and not have to embed the font in the book.

[rem736]

i'm just looking forward to devices with built-in solar panels for charging. can't believe that this hasn't been done yet.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

As a retired Teradata DBA, I can assure you, every business on the planet collects information on its customers. Though sharing that information is rare, most businesses don't want their competitors to know about their customer base.

How do you think those tailored casino offers get made, or those coupons that spit out from the cash register in the supermarket get printed? What drives the oil change offers for your car that come in the mail?

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a vital component of a successful business operation and has been since the 1960s, at least.

To the original question, I don't see eBook readers changing all that much, at least not in any revolutionary manner. Minor things like a lower price, more memory and better battery life are evolutionary not revolutionary.

Tablets are beginning to morph into the hybrid PCs similar to that of the Microsoft Surface devices, and phones are getting ever more sophisticated. I see that while many WILL read on the hybrids and phones, I suspect there will always be a demand for some sort of reading appliance. The eBook devices are a pretty mature product category.

Oh I know all businesses collect data. Within a month of buying our truck, we started getting phone calls and letters saying our warranty was about to expire.
I don't worry about it. Heck, I figure my internet posts are being tracked.
On the oil changes I find it amusing the dealership sends us coupons. We paid $400 or so for lifetime oil changes. Took less than 2 years for it to pay for itself.

I figure some poor tracker is either bored or hungry.
Oh and I never get usable coupons.

Now the one I find amusing is insurance companies (Flo and lizard specifically ), about every 2 to 3 years I get an offer wanting to insure me. Those are the only 2 that come in my name. I just call and ask them for a quote. They always tell me we can't insure you and let me get you off our mailing list. I don't drive.

As per the coupons on receipts, we always just get whatever restaurant is offering a deal that month. We don't buy brand name very often.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I certainly would not want anything resembling a paper book. Compared to e-readers they're clumsy and much less comfortable to hold. If I wanted paper books, I'd read paper books.

As to company-controlled readers, I would not fancy them overmuch either. My Kindles stay in airplane mode most of the time and I sideload my books. But I don't really sweat it either. So what if a corporation knows what I read? They can read my e-mail too by that logic and listen in to my phone calls and know what I watch on Netflix etc. etc. If one wants to retain total privacy in today's world, one must get off internet and live in a desert somewhere. I don't want to live in a desert without internet, so there'll always be some compromise on privacy.

They could move to Kent Texas. No phones, no internet, no stores, no fuel, not much of anything for at least an hour.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Have you ever looked into a Kobo Glo or Aura? They can be had fairly cheap on Amazon (the Aura is cheaper than the Glo for some reason). You can install any font you would like fairly painlessly and not have to embed the font in the book.

I owned a Kobo Glo for a while. I don't know if I really tried it much without the front-light, but my eyes couldn't get used to its "glo." I have checked into the Aura (you've mentioned it before) but I'm leery of the murkiness of screen when not using the light. It seems like all the front-lit eReaders that I've seen have the "murky" factor to some degree when the light is off.

I do currently have a bid on a Kobo Touch, however. Wouldn't I be able to add fonts to a Touch also?

As for embedding fonts, it's pretty simple in Calibre (I didn't realize how simple). I've tested it on a few Feedbook ePubs I've downloaded and it takes about a minute, maybe 30 seconds. Mostly, however, I would use it for Kindle books (Gutenberg reprints that have been cleaned up and well-formatted, so it's worth paying what little they charge for them). These will have to be converted for ePub anyhow, so there's no added work involved at all when embedding fonts.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I do currently have a bid on a Kobo Touch, however. Wouldn't I be able to add fonts to a Touch also?

I would think so. Kobo is good about updating old devices with newer firmware. But the Touch is a little before my time and I never researched it because I want a light. Check the Kobo forum for a sure answer.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I do currently have a bid on a Kobo Touch, however. Wouldn't I be able to add fonts to a Touch also?

Copy the correctly named font files into a "fonts" directory in the root of the exposed partition. Power cycle your Touch and you should be able to use the new font. There's a sticky Summary of Modified Fonts in the Kobo forum.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I know. At this point it's kind of fruitless to try to avoid it. I figure if they want to bore the hell out of themselves following my life, go for it.

Yep. One of the main subjects in my gmail inbox is cat poop, its smell, color and consistency (I volunteer at a local shelter and participate in its internal mailing list). They're welcome to read it, whoever "they" may be.

Seriously though, life is too short to bother with trying to retain total privacy at all costs. If I lived 500 years or so, then I might look at it differently. But as it stands now... eh. I'll be dead soon enough. Why complicate my remaining days unnecessarily.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Copy the correctly named font files into a "fonts" directory in the root of the exposed partition. Power cycle your Touch and you should be able to use the new font. There's a sticky Summary of Modified Fonts in the Kobo forum.

Thanks for that. I wasn't sure at what point adding your own fonts became a part of Kobo's firmware.

As an aside, I don't have to power down my Aura. I just dump the fonts in the font folder, eject and there they are. I just tried Constantia, though it was back to Noto Serif for me.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by barryem

My hope is that ereaders in 10 years will be a lot like they are today. The point of an ereader is reading books and these devices are perfect for that.

I guess the one thing I do hope changes is that ereaders are no longer proprietary devices from book sellers, but that companies can compete to give us more variety in size and type and that they'll all read any books we happen to buy, DRM or not.

Barry

Barry, I hope your prediction is the correct one.

[DaleDe]

I would hope that glass substrates go away completely on all sizes.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

I would hope that glass substrates go away completely on all sizes.

This is my hope, as well!

Shari

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Thanks for that. I wasn't sure at what point adding your own fonts became a part of Kobo's firmware.

As an aside, I don't have to power down my Aura. I just dump the fonts in the font folder, eject and there they are. I just tried Constantia, though it was back to Noto Serif for me.

Not power cycling after installing a new font can lead to some odd issues such as all italics showing as bold-italic or not showing as italic.