Solar Powered e-Book reader announced.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

I thought I would prefer that, too, and for a long time resisted getting a kindle for that very reason. Now, though, I prefer having more non-screen space for a couple of reasons: One, I can pick it up and hold it without having to be so conscious of whether or not I'm going to get fingerprints on the screen, and two, with these stupid progressive lenses in my glasses, my "up-and-down" range is not that large. I can prop the kindle in front of me on my lap or on a desk and the fuzzy area of my vision is in the keyboard area, not the reading area. (I've got the K2 -- I'm not sure the K3 would work as well for me.) YMMV, of course, but it actually works to my advantage to have more non-screen space.

"Stupid" progressives is right! I tried those and hated the way they distorted my vision. I much prefer tri-focals

[M0zza]

It is a shame that the ebook reader is so fugly. And the position of the solar panel seems wrong to me.

[markuskane]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

If it would work on indoor lighting like many calulators will and have battery back up, I might be interested.

I have this "emergency" radio that has a hand crank you can use to power the radio if the batteries fail. I wonder if you could use something like that to power up an e-reader.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by markuskane

I have this "emergency" radio that has a hand crank you can use to power the radio if the batteries fail. I wonder if you could use something like that to power up an e-reader.

Sure.

[murraypaul]

Why wouldn't you just buy whatever reader you wanted that charged from USB, and then a USB solar charger?

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Why wouldn't you just buy whatever reader you wanted that charged from USB, and then a USB solar charger?

No one says you can't. But one of the things that make a solar powered reader so brilliant is that, if it works like a solar powered calculator, it is self contained. Load a couple thousand books onto a memory card, insert into the reader, and it might be years before you have to worry about hooking it up to anything...

--
Bill

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Why wouldn't you just buy whatever reader you wanted that charged from USB, and then a USB solar charger?

A reader would need to be designed to work well with a photovoltaic panel. For one thing, the existing battery is too large. What would be needed is a unit that would use minimal power and still be readable (LCD displays of any kind consume too much). The battery would have to be sized only to be big enough to act as a buffer if the light should momentarily be dimmed. Anything more would hog too much power.

The two would need to be integrated into one unit, Otherwise, people would find it to much a hurt in the donkey to fool with.

[meromana]

Originally Posted by markuskane

I have this "emergency" radio that has a hand crank you can use to power the radio if the batteries fail. I wonder if you could use something like that to power up an e-reader.

Same here. We have flashlights and radios that work like this, and I had proposed a hand-crank ereader on another forum recently. Maybe I'm just the paranoid, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it type. Or maybe I'm just a never-want-to-be-without-my-favorite-toys type.

But anyway, here's my question: when running on solar power only, is an ereader technically no longer an electronic device, and therefore, allowed to be operated on an airplane during take-off and landing? I'm pretty sure the answer will be no, but I'm ever hopeful...

--Maria

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by meromana

Same here. We have flashlights and radios that work like this, and I had proposed a hand-crank ereader on another forum recently. Maybe I'm just the paranoid, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it type. Or maybe I'm just a never-want-to-be-without-my-favorite-toys type.

But anyway, here's my question: when running on solar power only, is an ereader technically no longer an electronic device, and therefore, allowed to be operated on an airplane during take-off and landing? I'm pretty sure the answer will be no, but I'm ever hopeful...

--Maria

You're correct. 'Tis no.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by meromana

Same here. We have flashlights and radios that work like this, and I had proposed a hand-crank ereader on another forum recently. Maybe I'm just the paranoid, end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it type. Or maybe I'm just a never-want-to-be-without-my-favorite-toys type.

--Maria

Better than adding a hand-crank to each device is getting a USB charger with one. They are already available, and easy to find via Google. They also seem to be somewhat fragile, so it's probably better that they aren't build into each device as cheaply as possible.

[kevinp]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Better than adding a hand-crank to each device is getting a USB charger with one. They are already available, and easy to find via Google. They also seem to be somewhat fragile, so it's probably better that they aren't build into each device as cheaply as possible.

I looked at one that's supposed to charge a cell phone and it takes the average phone about twelve hours to charge!

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Deleted by poster who needs to go to bed because she can't read when half asleep.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

A reader would need to be designed to work well with a photovoltaic panel. For one thing, the existing battery is too large. What would be needed is a unit that would use minimal power and still be readable (LCD displays of any kind consume too much). The battery would have to be sized only to be big enough to act as a buffer if the light should momentarily be dimmed. Anything more would hog too much power.

Um, momentarily dimmed like at night? It is dark 14+ hours a day in winter in my part of the world. Or on a plane, in a building, ...

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Um, momentarily dimmed like at night? It is dark 14+ hours a day in winter in my part of the world. Or on a plane, in a building, ...

If a solar (actually Photo Voltaic--PV--may be more accurate) e-book reader was built like a "solar" caluclator, it would operate on indoor lighting. A small backup battery (or other short term power storage device) would be needed to avoid loosing one's place should the device loose power momentarily by angling away from the light source, passing a hand over the solar cells, etc. On a calculator, the purpose of the PV cells is to operate the device, not to charge up a long term battery. The cells do not put out enough power to both charge a large battery and the device. The same could apply to an e-book reader. If the PV cells would put out enough to allow using the device in indoor lighting and charge up a tiny battery or other storage device to ensure a momentary interruption or reduction of power from the PV cells wouldn't immediately shut down the reader.

I just pulled a small calculator out of my desk and played with it a bit. It hasn't been used since too far back to remember. I turned it on (yes, it has on and off buttons) and it worked fine with only the light from the light over my desk. After about 20 seconds of fooling with it, I put my thumb over the PV cells to block light from hitting them and the display and the calculator continued to work for some time. The same happened when I pulled the calculator in my purse out. It hasn't seen light in weeks. From the time I walked to my desk from my purse (less than five seconds), then put my thumb over the PV cells, the little battery inside the calculator had accumulated enough power to operate the calculator for around a minute until I got tired of waiting on it to die and put it away.

It would not be unrealistic to expect a "solar" e-book reader to do something similar. As long as there is enough light to read by (such as indoor lighting), it should be able to operate without interruption and charge a small battery that would ensure continued operation should the light source be interrupted momentarily and allow the reader to remain on stand by or sleep mode for long periods of time to avoid losing one's place in a book. I'm curious to see if this reader is capable of all that and have usable firmware for me.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by kevinp

I looked at one that's supposed to charge a cell phone and it takes the average phone about twelve hours to charge!

Yikes! I guess it's more for emergency use rather than regular charging. That's good to know because I was thinking of trying one out. Still, it would have the advantage of giving you hands of steel, lower phone bills, and plenty of time for meditation.