Android with e ink please

[TonyGamble]

troc,

An interesting post. I have a Samsung S2 phone and I cannot see to dial a number in sunlight. Useful for lots of things - but useless outdoors in the sun.

I recently bought a cheapo Android on eBay in the UK and it came ready rooted. I am surprised no enterprising soul is not offering the same service for a T1 - but maybe Sony would sue.

When you see the popularity of Kindles around swimming pools and on the beach it cannot be long before someone says they'd love to be able to read emails or look up something on the web without going to another machine.

I am in no great rush. I have a sunshine holiday coming up in two weeks. It is too risky to buy and root a T1 now so I'll take my scruffy little cheapo Android for emails and web work - and read paperbacks around the pool. At least both are proven technology!

Let me know if you see the clouds of progress opening.

Tony

[altruizine]

Originally Posted by TonyGamble

I've also seen some more complicated ones on the Sony threads but the one you pointed me to requires nothing more than one simple .bat run. Am I missing something but I'd not call this nerve testing? Or maybe it was more complicated when you did it?

Depending on what you want to do, it could be as simple as that. However, there are so many things you might want to tweak afterwards… For example: Backing up the system; installing adb, apps2sd and link2sd support; enabling market access; installing a launcher, a task switcher, and various shortcuts on the home screen and in the status window; installing reader and dictionary applications of your choice; mapping the Left/Right keys to the keyboard events used by various apps; and, configuring everything to behave well on an e-ink screen.

All of this takes time. There are traps, and missteps will happen. For example, sometimes Android forgets all the package–uid mappings, leading to the infamous broken permissions problem (hint: avoid apps2sd and use link2sd, and learn how to use the fix_permissions script).

That's what you need your nerves for. But if you master it all, you'll be rewarded with a great Android e-ink reader, and also you'll have grown to be a better and wiser, and indeed more lovable person.

[TonyGamble]

altru,

Thanks for that vote of enthusiasm.

As I am off for a holiday in a couple of weeks I am tempted to take my little Android device that worked in Italy and leave the purchase of a T1 until we return. The device I have is useless in sunshine but it is reliable. If I buy a T1 I can then root it and have the re-assurance of having people like yourself within access of my home PC to guide me through any subsequent problems. I am a photographer and would never take a new camera on holiday - so the same feeling applies to tablets.

Tony

[trocchietto]

Originally Posted by TonyGamble

troc,

An interesting post. I have a Samsung S2 phone and I cannot see to dial a number in sunlight. Useful for lots of things - but useless outdoors in the sun.

Tony

Absurd, companies complain for the sales of their ereaders..and deliver product that do not offer a remote similar carachteristics of coloured tablets, (which in turn EVERYONE complains for their lack of sun readibility) ,it is not true that are two different segments,
I think marketing people should understand what is a need, not study segmentation macro clusters,
ah ah ah in my house I have 3 thousand books, why I should use an android software (??) on my couch( considering I cannot use outside), also because I prefer a normal book if I have choice!!!! R I D I C O L O U S! maybe the companies expect that I use my tablet on the evening while deciding to go out I am dating a beautiful girl

I am paranoic but I think that or the major 2 tablets companies have a special accord with the ereaders department of the other corporations to avoid to develop a decent product, or worse the manager of the ereaders departments are not hard readers!
dear tony for your information, the new t2 model from sony come out in the market, really disappointed, same hardware than 2 years ago( I already imagine how fast will be) and the main improvement is facebook(??),( I mean a super reader really loves to share what he read on facebook?) and a battery that last 2 months(did we live in a jungle without plug, that we cannot insert the plug on the wall while we sleep???) without changing the screen, without ameliorating the fastness, without opening the possibility to open the market to play chess, install the kindle, and most important without implementing the already available current technology.

for me IT IS A SHAME that the companies are so stupid to not realize that mobile means.......SUN! I do not use my tablet to bring on my WC


I receive continuously request of advices from my friends, and I always say them to wait till will be a really readable mechanism, because so far... there is still any complete solution to enjoy a PC in the sun.....I tell you something really stupid... the same happened for the screen of the netbook 10 inches, after MSI wind did a great screen I could read on the bars outside, ALL the OTHERS manufacturers did glossy screen?! that made the portability nullified, as they could not read outside, honestly I look with compassion the poor people that have ipad1, 2 and 3 in the starbucks cafe, trying to find an inclination of the screen to read, to protect by the windows, I am really hungry after I spent more than 4k in the last 5 years giving trust to all the major company and still without having a solution. when a kind of mirasol, eink coulor with android will hit the market I will buy another time, at the moment I not encourage the dozen of friends of mine that asked me which model they should buy.

[beckywc]

Originally Posted by TonyGamble

I can live with slow refresh rates. My cheapo Android has them anyway!

Snag is that it is useless in the sunlight.

Can anyone point me to an Andriod tablet with, say, a 7 inch screen, that uses e ink rather than one of these (in the sunlight anyway) ineffective lit screens?

Tony
London UK

Mirosol came out with the Kyobo 5.7 eink android color ereader at $399.99 but was discontinued due to lack of interest. It played videos and games. It was released in Canada and America.

At $399.99 you could get a 10.1 full fledge tablet. Until they can reduce the cost there just isn't a market.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by trocchietto

[B]
for me IT IS A SHAME that the companies are so stupid to not realize that mobile means.......SUN! I do not use my tablet to bring on my WC

Actually that is one of the places where a tablet really shines, using a laptop would be quite awkward. You can read the newspaper or a magazine on it, or just browse while you are in there.

For me, I have accepted that the current generation of tablets is not suitable for reading books and we are stuck with current screen technology for a while since Android tablets are stuck in a price war and Apple won't take a chance on something new now that SJ is gone.

[TonyGamble]

"the Kyobo 5.7"

For anyone keen enough there are a couple on eBay at the moment.

Tony

[trocchietto]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Actually that is one of the places where a tablet really shines, using a laptop would be quite awkward. You can read the newspaper or a magazine on it, or just browse while you are in there.
.

lol brilliant

regarding the others I am not sure that the kyobo was a flop.
apart that there were 3 models with mirasol, I think that there is an inflaction of models so that people were not conveniently informed by the advertise.
it is a fact that people complain they cannot read their tablets outside.
and a kyobo with android market it is tablet (and also a nice reader for comics)
400 EU is too much? not at all considering that the beautiful super amoled thingomagic tablets are not readable at all
tablet=toilette PC, please do new model that feeds igienic paper for

the screen would not be super incredible, but you can definetely read, see video.....FOR HOURS and use android on the beaches, on the bars, on the south of the world, on the park, near a window of a train.....I guess the key of the insucces is lack of advertising....and still for me is really tricky that has been retired by the market...this kind of NEW PRODUCT need time to be advertised, I want to believe instead that the company retired because received a kind of deal could not refuse by a major corporation....as the future is there!!!

I would immediately pay 400 EU for a Kyobo, but I do not give trust to the ebay sellers, also I should to change the firmware losing the guarantee... for 400 eur I expect some customer care.
the world is plenty of people like me, Tony Gamble, and the dozens of people that periodically ask in this forum a coulor sunreadable with android

Really Hungry

[TonyGamble]

I was watching a businessman doing some work with an iPad yesterday morning. It was a warm sunny day (unusual in England) so he was working outdoors.

Clearly the pad was adequately powerful for what he wanted to do - but the poor soul was really struggling to see the screen.

I'm a photographer and fully understand the need for highly specced PC's. But lots of what I do, such as reading/writing on this forum, is well within the capabilities of the simplest of tablets. However, they are diminished in value if you can't use them outdoors.

I bought a T1 one yesterday. Now I have three tablets. A biggie Thrive for serious work. A cheapo Android to take on hols. And now a T1 for when I want to be outdoors. I've probably spent 400 EURos.....

Tony

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by trocchietto

lol brilliant

regarding the others I am not sure that the kyobo was a flop.
apart that there were 3 models with mirasol, I think that there is an inflaction of models so that people were not conveniently informed by the advertise.
it is a fact that people complain they cannot read their tablets outside.
and a kyobo with android market it is tablet (and also a nice reader for comics)
400 EU is too much? not at all considering that the beautiful super amoled thingomagic tablets are not readable at all
tablet=toilette PC, please do new model that feeds igienic paper for

the screen would not be super incredible, but you can definetely read, see video.....FOR HOURS and use android on the beaches, on the bars, on the south of the world, on the park, near a window of a train.....I guess the key of the insucces is lack of advertising....and still for me is really tricky that has been retired by the market...this kind of NEW PRODUCT need time to be advertised, I want to believe instead that the company retired because received a kind of deal could not refuse by a major corporation....as the future is there!!!

I would immediately pay 400 EU for a Kyobo, but I do not give trust to the ebay sellers, also I should to change the firmware losing the guarantee... for 400 eur I expect some customer care.
the world is plenty of people like me, Tony Gamble, and the dozens of people that periodically ask in this forum a coulor sunreadable with android

Really Hungry

They actually reduced the last batch of Kyobos to about $89,- in Korea. I tried to get one, but by the time I got it figured out (the website was in Korean only and most credit cards didn't work) they were all gone. Took only a few days to clear them all out. You should be able to get one for 200-300 USD?

[trocchietto]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

They actually reduced the last batch of Kyobos to about $89,- in Korea. I tried to get one, but by the time I got it figured out (the website was in Korean only and most credit cards didn't work) they were all gone. Took only a few days to clear them all out. You should be able to get one for 200-300 USD?

@Hans I would buy for 300 EUR but 1) I do not want risk of vendor scam 2) I want new 3) I want to be covered if I root in English the system. It is that possible?
and more important why everyone speaks about the Kyobo and not the others models?
http://www.mirasoldisplays.com/products


@Tony I am in amsterdam 10km northern to london, this week end was outstanding the weather indeed, and I saw as well the ipads spectacle in the parks and the bars where people were struggling to cover the surface of the ipad with the hands to see the content,nice you have the T1 is great if you want to read in other languages, but please be sure that in that model they fixed the issue of highlighting. I remember in the prs 650(preceding model) if you highlight too much, after the system slow down drammaticaly, especially when you highlight , can take five minutes, hope this issue has been fixed on the T1

Edit
for a dispositive sold for 80 eur looks as there is some demand as in ebay I cannot find nothing other than this
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=...asol&_osacat=0
and also I would like to add that the Kyobo does not has been launched for 400 eur but 310
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33198_7...buts-in-korea/

[nprnncbl]

I have owned both the Entourage Edge (10") and the Sony PRS-T1. The company behind the EE went out of business; any development now is user-driven. I don't know if there has been any progress on this, but when I had one, it was only possible to use the LCD (not e-ink) for arbitrary Android apps; only the EE apps themselves used the e-ink screen. So while it might be possible to use the Kindle or Nook apps, I don't believe you would get them in e-ink. Also, the EE is heavy, slow, and has horrible battery life (probably even worse now that you can't even get a new battery). The lcd has a resistive touch screen which seems less responsive than capacitive; the e-ink side uses a wacom pen which is quite nice, since you can rest your hand on the screen, but a little laggy.

The T1, in contrast, is light, with great battery life, and Android apps all run on the e-ink screen (since that's all there is). The touch screen is IR based, with the stylus operating the same way; touch works fine, and writing with the stylus was acceptable, although you have to keep your hand off the screen. I was quite happy with it as a reader, but found I wanted do more that required a lot of screen updates, which are slow on e-ink.

Now I have a Nexus 7; obviously, it does not have e-ink, and is not as readable in full sun, but for comparison with the EE and the T1, it is quite speedy, both in general performance and in graphics.

All three devices were rooted; I seem to recall the EE being the most difficult.

From what you describe as your intended use, I'd recommend the T1 without hesitation.

[TonyGamble]

Having had my T1 for a couple of days I decided to take the plunge and root it using the dialogue here:-
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=184646

It does almost take as long to read as it does to impliment.

I am most impressed.

My small collection of books are still there and seem to be readable.

I have installed the email utility K-9 that I have on several other android machines and it is perfect.

Now I need a good browser and I'll be happy.

I am sure a larger screen would be better and colour would be lovely - but this will keep me going for a while.

Tony

[Namekuseijin]

Android is a full-fledged OS. Why would you need a full-fledged OS to basically just read books?

[TonyGamble]

Namekuseijin,

To save you the time of reading this thread I'll paste this from a few days ago:-

"When you see the popularity of Kindles around swimming pools and on the beach it cannot be long before someone says they'd love to be able to read emails or look up something on the web without going to another machine."

Now I have a rooted T1 I can bring it to your country (Brazil) in a week's time. It will be loaded with books. I can read them. I can stay on top of my emails. I can see the web, albeit slowly. All I need you to do is to supply the sunshine!

Tony