Am I the only one ?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Or an iPhone case: http://www.popslate.com/

Warning: autoplays incredibly annoying music with no obvious mechanism to turn it off.

WHY do some web designers still think that that's a good idea?

[sambo.]

I'd like an e-ink with the grunt of a smartphone. Say, an Aura HD or Paper white II screen/shell with the innards of a galaxy S3. I've got an Aura HD on the way I'm planning to use with android.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by sambo.

I'd like an e-ink with the grunt of a smartphone. Say, an Aura HD or Paper white II screen/shell with the innards of a galaxy S3. I've got an Aura HD on the way I'm planning to use with android.

The "grunt" (as you put it) of a smartphone would result in an eInk device with an extremely short battery life. The reason that eInk devices have a relatively slow CPU is because these CPUs use very little power compared with the multi-core CPUs found in modern smartphones. Do you really want an eInk reader that you have to recharge every day?

[mikij1]

Liquavista
Japan Display
IRX Innovations

Perhaps... some day...

Pd.: No... you aren't the only one.

[Jack Torrance]

Originally Posted by HarryT

. Do you really want an eInk reader that you have to recharge every day?

Is that really a bad thing if it gets you what you want? I have to recharge my phone every night, as do most people with a smart device. My K2 lasts 2-3 weeks but a week would be fine as well. Its the rare person away from a plug for that long anyway.

If you could get both and it lasted 20 hours I would be happy with it.

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Or an iPhone case: http://www.popslate.com/

Personally I think that's pretty damn cool. But I have two issues.

By the time it gets to the point of being large enough to read comfortably on, and I would say a 6 inch screen would be ideal the phone has to be at least that size to avoid the dual device problem. To me anything smaller than a 6 inch screen for reading would be a strain and not worth it. Now your up to a very large deviuce to carry around as a phone.

While I think my Iphone5 is a touch small by co-workers Galaxy Note 2 with only a 5.5 inch screen would still not be large enough to get a good reading area on the back of is too big to comfortably fit in a front pocket and I'm not a skinny jeans type of guy so I can still put things in my pocket.

The second thing would be protecting the screen on the ereader. I have a cover on my Kindles so they dont get damaged and they are not as strong as the traditional gorilla glass.

It looks promising don't get me wrong but Im not sure its ready for prime time yet.

[Namekuseijin]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

My hope is that a display technology comes along that has the speed of LCD with the low power and readability of e-ink. Mirasol was a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps Liquavista will prove better, if it ever sees the light of day in a commercial product. Or there's the reflective LCD from Japan Dissplay that uses static RAM cells at each pixel to reduce power on static displays, currently available for watches.

BTW, this is what I don't understand: the very first LCD screens were readable under the sun! those monochrome LCDs were even used in some of the early ereaders.

what happened to that feature? Even Nintendo's Gameboy Advance used a full color LCD that needed external light to be readble

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

BTW, this is what I don't understand: the very first LCD screens were readable under the sun! those monochrome LCDs were even used in some of the early ereaders.

what happened to that feature? Even Nintendo's Gameboy Advance used a full color LCD that needed external light to be readble

Somewhere around my house there's a Pandigital ereader with a monochrome LCD that was very usable outdoors. The software stunk and it was slow as molasses (very poor input response), but the display wasn't bad at all.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

BTW, this is what I don't understand: the very first LCD screens were readable under the sun! those monochrome LCDs were even used in some of the early ereaders.

what happened to that feature? Even Nintendo's Gameboy Advance used a full color LCD that needed external light to be readble

The problem with those screens is that they're ONLY readable under the sun, or using a sidelight. Their reflectance and contrast is poor.

(I used to have a Sony Clie SJ-20 with an active matrix monochrome LCD screen. It was very good in sunlight. Otherwise it needed it's internal light turning on.)

[sambo.]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The "grunt" (as you put it) of a smartphone would result in an eInk device with an extremely short battery life.

not necessarily and ultimately it comes down to 'what you're doing' with it.

if you're using that grunt (wifi? 3/4G web access? processor intensive tasks), then yes, you'll drain the juice.

offline, simply running it as an e-reader, not so much.

personally, I look at the size & weight of currently available batteries and I reckon an e-reader would still be comfortable with an extra S3 or similar battery.

the tech is available, why gimp a device with 256MB of RAM in this day and age? using up back inventory (original iPod's G3 laptop drives?) only goes so long.

perhaps I should point out that i'm a photographer. hence, i'm already lugging anything from 12-50kg of assorted widgets on a regular basis, so an extra 200 grams really won't be noticed for utility.

i lug a proper laptop for 'shop & indesign work. i honestly see no need for an ipad style tablet and don't own one. i have, however, just ordered an Aura HD because i like to read and lcd screens gieb me a headache.

now, i can think of a hundred ways an e-ink 'droid or linux 'tablet' armed with my S3's grunt would be a styling piece of gear and free up time for comfortable reading.

maybe it's just me....