Bezos: color Kindle is "years away"

[kamm]

http://gizmodo.com/5272428/amazons-j...ple-years-away

[brecklundin]

What else is Bezos going to say? He had his bluff called by Hearst & Sony and was forced to announce offically a large format reader way before they even have FCC approval (another thread around here somewhere). Now he cannot very well announce another reader in under a year. We will have ereading devices within the next 6-9 months with a solid 20ish hrs battery life and within the next 12-18 months there will be color epaper that rivals current eink displays that will be available in commercial quantities. Once the design and production infrastructure is set the readers will be produced quickly. And we should not discount the OLED displays, though they have longevity concerns still.

Something interesting in that link are the comments. You can tell several who claim to own and use an eink based reader probably have never even been in the same building as one. There is on post exclaiming they "crisp black and crisp white background" are perfect...I have yet to see any eink based display that is close to white under other than the best brightest lighting. Most of us do not read in idea conditions.

I am also amazed at the venom spat toward a device just for reading...I imagine the same people think nothing if a $300-$500 MP3 player, $600 phone, $200 BT headset, $300 set of Etymotic ear buds and a couple grand/yr on music as well as a $5000 investment in video game players and games every couple years. We each have our pleasures, a shame so many are so vocal against anything connected with learning and understanding. All we folks want to do is read in the most relaxing way we can...

Weird too how some cannot see there will always be a place for greyscale readers as well as color. To be honest I have only two reasons I want color, one is to be able to adjust the background color to what works for my eyes in a particular lighting condition and the other is to carry around a device to display photographs...even those online. That is the extent of my current visions of wanting color in a reader. They can leave the ability to play video to those devices which already to a great job in that area.

Eventually a much more multifunction device will come along...

Though how fun would it be to see the old Speed Racer Anime we watched every Saturday AM as kids (when they were new) on an ereading device? The frame rate was slow enough that it might even be possible with the current Epson controllers....

[Daithi]

Thanks to Kamm for posting this news. The fact that Bezos says a color Kindle is years away is interesting. Pixel Qi is suppossed to demo their color screens at Computex Taipei next week (some ultra-thin laptops will be introduced as well). If Pixel Qi is able to produce something phenomenal then I suppose the pressure will be back on Amazon.

I just love quickly advancing technology.

If you haven't seen the pictures of the Pixel Qi screen then take a look here.

[Kilgore Trout]

I am very interested in this subject, too, although as an author and as a reader. I write and read nonfiction books that could generally benefit not only from the inclusion of color photographs, but from larger photos as well. I look forward to the day when there can be a color Kindle with the screen size of the DX that opens up the world of nonfiction for e-books. I would hope that we shall see such a machine in the not too distant future that will carry at least a somewhat affordable price tag.

Plastic Ozone Daydream

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

I am very interested in this subject, too, although as an author and as a reader. I write and read nonfiction books that could generally benefit not only from the inclusion of color photographs, but from larger photos as well. I look forward to the day when there can be a color Kindle with the screen size of the DX that opens up the world of nonfiction for e-books. I would hope that we shall see such a machine in the not too distant future that will carry at least a somewhat affordable price tag.

Plastic Ozone Daydream

Certainly magazines would benefit although I would expect initial color offerings to be in the range of 256 colors, otherwise the refresh is too long.

Dale

[dmaul1114]

Yeah, for a long life, easy on the eyes screen it does seem to be all on Pixel QI at this point. The traditional e-ink displays seem years away from having color screens at an affordable price (especially with readers already being too expensive IMO).

I think the first thing will just be LCD tablet devices with decent battery life. While not ideal for those here who read for hours at a time, those devices will be fine for reading for most people who seldom read for more than an hour or so at a time. And the devices will be more appealing since they'd do a lot more than just read as they could be full feature web browsers, video players etc. etc. Thus they can sell to more than just avid readers.

Point being, who knows if dedicated readers with color screens will ever take off in the mainstream if decent tablet devices hit the market first. Dedicated readers may be relegated to always being a niche device that only appeals to avid readers who read enough to need a screen that's super easy on the eyes.

[Alisa]

Well maybe he wants color eInk or equivalent to do a color device. I doubt they want to get into the full-fledged computer manufacturing market. I think PixelQi stuff will make great netbooks and tablets. I hope they open up the Kindle store for software clients at that point like they have for the iPhone. There is still some advantage to eInk. It gets days of battery life on a very small battery and doesn't need any particular cooling effort. It's superior for a reader. However, a lightweight tablet that got a day or two on a charge, ran a standard OS and your chosen applications could get a lot of people reading ebooks that wouldn't want a reader. I'd get one of these instead of a DX but I'd be glad I had a 6" eInk reader for novels. It would be heavier and warmer most likely, and wouldn't last as long on a charge but for business use I'd prefer the ability to use regular office applications. Like Dmaul said, the market for eInk may dry up anyway since people already seem to have trouble understanding what's great about it and why it can be worth the extra money.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Alisa

Like Dmaul said, the market for eInk may dry up anyway since people already seem to have trouble understanding what's great about it and why it can be worth the extra money.

Like I said in the other thread, I think e-ink (or some equivalent) will stick around in dedicated devices for the avid reader niche.

And I don't think it's just that people in the mainstream don't understand the benefits (though that's part of it). The bigger issue is they simply don't read often enough to even think of buying a dedicated reader. If you're seldom reading more than an hour a day, then the eye strain and battery life benefits are pretty moot. And if you're only reading a few books a year, then buying a dedicated reader is a waste of money vs. just hitting the books store or library.

So the real key, as I've said many times, to getting ebooks more mainstream is getting them into multifunction devices that such casual readers buy mainly for other purposes like net surfing, video watching etc. etc.

But I don't think that will kill of e-ink (or comparable) screens as there will always be money to be made off the avid reader niche who needs something that's easy on the eyes and has super long battery life.