Innoversal Papyrus coming in September

[dpayment]

I've been having an email conversation the past two days with Cooper Chen, President of Innoversal Communications Inc., and he has assured me that the Innoversal Papyrus eReader will be available at the end of August. Their website is www.innoversal.com.tw, and they have the specs for both the Papyrus, and their Matrix Tablet PC. According to Mr. Chen, pricing at the moment is proposed at approximately $330 U.S. for the Papyrus, but he emphasizes that this is not hard and fast, it could change. Correction from Mr. Chen, it uses an 8" EPD from PVI, has 8GB of onboard memory, supports some kind of memory card (not specified) 8" screen and supports at least a half a dozen formats. They are currently in negotiations with content providers, no details there, but the device also contains WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth. Add a 0.6 second refresh rate, and it sounds like I've just found what I'm looking for!!!

Dan

[Worldwalker]

That does look like a sweet device. I can't see it replacing either my 505 or my netbook, but it, or something like it, might supplement them. I'll watch where this goes.

Though if they'd like to trade me one for editing/proofreading the English side of their website, they'll be getting a good deal. (yes, that's a serious offer)

[HarryT]

0.6s screen refresh is awfully slow. The good eInk devices are down at about 0.2s these days.

[dpayment]

Originally Posted by HarryT

0.6s screen refresh is awfully slow. The good eInk devices are down at about 0.2s these days.

I guess we have differences on what constitutes slow. To me, half a second is the blink of an eye, no big deal, but then again, if 0.2s is what you're looking for, it's probably going to come at a bit of a premium.

Dan

[eLiNK]

A 0.6 second refresh rate would be a turn-off for me too.
But it is always good to have an alternative technology.

[gastan]

point 6 seconds? It takes me longer than that to turn a page in a dead tree book. A lot longer. But I still read 'em.

[BenLee]

I guess we have to consider the device in terms of what's available out there. If we have 0.2 as more or less the new benchmark, going back down to 0.6 seems kind of weak. Sorta like going back to 300Mhz processor or something haha.

[vxf]

On paper we have 0.2. To me, it seems all devices I have tried take longer than that... I guess I am not sure about the technicalities of how that is measured. But a Kindle DX, a SONY PRS900, a Nook (to cite the ones I have been playing with recently) all take considerably longer to turn a page in real-world use.

What I am trying to say is... who cares that the screen COULD, in theory, turn pages faster, when, in reality, they never do because of limitations with the processors?

Or, maybe, I am missing the point. As I said, I know very little about the technicalities of the devices.

But if load my PRS900 with 2-300 PDFs, daily newspapers, some books and a couple of magazines (well short of the 16gb of storage that it supposedly supports) my page turning takes about 50 seconds, not .2

[charleski]

Originally Posted by vxf

On paper we have 0.2. To me, it seems all devices I have tried take longer than that... I guess I am not sure about the technicalities of how that is measured. But a Kindle DX, a SONY PRS900, a Nook (to cite the ones I have been playing with recently) all take considerably longer to turn a page in real-world use.

Yeah, the 0.2s claim is for switching between pre-rendered, static patterns. Actual page-turn speed depends on how long it takes the processor to layout and render the next page as well. I'd be quite satisfied with an actual page-turn speed of 0.6s that was consistent.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by charleski

Yeah, the 0.2s claim is for switching between pre-rendered, static patterns. Actual page-turn speed depends on how long it takes the processor to layout and render the next page as well. I'd be quite satisfied with an actual page-turn speed of 0.6s that was consistent.

Hold down the page turn button on a modern eInk device such as a Sony PRS-600 and it will flip through pages at about 4 pages a second. That's where you want a decent page-turning speed, for flipping through the book. For normal reading, going page by page, then as has been said, it doesn't really matter.

[goodscoolwf]

Yeah, This is just what I expected! If the price can lower down, It may reignite a new "revolution"

[pendragginp]

I like the idea of the Papyrus (especially at a lower price); but there are some things that make me go hmmm.

A thin film solar cell is built into the laminated aluminum integral lid of the product. In sunlight, the cell can harvest enough energy to allow a page turn every 2.14 seconds, or every 6.62 seconds if the radio is actively sharing content. Extra energy gathered by the photovoltaic panel is buffered in the small Li-polymer cell in the main body. No external provisions are made for charging the device from mains power, so 100% of the energy used by Papyrus is renewable.

I'm uncertain how consistently well this will work relying just on solar power. Am I wrong?

[gastan]

Where did that quote come from? I can't find it on the link provided by the OP. It only specs a 1500mAh battery with estimated reading/browsing/music times. No mention of solar.

Also not sure if the link he provided is the correct link for what he's talking about. He mentions a "Matrix Tablet PC" but there is nothing called that on the site he links too. Just the "Papyrus" and the "Lattice".

[pendragginp]

Originally Posted by gastan

Where did that quote come from? I can't find it on the link provided by the OP. It only specs a 1500mAh battery with estimated reading/browsing/music times. No mention of solar.

Also not sure if the link he provided is the correct link for what he's talking about. He mentions a "Matrix Tablet PC" but there is nothing called that on the site he links too. Just the "Papyrus" and the "Lattice".

When I googled the Papyrus yesterday this was at one of the sites that came up. Go past the chinese to the English 'My Papyrus' article - the solar battery is talked about in the last two paragraphs.

http://http://cooperchen.blogspot.com/

[pendragginp]

Here is the article:

My Papyrus

Papyrus is an ultraportable handheld electronic viewer for textual and graphic information which harvests operating energy from the sun and transparently links to other Papyrus or content servers in the area to share content. This solar networked information propagating paper-like display brings together the daylight readability and extremely low average power consumption of an electronic paper display, a solar panel to gather energy from light, and a Wifi/Bluetooth radio interface.

The readability and optical quality of an E Ink display are unparalleled, especially in high light conditions like outdoors during daylight hours. The 1024x768 8" diagonal high reflectivity screen used in the device offers 166ppi resolution at 16 gray levels, which translates to crisp, well rendered text and detailed grayscale images with a paper-like look. A high quality device of this nature can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 128kg and fresh water usage by 3543 liters per year by displacing the paper used for ephemeral content by a typical reader.

The screen uses zero power when holding a static image and has no backlight. In a typical usage scenario, this results in extremely low power consumption and allows for thin and compact product design. The lack of a backlight and polarizing films results in a slim 1.2mm thickness for the display module, and the low power characteristics of the display permits selection of 2.5mm profile lightweight lithium-ion batteries. These factors combine with aggressive industrial design to yield a total device thickness (with cover) of 8mm and a mass of 98g (without case).

Papyrus's main body contains the epaper screen, the RoHS compliant electronics package, radio, user interface, (Micro)SD card slot, and battery. Back and front faceplates made from potentially recycled and certainly recyclable aluminum alloy sandwich a molded core to form a laminated structure capable of sufficient strength and stiffness without the need for petroleum based high performance virgin polymers. The core section and radio window could instead be made from biopolymers or post consumer PET.

A thin film solar cell is built into the laminated aluminum integral lid of the product. In sunlight, the cell can harvest enough energy to allow a page turn every 2.14 seconds, or every 6.62 seconds if the radio is actively sharing content. Extra energy gathered by the photovoltaic panel is buffered in the small Li-polymer cell in the main body. No external provisions are made for charging the device from mains power, so 100% of the energy used by Papyrus is renewable. The lid is linked to the main body with a two element living hinge which conceals the electrical connections to the solar cell.

The ultralow base power consumption enabled by the selection of the electronic paper screen, coupled with the use of light as the sole energy input and displacement of massive amounts of paper use give this device a strong lead in the environmental impact category. Laminated metal/organic construction, design for reparability and long service life, and mostly recyclable components minimize the life cycle ecological impact of the device.