Engadget: Kno dual-screen tablet appears at D8, we go hands-on

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

... this will be FINE.

Diff'rent strokes...

Now all that is needed is actual quality software from Linsux developers. Sorry but Linsux software is 99.9% a waste of electrons. (my emphasis)

That carefully chosen neutral terminology will win you lots of new friends, I'm sure. Tip: if it doesn't suit your needs, don't use it.

Lusting after a Pocketbook 360 as soon as I decide I don't like my K2.

Just be careful, it runs Linux.

[Crowl]

It just seems such a jump with this from the typical 9-10" screen to 2x 14" screens, you'd think a single large screen or two smaller ones would be more immediately appealing to most people.

One thing you can definitely say about this device is at least they aren't taking the easy option with their design.

[fishface]

Originally Posted by Crowl

One thing you can definitely say about this device is at least they aren't taking the easy option with their design.

Actually I think they are. It's harder to make a compact device than a honking huge one. If the single 14" was easier I bet they'd have done that first.

[Crowl]

I guess I should have said mainstream rather than easy.

[Poppa1956]

If College students are the target market, cost of the devise and cost of the e-textbooks are going to be two major issues.

[GeoffC]

If it wasn't for the weight, this would be a 'nice' size. Yes even at the size of those screens, and yes, two screens ....

No bigger, and lighter, than a decent World Atlas .....

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by delphidb96

They could have shrunk it down to two 10" screens and cut the weight to 2.5 pounds overall and it would have been *MUCH* more appealing.

Derek

But 10" is smaller than a lot of text book pages, too small for full 8.5x11" PDFs etc.

Would be better to just have one screen for academic purposes IMO.

But at least it's a bigger screen device--one step closer to someone making a 12"+ single screen tablet with stylus for those of us who need to read and mark up normal letter sized documents etc.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by rogue_librarian

Diff'rent strokes...



That carefully chosen neutral terminology will win you lots of new friends, I'm sure. Tip: if it doesn't suit your needs, don't use it.



Just be careful, it runs Linux.

You've been here how long again? You don't know me very well...I could care less if I make friends...and I have zero compassion for the Linsux crowd nor do I cut the developers any slack because I was there at the beginning when it was first released en mass at Comdex in 1993 (I have the disks somewhere in storage) and everyone was yammering on about how it was going to be great because it was so open and this and that...and here we are today...it is gonna do this and that...they talk a lot, start some quite interesting stuff, have a few neat apps but nothing robust that I find useful nor is the promise of cross platform compatibility even close to a reality, in fact it was closer 25yrs ago than today.

As for Pocketbook...it is a different device and they have developers who do more than write one media player app after another like most other Linsux developers. And Yar knows me well and how much I believe in their products...since before they were here...

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

But 10" is smaller than a lot of text book pages, too small for full 8.5x11" PDFs etc.

Would be better to just have one screen for academic purposes IMO.

But at least it's a bigger screen device--one step closer to someone making a 12"+ single screen tablet with stylus for those of us who need to read and mark up normal letter sized documents etc.

absolutely...the size is not an issue because this looks to be a real computing device not a tablet...for me it fills that need where my references really must have two pages viewable or there is just a ton of back and forth or all the books much be reformatted to conform to a one page paradigm...heck it was just about 10-15yrs back when they finally started getting the two page layouts right...

I like it, but it's at best a gen 1 device and I have forever sworn off gen 1 devices anymore as they are at best, beta hardware, even with smaller companies trying to make a name. Let them work it out a couple generations (maybe 18-mo max these days) then I'll bite...sure will be interesting to see the Tegra 2 in this thing.

It would be nice if you could decouple the panels and use them independently when the need exists...but that, like everything else, takes time...

[Spiffy]

Originally Posted by kjk

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/02/k...e-go-hands-on/



I love this pic:

http://www.engadget.com/photos/kno-press-pics/#3036339

actually, all the pics are awesome.

You know when you see old pics of people using cell phones in the early 80s and they are the size of bricks? This is like looking at that kind of anachronism brought forward.

I mean... good god. A "tablet" the size of a Gutenberg Bible? Come. On.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

...for me it fills that need where my references really must have two pages viewable or there is just a ton of back and forth or all the books much be reformatted to conform to a one page paradigm...heck it was just about 10-15yrs back when they finally started getting the two page layouts right...

Fair enough. Other than a few articles or text books that have tables that span a two page spread, I can't think of much of my reading needs that need two pages.

Of course, with research articles I'm usually reading printed out PDFs rather than the original journal anyway, so I've been reading one page at a time for most of grad school through starting my career as a professor this past year.

So I'd take having to flip back and forth--as long as its LCD or something else with instant page turns and not slow ass e-ink--to have a one screen device that's easier to hold and use.

But as you note, there seems to be some like you who do need/want two screen devices so I'm all for them coming out! Like I said above, the more variety in tablet devices the better!

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Spiffy

You know when you see old pics of people using cell phones in the early 80s and they are the size of bricks? This is like looking at that kind of anachronism brought forward.

I mean... good god. A "tablet" the size of a Gutenberg Bible? Come. On.

hahahaha...yeah it is HUGE, but so is the Entourage Edge....but remember most of this thing's size is likely due to the battery(ies). Still it fills a need for a bunch of people...well, potentially anyway. We still need to know more and see it work.

I had a buddy who had one of those cell phones which looked like an old WWII ammo box, funny as heck, but ya know, it was better than other options. My first "portable" computer weighed in at 22lbs or so and I was THRILLED to have it...the original Compaq "luggable"...the best looked like an old Singer Sewing Machine in it's case.

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Fair enough. Other than a few articles or text books that have tables that span a two page spread, I can't think of much of my reading needs that need two pages.

Of course, with research articles I'm usually reading printed out PDFs rather than the original journal anyway, so I've been reading one page at a time for most of grad school through starting my career as a professor this past year.

So I'd take having to flip back and forth--as long as its LCD or something else with instant page turns and not slow ass e-ink--to have a one screen device that's easier to hold and use.

But as you note, there seems to be some like you who do need/want two screen devices so I'm all for them coming out! Like I said above, the more variety in tablet devices the better!

Yeah, it's just the reference books I need this for more so than articles or journals. I think if I were a student I would still take a long look at the Edge and hope to see what the next gen of it is like as I also like that device a lot too...the LCD panel on that pretty much will hold the normal content of an 8.5x11" page with the margins cut down.

But for me having dual color panels is really super. And it would be a one purpose machine for me with maybe the added bonus of online email access, google docs and such with some web browsing research as well.

Plus this will be doable NOW not in 3-4 yrs before we see EPD panels with closer to true color. And even when we finally get large EPD panels with what passes for reasonably accurate color I will still want two of them side by side...last the cost will be MUCH less. They should be able to do this well under $500...well, maybe close to $500...say in the $399 to $500 range. Not cheap but within reasonable reach for a good many. And as long as the publishers can crank out PDF, ADE & EPUB it just might to the trick.

One of my reasons for wanting this is I have over 1000 reference books which I can usually have to tote around a good 30-100 with me when traveling for work...with this device...I can glean it down to a 6lb device from several hundred pounds of books. And at home I can just slowly sell off my library as I replace with both old and new editions of each reference (old editions are ofter as important or even more important than new editions).

So I hope ya can see why it is a winner for many people in my same situation. yeah, a niche for now, but it's a BIG niche. And oh, to have a real search that works...heck coupled with 3G/Wifi access to the GoogleBooks database could almost eliminate the need for the device to have it's own comprehensive search. A basic search should be good enough since most of the time you have a rough idea where to begin.

[m-reader]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

You've been here how long again? You don't know me very well...I could care less if I make friends...and I have zero compassion for the Linsux crowd nor do I cut the developers any slack because I was there at the beginning when it was first released en mass at Comdex in 1993 (I have the disks somewhere in storage) and everyone was yammering on about how it was going to be great because it was so open and this and that...and here we are today...it is gonna do this and that...they talk a lot, start some quite interesting stuff, have a few neat apps but nothing robust that I find useful nor is the promise of cross platform compatibility even close to a reality, in fact it was closer 25yrs ago than today.

This post should be referenced in dictionaries under "Pointless"
Classic.

[rogue_librarian]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

You've been here how long again?

Now that's what I call an argument... You win. Welcome to my killfile.

[fishface]

Breck has a good point... weight and size aside, the best software for academic PDF annotation and management is currently all in Windows, not Linux - this is an artifact of the fact that Tablet PCs have been around for a while (almost a decade?) and they all run Windows.

For a device of this size not to be able to run the most popular desktop OS is a major, highly avoidable drawback.