So, did companies give up on two page devices?

[SuzanneTF]

I forget what post made me think of this, but I think a hinged two page e-ink device would be amazing.

I found a picture of this horrid looking hybrid device (the ShuBook by 1 Cross). However, the outer casing does NOT look horrid to me!

http://www.digitaltrends.com/gadgets...he-hard-cover/



If that kind of casing was on a dual e-ink display device, I think it would be awesome. It would "shut" like a laptop or any other clamshell device to protect both screens when you weren't reading it.

Then I saw more pictures of another "concept" device that never existed that on the inside looks great with the two screens. The outside is so-so. I don't like the page turning/sliding.

http://www.designboom.com/design/kar...igital-e-book/
http://www.dvice.com/sites/dvice/fil...?itok=Qw2BNCRi

http://vimeo.com/14084338
http://vimeo.com/14084312





Finally, saw an article about a dual screen eReader by PlasticLogic from fairly recently. However, it is a larger page size and is just a display with no storage.
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...r-at-ces-2013/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=2YzBoEs0B1o



I think a 6" reader with two touch e-ink screens (+ Glo?) and the "book" outside casing would be great. You could even "skin" the outside to your preference. As for weight, I'm curious how much two Kindle/Nook/Reader/Kobo sized devices stacked together would weigh compared to a regular reader with the attached covers and lights (especially if there was less hardware involved with the cover/left screen). The extra thickness might also allow for more battery power. However, I'm aware that making anything have more moving parts (hinge) can be a bad idea with electronics.

There has been discussion about these types of devices before and I understand what everyone is saying about moving away from books, weight, etc. But I can't help thinking it would be a neat ereader!

2010 seemed to be the year when these concepts were being explored. PlasticLogic seems to be the only article I could find about something more recent.

[susan_cassidy]

There is no point to having 2 screens, since you can only read one at a time, anyway.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

There is no point to having 2 screens, since you can only read one at a time, anyway.

I strongly disagree.

It would be very nice to:

1. glance back and forth between a figure and text.

2. glance back and forth between two widely separated pages in the same book.

3. glance back and forth between two different documents.

Also, I am always wanting to go back a page and also have trouble with transitions between pages. I guess that scrolling is more natural for me than paging even though I never experienced scrolling until well into adulthood.I would actually prefer a two paged reader that had an option to advance one page at a time instead of two.

[Jessica Lares]

Everyone LOVES the idea, but everyone wants it at the same price and quality as the others.

And that's the main problem with it.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

Everyone LOVES the idea, but everyone wants it at the same price and quality as the others.

And that's the main problem with it.

Everyone? I don't like the idea at all. Double the weight, for no advantage in everyday novel-reading, and hinges just waiting to fail. I wouldn't pay even the same price for one.

[crich70]

I think the idea of a 2 page ereader harkens back to the 1st printed books which had typeface that looked like handwritten text. It's an effort to keep something that is 'the way things used to be done' while exploring new tech.

[HansTWN]

If you really want it buy two readers and do it yourself with a custom cover. I don't see a market for this --- and neither did the manufacturers.

[Ansileran]

I like the idea (have been eyeing the edge for a while) but this would be a niche product. I can think of several types of people who would want it:
6":
- people who annotate books (even better with stylus and handwriting recognition)
- people who use the keyboard often
- to display definitions from the dictionary
- to look at notes, references... while having the actual text on display
- mangas (images are often on two pages)
9":
- academic purposes
- musicians to display music sheets

Not sure how much I would be ready to pay for one... Running android with stylus (wacom tech), probably around 500€ for a 9" device. Color and lightweight would be great, but tech is not there yet...

[speakingtohe]

For reading regular books it would be more of a novelty item IMO. We can read double paged or have more than one book open at once on a tablet, or display more than two pages on larger screen devices, and possibly many prefer that.

There is a large crowd of people who hate an extra page turn every 20 or so pages who might be attracted, but would they want to pay extra?

It would be a quite bit heavier if you needed a casing for both sides, although maybe it could just clip together like a change purse so you might not need a case, but still a bit more cumbersome to hold if your hands are small or weak.

The hinged part might be easier to break.

Still in one sense the tech is already there to make such a device cheap enough. Take two 5 inch devices currently selling for $40 when on sale, program them to communicate wirelessly with each other to turn pages at the same time and voila, there it is.
Of course the problem seems to be in programming end with these ereaders. but I am sure there are many programmers who could do it.

The wish for a double paged device was mentioned by medard recently in the Future Sony thread.

Helen

Helen

[caleb72]

Not interested in it for reading fiction, but may well be interested in it as a productivity device, or for academic/technical reading.

[medard]

That looks so awesome I wish the T4 could do that. A reader of normal books is used to two pages and that's simply normal and that's the reason why we need that.

[Sregener]

I liked the two-column display on the iPad. It felt more natural, and my eyes didn't have to travel so far between the end of one line and the beginning of the next. But I agree with others that a 2-screen device doesn't really offer much advantage over a single-page, especially for those of us who use our device "naked." I store mine in a sleeve when not using it, but find holding the reader by itself to be the most pleasant experience.

I think single hand-holding would be more difficult with a hinged two-page display.

[simond]

The only reason I'd use one of these is reference books and if you can have either different parts of books on each screen or different books. Which does then ask the question, why not just get two cheap ereaders...

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by simond

The only reason I'd use one of these is reference books and if you can have either different parts of books on each screen or different books. Which does then ask the question, why not just get two cheap ereaders...

Easy to modify an existing cover to hold both of them probably. Or market a dual ereader cover.

Helen

[medard]

Originally Posted by simond

why not just get two cheap ereaders...

I already have two T2 that I use side by side sometimes. But they'd like to become one.