Why there isn't a perfect e-book reader (Gizmodo)

[Daithi]

I'm quite happy with my Kindle (K1), but I think the guy has a point.

The screens on the current ereaders are too small for nearly any book that isn't a novel. Today's ereaders are not suitable for

• Textbooks
• Technical Manuals
• Business Presentations
• PDFs of 8.5"x11" pages
• Etc.

Also, a color ereader would be great. There is a reason so many traditional books are color; they can provide information better than their black & white conterparts.

• art books
• travel guides
• magazines
• cooking books
• children's books
• etc.

One day I hope to have two devices. I want a big color ereader that can display just about anything, and I want a small ereader that I can fit in my pocket, so that I can carry around a couple thousand novels with me at all times.

[Amalthia]

when blogs was mentioned I had this nightmarish vision of badly formatted and purple text on grey backgrounds coming to us soon via our ebook devices. one advantage of being stuck with white background and black text is that everything is rather readable without the users messing it up. Basically, this feels like just one more area where people will eventually be able to express their creativity and hurt people's brains in the process.

Though, it would be neat to read graphic novels (with all the colors) on my device.

[JSWolf]

But there are things that can be done to make the current crop of readers a lot nicer.

1. font kerning
2. hyphenation
3. all the formats so we can read them with DRM and without

That's a start right there that would do well.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

when blogs was mentioned I had this nightmarish vision of badly formatted and purple text on grey backgrounds coming to us soon via our ebook devices. one advantage of being stuck with white background and black text is that everything is rather readable without the users messing it up. Basically, this feels like just one more area where people will eventually be able to express their creativity and hurt people's brains in the process.

Though, it would be neat to read graphic novels (with all the colors) on my device.

Well, there are good blogs and bad blogs. For instance, I really like Gizmodo which is where we got the article that started this thread. It really benefits from color photos. There are also plenty of great magazines that need color. I wouldn't be nearly as interested in National Geographic without color, or fashion magazines for that matter.

Besides, there are a lot more folks out there reading Perez Hilton, watching cats flush toilets on You Tube and looking at pr0n every day than there are buying novels. Mass appeal will make devices cheaper and spur innovation. I work in the broadband field. When people ask me what I do, I have been known to refer to myself as a Pornography Expediter. I know many folks don't like it but just like video games drive a lot of computer hardware innovation, getting people their smut faster drives a lot of networking innovation.

[AMacD]

And then there is paper. It melts when wet, sticks together in damp weather, grows mildew on it, doesn't float, doesn't have a built in light, is difficult for the elderly to hold, and finally can rarely be used by a two year old, except to wipe his butt or stuff in his mouth.

[CTH]

Well have you ever tried to wipe your butt with a kindle? I can tell you that I would chose paper over that any day

But OT, I wonder what will happen when ereaders get screens that can show movies... I mean ereaders is like the only portable technology that goes towards large screens, 6 inch is already larger than almost any handheld device out there. Books are great but something tells me that movies will be a huge selling point in the future. I imagine that a movie on a e-ink screen could be pretty nice

And I thought that e-ink was cheaper than LCD to make, when the production is high enough...

[round 2]

if there was perfect there would be no reason to go forward
s

[Daithi]

The ulimate innovation in e-book readers: eInk toilet paper

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by DG25

They talk about reflective LCD displays for E-reading, but doesn't the JetBook uses the same screen, although it's monochrome? Is there any difference? If it's so good, why then it's only used for JetBook, and the rest use EInk?

jetBook uses TFT screen. This screen produced by Toshiba available on Japanese market only. You can see the quality of the screen below


and one more picture of jetBook into action:



For me jetBook is a perfect eBook reader. I don't want touchscreen and I don't want 6' screen (5' is a true pocket size) and I don't need wifi...

[Kris777]

Originally Posted by Daithi

The ulimate innovation in e-book readers: eInk toilet paper

I didn't see it on CES. Please send the link for more details

[ProDigit]

I think the plastic Logics reader would be amazingly cool if they only gave it near to no border (almost all screen).
I'm very content with both the DPI, page refresh and battery life on the sony PRS 505!

The only thing I could wish for is a slightly larger format (aka 7" to 9" screen, 1024x720pix) for comic books and PDF files!

I thought that developing a TFT screen with white, solid plastic; or a reflective aluminum foil-like background couldn't be too hard,but seemingly I was wrong I guess...
One could easily create that low cost, though I wonder why so little companies do this?

[ProDigit]

Originally Posted by Sparhawk2k

The mention of Pixel Qi makes me want to pull out my XO/OLPC (same screen) again and try to get some ebook software on there...

Seems like pq is going to pull it off next year producing cheap 10" hi-res ebook screens!
Probably the OLPC technology on a white background, since they mention rivaling e-ink screens and using their LCD's in the sunlight.
They also mention an upto 5x battery saving, which could lead us to think it's talking about regular LCD without, or with LED backlight.

PS: E-ink will never be upgraded for movies,since what takes energy on e-ink is refreshes, and movies generally need AT LEAST 15fps; 25fps recommended.
@8000 pageswaps you can watch exactly 320 seconds of movie on current technology; that's like 5,something minutes.
It's more likely to see color LCD devices in the future for ebooks,since they can provide for reasonable black & white levels too.

[Mr. Goodbar]

Rather hard to expect a perfect device at anytime given different people want different things. Just look at the variety of cell phones and the passion that springs up around which is better. Perfect will never happen and perfect enough will be based on an individuals usage.

For me, none of the readers meet my real goals, but it's also an emerging market that is in it's very earliest stages as it relates to practical adoption. I've been reading ebooks since I got my HP100lx when they were released in the early '90's and it's only been recently that I see other people reading them as well. As passionate as we all are on this board, we're still an incredibly small market. If you look at total sales volume for all the readers you're probably still only talking about a few million devices/users and that doesn't account for people that have more than one. With all that said, it's a rather exciting time to be interested in this area with all the new readers either announced or speculated.

[lightfusegetaway]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

The only thing I could wish for is a slightly larger format (aka 7" to 9" screen, 1024x720pix) for comic books and PDF files!

One could easily create that low cost, though I wonder why so little companies do this?

If the new 9.7" Astak reader isn't vaporware, you might just get your wish. I haven't seen any buzz about it since last year though.

Originally Posted by DG25

They talk about reflective LCD displays for E-reading, but doesn't the JetBook uses the same screen, although it's monochrome? Is there any difference? If it's so good, why then it's only used for JetBook, and the rest use EInk?

The Jetbook's screen has undoubtedly the better contrast. Compared side-by-side the print is much nearer to black than anything I have seen via e-ink. Add this to its near instant page refresh/turn speed, which makes e-ink seem like a something out of the 1960's (seriously, would anyone tolerate this same speed on their computer screen?), it should be considered superior form. Unfortunately, it has not yet been used in a superior unit.

Why is Jetbook the only one? Answer: herd mentality? Or perhaps just because e-ink is the new buzz word and LCD, which has been with us a long time now is older and would not be a selling point?

Anyone notice that the Jetbook still does not have its own separate forum here at Mobileread? Could this be LCD discrimination? Alexander?