Wizpac txtr reader announced - the Kindle killer?

[Dedale]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

poor Dedale is never going to be able to decide which device to get. there are more and more to tempt him.

Yeah... don't remind me, it's too painful

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by noonscoomo

I will try to answer as many questions as possible, but please try to understand our situation. On one hand we want to give as much information as possible to you, on the other hand we have to take care about many constraints. This makes it a little bit risky to say exactly when and how much. But believe me, we are working very hard on it and it is not a fake and we will ship it as soon as possible (Q3 this year) and with a very acceptable cost-perfomance ratio.

Oh, we will understand and still bug you for more info

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

poor Dedale is never going to be able to decide which device to get. there are more and more to tempt him.

Originally Posted by Dedale

Yeah... don't remind me, it's too painful

Don't worry, Dedale, you're not the only one! In December of last year, I decided I would get an e-ink device. I had two potential devices on my list then. Now I have 5....

[Dylrob]

I guess I'll throw out a few questions...

• How many shades of gray will it display?
• Is the screen glass or plastic?
• What is the expected average battery life? (in terms of page flips, if possible)
• Will there be a built in web browser?
• Will the platform be open to other software developers? Nevermind... I should have read more carefully.
• Why was microSD chosen as the external media format?*

*(I must confess the occasional frustration with trying to insert or remove these tiny things)

[noonscoomo]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

I guess I'll throw out a few questions...

• How many shades of gray will it display?
• Is the screen glass or plastic?
• What is the expected average battery life? (in terms of page flips, if possible)
• Will there be a built in web browser?
• Will the platform be open to other software developers? Nevermind... I should have read more carefully.
• Why was microSD chosen as the external media format?*

*(I must confess the occasional frustration with trying to insert or remove these tiny things)

It will display 16 gray shades

If it's glass or steel or plastic depends on the display maunfacturers. Today there are only glass displays available and only for those we have guarantees. But I heard rumors, that primeview is close to mass production. ;-)

It is not serious to tell a "page count" battery life. This is a theoretical value and has absolutely nothing to do with the question, how long you would be able to read without recharging. This depends a lot on how fast you read, how often and how long for example. I can answer in this way: "is it possible to read some books on vacation by reading 4 hours a day without recharging?" Yes, but not if you use the UMTS modem often.

It will have an html/css renderer. This is necessary to display epub.

microSD is the next standard. Have a look to an electronics market, go to the corridor with the SD cards and count what you see most ;-)
And believe me, you will not change the card that often. It's more an upgrade option. Can you imagine how many books and documents will fit on 8GB. And you will have much better ways to and from the device then SD Card...

[Dylrob]

Much appreciation for the relatively quick response!

To clarify, will the device actually be able to connect to the internet and download web content directly via the WiFi? Or is it limited to viewing HTML pages that have already been loaded onto the device?

PS I know microSD is becoming the new standard... I just understand why. MiniSD was already pretty darn small. My greatest fear is if and when "NanoSD" is announced.

[llasram]

Originally Posted by noonscoomo

It will have an html/css renderer. This is necessary to display epub.

Is the EPUB viewer being provided by another party? Can you share who? If you're doing it in-house, can you share which renderer technology your using? (Actually, that too even if another party...)

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by noonscoomo

We hate DRM, but unfortunately the discussion is floating from one end to the other. On one hand apple has made the deal to kill DRM in music, on the other hand adobe digital editions rulez the story in books.

So, yes, we will do DRM but we will try our best that we never will need it.

Originally Posted by llasram

Is the EPUB viewer being provided by another party? Can you share who? If you're doing it in-house, can you share which renderer technology your using? (Actually, that too even if another party...)

i would like to know this as well.

[noonscoomo]

Originally Posted by Dylrob

To clarify, will the device actually be able to connect to the internet and download web content directly via the WiFi? Or is it limited to viewing HTML pages that have already been loaded onto the device?
"NanoSD" is announced.

You can connect to the txtr.com platform via wifi or 3G/2G to keep your document collection in sync and to have all the blogs, rss feeds and so with you in the field. You will also be able to buy Books, Magazines and so online.

Browsing the web is more a question if you accept, that the display will not render flash and multimedia. For us it's definitely a reader, not a browser. But since it's open (and we mean it), theres no doubt that everything which is usefull (an something which is not) will be done.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by noonscoomo

Browsing the web is more a question if you accept, that the display will not render flash and multimedia. For us it's definitely a reader, not a browser. But since it's open (and we mean it), theres no doubt that everything which is usefull (an something which is not) will be done.

i think that is one of the most exciting things, encouraging third party development.

[yagiz]

This is a great news . I hope we'll see it sold this year...

I like the fact that it's a European company . We probably won't have to wait for the European launch .

The open platform idea is excellent. No better way to build a community around a product. Well done.

At first glance, I like the Web site idea however I won't be certain about my positive opinion until I see it working.

PDF support... Hmmm... If that's a true support, it may be the killer feature. But I know too well that it's easier said than done... so time will tell.

All in all, it's a pretty exciting news. I love my PRS 505 but I'm not married to it so I'm allowed to keep my eyes open .

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by noonscoomo

Jep, I am from the txtr team and thank you for the warm welcome.
And no, I am not surprised, I know mobileread very well ;-)

Another welcome.

Page turning will be accomplished by the horizontal slider and what else? One of the things I like about my Sony PRS505 is that I can use either hand to turn pages because of the button arrangement.

Are there plans to sell the unit in the United States?

[NatCh]

The information listed here has me wondering. Specifically:

1. Txtr.com is your central HQ for everything you want to read: Use it to store interesting documents, buy books at the online bookstore (coming soon), or discover free texts and articles in the ever-growing collection of available free documents.
   
2. You may then select the parts you would like to sync with the txtr reader - be it news feeds, your personal library or folders containing the documents you're currently working on.
   
3. Have your texts automatically delivered to your txtr reader using the 3G mobile delivery service. It will keep your txtr.com account in sync with the reader at any time.

(emphasis mine)

The thing that makes me wonder is that that sounds like an awful lot of storage they're planning to provide and operate. Storage may be relatively cheap, but it does cost something, so I'm wondering what sort of plan they have to keep it financially viable. Advertising? Some sort of user subscription fee? Something else entirely?

[NatCh]

In any case, I'm very interested to hear more about this one!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Page turning will be accomplished by the horizontal slider and what else? One of the things I like about my Sony PRS505 is that I can use either hand to turn pages because of the button arrangement.

that is an excellent point. the site mentions an accelerometer (yay ! i love those) ; will it be possible to rotate the display 180° or only 90° ? if it's 180 that would allow you hold it in either hand, switching back and forth as you like, which is something which is missing on a lot of devices.

another question about the accelerometer has just occured to me : is it possible to disable / override it ? i like to read in bed a lot and i am often lying on my side, holding my liseuse sideways. but i don't want the accelerometer to rotate the display in this case.

[noonscoomo]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

that is an excellent point. the site mentions an accelerometer (yay ! i love those) ; will it be possible to rotate the display 180° or only 90° ? if it's 180 that would allow you hold it in either hand, switching back and forth as you like, which is something which is missing on a lot of devices.

another question about the accelerometer has just occured to me : is it possible to disable / override it ? i like to read in bed a lot and i am often lying on my side, holding my liseuse sideways. but i don't want the accelerometer to rotate the display in this case.

It is possible to rotate it 90 or 180 degrees, screen will flip then. 180 degrees "autoswitch on" is default, 90 is default for PDF only. No one need to rotate 90 degrees with reflowable text I guess. If so, switch it on.