The featherweight netbook vs everything else - Page 2

LDBoblo · 01-17-2010, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I see. So if someone else likes the 505 they are "convincing themselves that it's good" and it's "subjective", but if you don't like it, it's "the truth". Is that a reasonable summary of your position?

Relatively speaking? Yes.

HarryT · 01-17-2010, 12:47 PM

Fair enough.

.

mogui · 01-17-2010, 09:40 PM

The Pixel Qi is an exciting development that I had not been aware of, having been tuned out for a long while. Combine it with an economical low-power SoC like the Arm and it offers the potential to extend the between-charge utility of a device even further.

I have seen tablets that dock to their keyboards, providing a small, e-reader sized handheld that can turn into a Smartbook in a flash. Freescale's reference design is one such. Can similar ones be far behind?

Is convergence a bad word here? As the e-readers develop more capabilities and retain their astounding battery life, and the smartbooks grow more efficient screens, we will evolve something that better fills a broad existing niche. The smaller niche of e-books and their fans might be filled by devices which offer greater advancements in compactness, lightness, foldability/rollability and battery life.

Personally, I want an e-book heads-up display on my glasses. And as for the lovers of various devices that have been described here, a wise man once told me that we are all correct in our own unique ways.

HansTWN · 01-18-2010, 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mogui

The Pixel Qi is an exciting development that I had not been aware of, having been tuned out for a long while. Combine it with an economical low-power SoC like the Arm and it offers the potential to extend the between-charge utility of a device even further.

I have seen tablets that dock to their keyboards, providing a small, e-reader sized handheld that can turn into a Smartbook in a flash. Freescale's reference design is one such. Can similar ones be far behind?

Is convergence a bad word here? As the e-readers develop more capabilities and retain their astounding battery life, and the smartbooks grow more efficient screens, we will evolve something that better fills a broad existing niche. The smaller niche of e-books and their fans might be filled by devices which offer greater advancements in compactness, lightness, foldability/rollability and battery life.

Personally, I want an e-book heads-up display on my glasses. And as for the lovers of various devices that have been described here, a wise man once told me that we are all correct in our own unique ways.

The PixelQi is an interesting development. But I don't think they are there yet. From the specs and comments about colors, etc it seems you get a lousy black and white and a lousy color screen. They have a way to go.

Convergence is great, as long as the converged devices are just as good in every single way as the separate devices they replace. The only allowance I make here is for my phone, which is used to replace every other device in a pinch due to its extreme portability. Thus to replace the ereader a convergence device must be a tablet small in size, very light, not run hot, have a comfortable reading screen and a long battery life. Since they would also have to replace a computer they would also have good sound, video, great processing speed, lots of memory, big hard disks, and a way to use an external keyboard. No small order. I would buy such a device next time I buy a new computer and then also use it as my main reading device. But for the moment the convergence devices seem to be computing devices with reading as an afterthought. That is not what I want, as long as that is the case, I will be on seperate devices.

I will gladly give up my dedicated reader for something at least as good and convenient that can do a lot more. But I have reading and computing devices already. Why should I buy something new without compelling reason?

LDBoblo · 01-18-2010, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HansTWN

The PixelQi is an interesting development. But I don't think they are there yet. From the specs and comments about colors, etc it seems you get a lousy black and white and a lousy color screen. They have a way to go.

Convergence is great, as long as the converged devices are just as good in every single way as the separate devices they replace. The only allowance I make here is for my phone, which is used to replace every other device in a pinch due to its extreme portability. Thus to replace the ereader a convergence device must be a tablet small in size, very light, not run hot, have a comfortable reading screen and a long battery life. Since they would also have to replace a computer they would also have good sound, video, great processing speed, lots of memory, big hard disks, and a way to use an external keyboard. No small order. I would buy such a device next time I buy a new computer and then also use it as my main reading device. But for the moment the convergence devices seem to be computing devices with reading as an afterthought. That is not what I want, as long as that is the case, I will be on seperate devices.

I will gladly give up my dedicated reader for something at least as good and convenient that can do a lot more. But I have reading and computing devices already. Why should I buy something new without compelling reason?

That's the same mentality that prevents a lot of people from buying ebook readers in the first place.

HansTWN · 01-18-2010, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

That's the same mentality that prevents a lot of people from buying ebook readers in the first place.

You are right, and those people most probably wouldn't be happy with the current readers, anyway. They are definitely not for everyone.

mogui · 01-18-2010, 09:39 AM

Convergence: I have used my netbooks as desktops by docking them to USB storage, keyboard and mouse and then adding a nice monitor. My needs for high powered computing are not great and this compination is satisfactory. When I travel, I often buy the docking stuff at my destination if I will be there for more than a few weeks. Of course I carry my storage.

Now I see companies are making docks for smartphones. The newest Droid phone by Google, the Nexus, has a dock too. Maybe, as a bluetooth device, it will not provide a lot of connectivity, but the idea is good. Here is a 1 GHz computing device that can turn into a desktop machine -- sort of. I welcome the development of this idea. I would really like to carry my computer around in my pocket, then expand it on my desktop. Convergence convergence

HansTWN · 01-18-2010, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mogui

Convergence: I have used my netbooks as desktops by docking them to USB storage, keyboard and mouse and then adding a nice monitor. My needs for high powered computing are not great and this compination is satisfactory. When I travel, I often buy the docking stuff at my destination if I will be there for more than a few weeks. Of course I carry my storage.

Now I see companies are making docks for smartphones. The newest Droid phone by Google, the Nexus, has a dock too. Maybe, as a bluetooth device, it will not provide a lot of connectivity, but the idea is good. Here is a 1 GHz computing device that can turn into a desktop machine -- sort of. I welcome the development of this idea. I would really like to carry my computer around in my pocket, then expand it on my desktop. Convergence convergence

Unfortunately, companies are moving in the opposite direction. It used to be easy to turn a phone into a computer. A phone I bought 3 years ago has USB host function (I can plug in USB thumb drives and keyboards) but all the newer ones, except the Toshiba G01, don't support that anymore. The same with bluetooth keyboards. Though I must say, that both physical and virtual keyboards have improved a lot. But only with an external keyboard and TV or VGA out can you use an external display device.

Acreo Aeneas · 01-20-2010, 11:38 PM

The 10-hour battery life claim is really only achievable with low screen brightness and doing nothing more than simple word processing (probably). I own a ASUS 1000HE and the 9 hour battery life claim is somewhat far fetched (I usually get 6.5 to 7 hours). Now obviously, some of the new ASUS netbook models do get close to that 10 hour mark, but still 9 hours of battery life for reading books doesn't compare to the 7,000+ page turns of a dedicated ebook reader.

01-17-2010, 09:40 PM	#18
mogui eNigma Posts: 503 Karma: 1335 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: The Philippines Device: HTC G1 Android FBReader	Pixel Qi The Pixel Qi is an exciting development that I had not been aware of, having been tuned out for a long while. Combine it with an economical low-power SoC like the Arm and it offers the potential to extend the between-charge utility of a device even further. I have seen tablets that dock to their keyboards, providing a small, e-reader sized handheld that can turn into a Smartbook in a flash. Freescale's reference design is one such. Can similar ones be far behind? Is convergence a bad word here? As the e-readers develop more capabilities and retain their astounding battery life, and the smartbooks grow more efficient screens, we will evolve something that better fills a broad existing niche. The smaller niche of e-books and their fans might be filled by devices which offer greater advancements in compactness, lightness, foldability/rollability and battery life. Personally, I want an e-book heads-up display on my glasses. And as for the lovers of various devices that have been described here, a wise man once told me that we are all correct in our own unique ways. Last edited by mogui; 01-17-2010 at 09:44 PM.

01-18-2010, 09:39 AM	#22
mogui eNigma Posts: 503 Karma: 1335 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: The Philippines Device: HTC G1 Android FBReader	Netbook as desktop Convergence: I have used my netbooks as desktops by docking them to USB storage, keyboard and mouse and then adding a nice monitor. My needs for high powered computing are not great and this compination is satisfactory. When I travel, I often buy the docking stuff at my destination if I will be there for more than a few weeks. Of course I carry my storage. Now I see companies are making docks for smartphones. The newest Droid phone by Google, the Nexus, has a dock too. Maybe, as a bluetooth device, it will not provide a lot of connectivity, but the idea is good. Here is a 1 GHz computing device that can turn into a desktop machine -- sort of. I welcome the development of this idea. I would really like to carry my computer around in my pocket, then expand it on my desktop. Convergence convergence

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01-17-2010, 12:47 PM	#17
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,557 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Fair enough. .

01-20-2010, 11:38 PM	#24
Acreo Aeneas Kobo Aura Posts: 252 Karma: 500520 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Chicago, Illinois Device: Kobo Aura	The 10-hour battery life claim is really only achievable with low screen brightness and doing nothing more than simple word processing (probably). I own a ASUS 1000HE and the 9 hour battery life claim is somewhat far fetched (I usually get 6.5 to 7 hours). Now obviously, some of the new ASUS netbook models do get close to that 10 hour mark, but still 9 hours of battery life for reading books doesn't compare to the 7,000+ page turns of a dedicated ebook reader.

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