The Crunchpad may be gone but check out JooJoo

[Robotech_Master]

Part of the reason for the 16:9 screen is undoubtedly that they are pushing it as a video player as well as web browser. i.e. it is able to play 1080P high-definition without stuttering.

Also, Fusion Garage's President says that next year the Joo Joo is going to get 3G connectivity.

Assuming, of course, the lawsuits don't shut it down. It's going to be interesting to see what the courts decide.

[dmikov]

The worst part of this device (imho just insane) that this net only device, doesn't have cell connectivity only wifi.
I mean what? You can use your $500 gadget at home only?
Why cannot you step to your computer which is faster and have bigger screen I wonder.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dmikov

The worst part of this device (imho just insane) that this net only device, doesn't have cell connectivity only wifi.
I mean what? You can use your $500 gadget at home only?
Why cannot you step to your computer which is faster and have bigger screen I wonder.

It's clearly meant as a media streaming device, akin to the "set top boxes" which one can get for the same purpose these days. ie, a media client, to stream content from your own network or from the internet.

[LDBoblo]

Could be a good (if rather large) book viewer (it's got a good aspect ratio, despite HarryT's assertion to the contrary...Penguin's Red Classics use text blocks very close to 16:9, as do my Harper Collins paperbacks), and it allows some vertical space for menus or whatever while viewing/interacting with A4/letter-sized PDF. Lots of other potential uses too, but probably won't be explored much.

Real shame about it being net/cloud dependent. Oh well.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

Could be a good (if rather large) book viewer (it's got a good aspect ratio, despite HarryT's assertion to the contrary...Penguin's Red Classics use text blocks very close to 16:9, as do my Harper Collins paperbacks), and it allows some vertical space for menus or whatever while viewing/interacting with A4/letter-sized PDF. Lots of other potential uses too, but probably won't be explored much.

Real shame about it being net/cloud dependent. Oh well.

I'm not making any "assertions" - just expressing a personal opinion . You're right that most paperbacks do have an aspect ratio very close to that. Perhaps it's just that we're all so used to reading books on screens with a 4:3 aspect ratio, that the narrower format looks strange.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm not making any "assertions" - just expressing a personal opinion . You're right that most paperbacks do have an aspect ratio very close to that. Perhaps it's just that we're all so used to reading books on screens with a 4:3 aspect ratio, that the narrower format looks strange.

Typesetting novels in 4:3 is actually rather frustrating, especially when there isn't a lot of margin to play with. It's not as easy to make good use of the very limited vertical space, as spacing manipulation and gaps from widow/orphan removal are much more obvious than they are in a taller text block. Hyphenation frequency also becomes more of a concern (specifically, it's more conspicuous on a short page), though it's offset slightly by the greater possible line length, assuming a small enough font is used.

But yeah, when someone is accustomed to ebook reader screens and the lack of decent typesetting on ebook files outside of specialized PDFs, it's hard to imagine upgrading to a better form factor.

Of course, the Joojoo is a bit on the unwieldy side anyway due to overall size...so I'm hoping for a Mirasol or Liquavista or even PixelQi screen in 16:9. 8" or 9" would be great, but even 7" 16:9 (similar to the first generation of netbook screens) would allow typesetting on par with that of paperbacks, which for all the maligning done on these fora, are a hell of a lot more sophisticated than current ebooks.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm not making any "assertions" - just expressing a personal opinion . You're right that most paperbacks do have an aspect ratio very close to that. Perhaps it's just that we're all so used to reading books on screens with a 4:3 aspect ratio, that the narrower format looks strange.

I never got used to reading ebooks on a 4:3 screen. I dislike the fact that the width is wider than the height is high. 3:4 is much better to read. But I must say, I had to get used to the screen of my JE100 (closer to 9:16) at first, but now I'm finding it a very good size to read on.

[dmaul1114]

The problem with the narrow width for me is it would end up being too narrow to display some A4 sized PDFs etc. And I want a large screen reader that can display most all academic journal articles perfectly with no reflow etc. as it's important for tables and figures to be preserved, to have text intended to be buy the table to remain by the table etc.

So I'm really waiting for a tablet with an A4 sized screen. Novel reading will remain on my Kindle. My next purchase will before work related reading of journal articles and academic books.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

The problem with the narrow width for me is it would end up being too narrow to display some A4 sized PDFs etc. And I want a large screen reader that can display most all academic journal articles perfectly with no reflow etc. as it's important for tables and figures to be preserved, to have text intended to be buy the table to remain by the table etc.

So I'm really waiting for a tablet with an A4 sized screen. Novel reading will remain on my Kindle. My next purchase will before work related reading of journal articles and academic books.

Yes, I'm afraid of that as well. A larger sized screen I'd like to use with full-sized PDF files, magazine sized, and such. For normal book reading it's fine, but I wouldn't use anything larger than 7" for normal book reading...