Is Kindle Innovation Done?

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by hobnail

My ancient Kindle Touch has essentially the same klunky UI as the Oasis. If they can't be bothered to make a better UI I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any innovation.

👆🏻This right here. 😸


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[JSWolf]

Unless Amazon really makes some serious changes to the firmware, I would say that Kindle innovation is done.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Magic 8 Ball says...Cannot Predict Now.

I think a large screen with a front light would be too costly for most users. $250 is high, especially given the dismal battery life of the Oasis 2. 6-7" screens seem about perfect for the majority of users.

I had the DX, but it was too large, too wide of a screen making too wide of a text column. It was great in theory, but not in actual use for reading novels and regular books.

To me, the point of the 7” reader these days is as a compromise: big enough for a pleasurable reading experience, but small enough to be portable, which is one reason why I suspect Kindle has maxed out at 7”. If you can run to two, then an 8” and a 6” seem to me to be the best of both worlds. An 8” for a premium reading experience at home, and a 6” that can go into a pocket.

The other reason is that price matters, obviously. I’d put the Oasis in the US at $270, since I really wouldn’t want ads on a premium device. (I can’t justify getting rid of them on Fire tablets). The 8” Kobo Forma costs less than that. I don’t see Amazon shaking up its line to make the Oasis its mid-priced device, and I agree that even the mid-$200s is a lot to spend on a single-use device, especially when for most people they’ve got a substitute device that’s good enough for their purposes. So I’m agreeing that I don’t see Amazon coming up with anything new, but in any case, it’s been content for a long time mostly to let other companies do the market research, whether on warm light, waterproofing, or size. And the bottom line is that once you’re invested in a particular company’s bookstore, you’re probably not going to jump ship.

[haertig]

There's not a whole lot more they could improve if you ask me. Much the same as paper books aren't seeing improvements and upgrades these days.

One thing that would be great, but we'll never see, is some kind of "universal location syncing standard". So that your side-loaded non-Amazon book on your Kindle could sync your current reading location with Moon+ reader on your Android cellphone and with iBooks on your iPad. That will never happen because all these different companies want to make higher profits by keeping you locking into their walled garden. But I can dream...

I currently sync Moon+ from my Fire tablet to my Android phone using Moon's built-in WebDAV protocol communicating to my self-hosted Nextcloud server. That syncing works great, but the Kindle - my main reading device - is left out of the fellowship.

[hobnail]

A dual screen (eink) model like the Microsoft Surface Duo tablet could be interesting. The Oasis screen's width is 4.25 inches wide while the Forma's is 4.75 inches. I do like the page buttons. Maybe they could put the page buttons on the edge like the power buttons are.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by haertig

There's not a whole lot more they could improve if you ask me. Much the same as paper books aren't seeing improvements and upgrades these days.

One thing that would be great, but we'll never see, is some kind of "universal location syncing standard". So that your side-loaded non-Amazon book on your Kindle could sync your current reading location with Moon+ reader on your Android cellphone and with iBooks on your iPad. That will never happen because all these different companies want to make higher profits by keeping you locking into their walled garden. But I can dream...

I currently sync Moon+ from my Fire tablet to my Android phone using Moon's built-in WebDAV protocol communicating to my self-hosted Nextcloud server. That syncing works great, but the Kindle - my main reading device - is left out of the fellowship.

There's not much that can be done to innovate the hardware. But there is a lot that can be done to innovate the software. The software is very basic. There could be more advanced options to make reading more enjoyable.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by hobnail

A dual screen (eink) model like the Microsoft Surface Duo tablet could be interesting. The Oasis screen's width is 4.25 inches wide while the Forma's is 4.75 inches. I do like the page buttons. Maybe they could put the page buttons on the edge like the power buttons are.

Edge rocker switch page turn buttons would, uh, rock.

[Tarana]

deleted. I don't need to beat a dead horse.

[Braid]

Originally Posted by Tarana

deleted. I don't need to beat a dead horse.

Gosh, now I want to know what you were commenting on!

In terms of hardware, screen contrast is an obvious area with much room for improvement to bring it closer to the experience of reading on paper. I would pay an extra 40% for significantly higher contrast.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Braid

Gosh, now I want to know what you were commenting on!

In terms of hardware, screen contrast is an obvious area with much room for improvement to bring it closer to the experience of reading on paper. I would pay an extra 40% for significantly higher contrast.

I find the contrast much better than most paper books have. Most paperbacks I've got have yellowish pages and poor contrast, even the newer ones. Hardcovers are better, but I don't have many of those, as they're too heavy and cumbersome. My ereaders give me a better reading experience than paper books.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I find the contrast much better than most paper books have.

I could imagine the contrast being low if you crank up the ereader's light. I have a Forma with the dreaded band along the button side, and keeping it below 5% hides that band which is what I do. I also find the contrast perfectly fine.

[haertig]

Too much contrast is harsh. I prefer the lowest contrast possible that fulfills the need to read comfortably. Granted - the more contrast you have, the sharper things appear. But that's not always a good thing. Excessive brightness is just as bad. Who wants to stare into a spotlight? Ditto for excessive whiteness (higher color temperature).

I agree with JSWolf on the software aspects. I do enjoy using Moon+, from a feature point of view. Moon+ clearly beats a Kindle in the feature department, but the Kindle with it's eInk screen beats Moon+ in the eye comfort department. Although, once I get Moon+ set up the way I like it, I pretty much only use page turning and simple navigation. Sometimes font resizing when my eyes get tired. That's why, given a choice, I will always choose my Kindle PW3 over my tablet with Moon+ if both are available to me (except when reading PDF's).

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by haertig

Too much contrast is harsh. I prefer the lowest contrast possible that fulfills the need to read comfortably. Granted - the more contrast you have, the sharper things appear. But that's not always a good thing. Excessive brightness is just as bad. Who wants to stare into a spotlight? Ditto for excessive whiteness (higher color temperature).

I agree with all three points, but I think there is still room for useful improvement in e-ink contrast and, to a lesser extent, whiteness.

Of course, there is always room for software improvement. I also think the largest impediment to software improvement in readers is the closed nature of the platforms.

I agree with JSWolf on the software aspects. I do enjoy using Moon+, from a feature point of view. Moon+ clearly beats a Kindle in the feature department, but the Kindle with it's eInk screen beats Moon+ in the eye comfort department. Although, once I get Moon+ set up the way I like it, I pretty much only use page turning and simple navigation. Sometimes font resizing when my eyes get tired. That's why, given a choice, I will always choose my Kindle PW3 over my tablet with Moon+ if both are available to me (except when reading PDF's).

[Braid]

I find the contrast fine on my ereaders. More contrast would be nice.

As for the view that e-readers have higher contrast than paperbacks, I believe this is false. E-ink screens go up to 15:1, whereas paperback books are around 50:1.

As for the view that too much contrast is harsh, I am puzzled. You're saying that a brand new print of a paperback will have dark black text and this will be 'harsh' for you, and you'll prefer to choose an older, more faded print?

[Ridcully]

Originally Posted by hobnail

My ancient Kindle Touch has essentially the same klunky UI as the Oasis. If they can't be bothered to make a better UI I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any innovation.

I don't think the UI is gonna add any more features. I'm still a little peeved about the removal of 4-way screen orientation. 3 years, 2 devices later and I sometimes still pick it up the "wrong" way.

One thing I'd really love to see would be a full-featured e-ink tablet. I think tho we'll probably have a widely-sold color e-ink screen first and that might take a while.