What's next for E-readers?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HbNledn

Ereaders have been stuck on a very similar tech for years.
is there any new e-ink panel in the near future?
Are there recent developments on the color e-ink displays?

'Similar'? I suppose so, but not identical. The improvement from the original Kindle 1 display to the latest paperwhite display has been considerable - nearly double the resolution, better contrast ratio, faster refresh speeds, a touch screen and a front light.

But there's nothing significant for ereaders from E-Ink on the horizon. Mobius (flexible backplane) was their last innovation, and that's only been used in large (>9") displays so far as I know.

Low power display technology with colour has so far either disappointed (Mirasol, E-Ink's Triton) or has not made it out of the lab (Liquavista).

There is now CLEARInk, which looks promising, and claims it will be shipping in products next year. CLEARInk promises similar low power to E-Ink, but with better contrast, colour, and much faster switching speed.

[John F]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

...

But there's nothing significant for ereaders from E-Ink on the horizon. Mobius (flexible backplane) was their last innovation, and that's only been used in large (>9") displays so far as I know.

...

From the Kobo website:

... What’s more, Kobo Forma is the most durable eReader available with the introduction of Mobius® technology, which uses a flexible plastic layer within its display. ...

The Forma is an 8" reader. The reader itself is not flexible.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by John F

The Forma is an 8" reader. The reader itself is not flexible.

Thanks. And I've remembered that someone did use it in a small format ereader - the Wexler Flex One (now discontinued).

[theducks]

Fiat
My First reader (EZReade pocket pro 2010 ) had TTS with auto scroll.
The Authors called it a 'Performance" that violated their copyright permission (for book form rights only) ) and they took it out to avoid court costs fighting the claim.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I don't really see any major advances on ereaders. Minor software updates, maybe a larger unit. What more do you need from a dedicated ereader?

My minor improvement would be more options on how to organize your ebooks, especially when the account is shared by multiple family members. It's pretty clunky the way it is and while that partly may be how I understand how to use it, I see plenty of complaints from you folks who DO know how to use it.

Agreed.

I till want a bit more speed when it comes to page turns or browsing.

I like customization (screen features), would like to customize the home page and lock menu, and also am big on sorting/collections but find the way Kindles do it now tedious.

It would be nice to have convincing, well done color on e-ink technology someday.

Silly sounding, but I still prefer the headphone jack option along with bluetooth instead of bluetooth only, as long as the device can still be kept waterproof.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by Tarana

My late sister had this problem. I got something like this for her and it worked fairly well with a touch screen. Didn't work at all with buttons. I used it recently after an injury left me bedridden for a couple of weeks and it worked well. There are lots of styles available of different things people have come up with. Etsy has quite a few as does Amazon. The origami covers work fine, but you have to raise it up several inches to read on your side. Worked pretty good just sitting it on my chest if I was lying on my back.

I use a Peeramid bookrest which does help with aching hands.

[fjtorres]

My best guess is the next "improvement" will be to go near bezel-less to fit an ~ 8in screen in today's form factor.

[koboy]

Originally Posted by meeera

I'm not particularly interested in colour, but would like to see flexible substrates in lower end readers.

if i could pick only one step forward this would be it.

best wishes koboy

[disconnected]

I generally prefer reading on my Kobos and Nooks but I bought a 32gb PW4 because I thought it would be handy to have one small, portable, waterproof ereader with all of my books on it, with the added bonus of being able to do global searches.

I was pretty disappointed to find that after you have a few thousand books on it the search is pretty much inoperable. I assume that Amazon thought all that space would only be used for picture books or audio books but I wish they'd provided enough processing power to search whatever you load onto it. If not, the least they could do would be to allow disabling the global indexing process because the more books you add the longer it takes to index each addition.

[Marinolino]

The third (red) color for bigger eink screens, for better discerning and memorizing of the handwritten notes.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by disconnected

I generally prefer reading on my Kobos and Nooks but I bought a 32gb PW4 because I thought it would be handy to have one small, portable, waterproof ereader with all of my books on it, with the added bonus of being able to do global searches.

I was pretty disappointed to find that after you have a few thousand books on it the search is pretty much inoperable. I assume that Amazon thought all that space would only be used for picture books or audio books but I wish they'd provided enough processing power to search whatever you load onto it. If not, the least they could do would be to allow disabling the global indexing process because the more books you add the longer it takes to index each addition.

I agree with you. I didn't go for the larger one but I run into slowness issues as well and wish they'd update the processing power/speed of the paperwhite.

[Quoth]

Better book management and hopefully EU forces makers to allow all local features without any initial registration. That's coercive and lack of collections on unregistered Kindle is petty. It suggests Collections aids Amazon profiling of users.

A phone with an eink screen on inside of the screen cover? A slight majority of people only read ebooks on phones. There was a Russian phone with eInk on the rear, which could display maps, e-tickets, instructions etc even if phone went flat or was turned off.

[Synergi]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

I'd still like a smaller device than 6"... I mostly read in bed, lying down, and I cannot hold my kindle or kobo one-handed (arthritis). 5" would be almost perfect. Front lit of course. And not 4:3. I have come to prefer a longer device rather than squarish. Comes from reading on my phone a lot. None of this will ever happen of course. Seems like everyone wants to go even bigger with their screens.

If it is Rheumatoid Arthritis or Inflammation, pick you up some Moringa on Amazon. I put mine in capsules. I take four, 00 capsules of it a day, or you can just mix it in drinks/smoothies. It literally has taken me off pain meds and other crap that wasn't working. It needs to build up in the system so you can't miss a day. My pain went away(and stiffness, aches, etc) within 2 days. A friend of mine took 2 weeks but he was in seriously bad shape. My aunt noticed within a day. It is amazing, its nature, no side effect and works better than anything my doctor ever gave me and I told him so lol.

Back on Topic.
I want an 8" Ereader in color. The market has stagnated and that's a big part of why no one is excited over it anymore. Its tech, they are supposed to keep improving upon it. At least that is what most think. Why buy a new device when it is not much better than one from 6 years ago? Kindle came out in 2007 I think and Sony's was before that and we still don't have a color option.

[tomsem]

There have been some color eReaders (based on ‘Triton’), but there were not enough people buying them to sustain a market. And they were, frankly, crap. And lately we are seeing the same story repeat itself (CLEARink): like the previous concepts, they say they are targeting the ‘educational market’, which presumably represents a set of users (children) who can be forced to read on devices with bad color, in numbers to sustain a production run to turn a profit, and possibly iterate until they can get willing consumers to purchase a better product in the future. I am not optimistic that they can succeed in developing a product any of us will actually want to use.

There is an educational market, but it is dominated by the likes of Google, Microsoft and Apple:

https://www.statista.com/chart/13383...s-by-platform/

If Apple is struggling, and even Amazon a non-entity, what hope does CLEARink have of succeeding?

Some day, with advances in nanotechnology, we’ll have a perfectly paper like display with great color, but it is probably 10 years out: after all, physics does not preclude such a thing. In the meantime, I recommend an iPad mini if you can afford one, and Fire if you cannot.

What I ask of my Paperwhite is that they add ‘immersion reading’ to it, even if that only involves synchronizing the audiobook narration with page turns, and without highlighting phrases etc. Other than that, it is perfect at what it does.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Synergi

I want an 8" Ereader in color. The market has stagnated and that's a big part of why no one is excited over it anymore. Its tech, they are supposed to keep improving upon it. At least that is what most think. Why buy a new device when it is not much better than one from 6 years ago? Kindle came out in 2007 I think and Sony's was before that and we still don't have a color option.

There have been multiple colour ereaders that have reached the market and disappeared without a trace. It would appear that most people don't see the need for colour when most of what is being read is black text on white (or white text on black for those who prefer).