Is There a Way to Learn About Forthcoming E-readers?

[mtreader]

I want to move up from my 6" Kobo Clara to an 8" reader. Nothing on the market right now checks all the boxes for me and I'm happy to wait a bit, so I'm wondering if anyone publishes news about models slated to debut in 2020.

I'm open to Kobo, Pocketbook or some Android units (no Amazon products). Has anyone seen such info?

[Barbara1955]

Stick around & go to the Forums of the Readers you are interested & Watch for threads about New Devices.

[Sirtel]

What the previous poster said.

Usually such info is released only a little bit before the device itself. No one knows about devices-to-be several months earlier.

[binaryhermit]

Probably at least partially because of the so-called "Osborne Effect"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect
(Although in the case of Amazon, that sort of thing isn't likely to be enough to kill their business)

[4691mls]

Usually as soon as any Mobileread member hears of an upcoming new reader they will post about it in the news forum. Of course then there will be a long thread full of speculation about what features the reader will have and what's wrong with it, or why it will be the greatest thing since sliced bread......

[Tomk2]

Rumors abound, sometimes for years. Think color e-ink and Kindle Voyage 2.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[binaryhermit]

and the reason these rumors abound is that goodereader makes stuff up then when it doesn't happen. doubles down on it

[mtreader]

Thanks. I'd never heard of the Osborne Effect, though I figured official announcements would be scarce. I didn't know if info often got leaked and posted anywhere.

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

Probably at least partially because of the so-called "Osborne Effect"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect
(Although in the case of Amazon, that sort of thing isn't likely to be enough to kill their business)

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by mtreader

Thanks. I'd never heard of the Osborne Effect, though I figured official announcements would be scarce. I didn't know if info often got leaked and posted anywhere.

The tech world tries to forget about Adam Osbourne and the *two* lessons he taught the industry. The perils of preannouncements is actually the lesser lesson. The more important one, which is constantly ignored, is his mantra of "Adequacy is sufficient."

Most companies succumb to their marketing depts (and pundits's) desire for long feature checklists and keep adding things to their product, usually of marginal benefit, just to justify a new model, often at a higher price. Meanwhile, out in the real world, the goldplating features do nothing for sales because customers just want the thing to do the basics, just well and reliably.

This is prevalent in ebooks where things like color changing backlights and water resistance are touted over usability and software stability. Marketing doesn't consider reliability to be as important as being able to brag about "new and improved". Most ereaders don't come any closer to water than a fridge door and the alleged merits of colored frontlighting are dubious at best.

There's a lot of carping over ereader "stagnation" because most ereaders do just the one thing: display ebooks. As long as they do that well, they'll sell. The rest is just marketing oneupmanship, of limited value to most buyers.

Adequacy is Sufficient.
More companies need to remember that.
(Amazon's Lab126 does, though.)

As for early reports of non-Amazon readers, the Digital Reader Blog does a decent job:

https://the-digital-reader.com/posts/

Also, the ebook reader blog:

https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com

[ps67]

I like very much the "colored frontlighting" of my Kobo Aura One. I don't know if it is really better for sleeping but I change it very often.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ps67

I like very much the "colored frontlighting" of my Kobo Aura One. I don't know if it is really better for sleeping but I change it very often.

I agree. I will listen to anyone that says the orange is no better than the blue/white light. They are possibly correct.

But when reading in a completely dark room, the orange glow is less harsh than the blue/white one.

[HLS]

I know a lot of people here hate the site but goodereader.com is pretty good about announcing upcoming devices.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HLS

I know a lot of people here hate the site but goodereader.com is pretty good about announcing upcoming devices.

After somebody else reported it first.
They're very good at tracking ebook/ereader news sites, not as good at giving credit where it's due.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by HLS

I know a lot of people here hate the site but goodereader.com is pretty good about announcing upcoming devices.

the problem with Goodereader is they announce readers that never materialize. They've announced a new Kobo Mini and I want to say they've announced a Voyage 2 more than once.

[mtreader]

Interesting stuff, fjtorres, thanks for sharing. I'd rather save a few bucks than have a waterproof reader, but the features that add key value to me (as a heavy non-fiction and article reader) are highlighting / ability to export a passage and integration with the Pocket app.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The tech world tries to forget about Adam Osbourne and the *two* lessons he taught the industry. The perils of preannouncements is actually the lesser lesson. The more important one, which is constantly ignored, is his mantra of "Adequacy is sufficient."

Most companies succumb to their marketing depts (and pundits's) desire for long feature checklists and keep adding things to their product, usually of marginal benefit, just to justify a new model, often at a higher price. Meanwhile, out in the real world, the goldplating features do nothing for sales because customers just want the thing to do the basics, just well and reliably.

This is prevalent in ebooks where things like color changing backlights and water resistance are touted over usability and software stability. Marketing doesn't consider reliability to be as important as being able to brag about "new and improved". Most ereaders don't come any closer to water than a fridge door and the alleged merits of colored frontlighting are dubious at best.

There's a lot of carping over ereader "stagnation" because most ereaders do just the one thing: display ebooks. As long as they do that well, they'll sell. The rest is just marketing oneupmanship, of limited value to most buyers.

Adequacy is Sufficient.
More companies need to remember that.
(Amazon's Lab126 does, though.)

As for early reports of non-Amazon readers, the Digital Reader Blog does a decent job:

https://the-digital-reader.com/posts/

Also, the ebook reader blog:

https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com