Amazon Kindle 2 Leaked, Sony Reader To Get Touch Screen 143
suraj.sun writes with news that the e-book reader market is getting more competitive. The Boy Genius Report got its hands on pictures of the Kindle 2, successor to Amazon's first e-book gadget. The new version is a bit bigger, with edges that are less awkward, and it has a revamped key layout. On the same day these pictures were found, Sony announced that a new model of its Reader would be getting a touchscreen, allowing users to "turn the page by swiping their finger across the screen" and "annotate text using a touchscreen keyboard." The advances for each gadget may help them regain market share against the iPhone, which, according to Forbes, has eclipsed both in popularity as a reading device. Hopefully the competition for sales and the work being done by the OLPC Project will help to drop prices as well.
So... (Score:5, Interesting)
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Anyway, it'd probably be fine if you have the pdf and the device rotated so you have the 800 pixels across, rather than downwards (the original eee was only 800x480 so it's better than that already)
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How many inches did your 800x600 monitor had?
These readers have 6 inches screens. Not only that,
You can rotate t
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In fact scientific papers are easier to deal with than many other PDF documents. The majority are formatted to be fairly easy to read - typically under 10 words per line, often using two columns of text, so this would easily fit on the reader.
I had a chance to look at the Sony Reader recently and it looked to do a good job with displaying PDFs. The screen is very nice and on par with paper - probably ahead of glossy magazine pages but not quite up there with a book yet. It's the first e-ink screen I've s
Re:So... (Score:4, Informative)
From the first link:
Typefaces in PDF files formatted for 216 x 280 mm (8.5 x 11 inch) pages may be too small to read comfortably. Such files can be reformatted for the Reader screen size with Adobe Acrobat Professional, but not by Adobe Reader software.
That's going to be the same for any 800x600 6inch screen (like the Handlin). A reader capable of displaying scientific papers readably (8.5x11inch, 10pt font) is still a wet dream unfortunately.
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A reader capable of displaying scientific papers readably (8.5x11inch, 10pt font) is still a wet dream unfortunately.
That pretty much sums up the state of affairs, doesn't it? While some are enjoying reading their paperback novels, the rest of are waiting.
Maybe they should add groff support, paint it black, and rebrand it as a Manpage Reader.
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"While some are enjoying reading their paperback novels, the rest of are waiting."
Isn't that backwards? Are you actually saying that the number of people who read scientific papers is greater than the number of people who read paperbacks and novels?
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If you mean technical and scientific papers as well as textbooks, then yes.
Sure paperback books sell better, but that's because there are a couple hundred "best sellers" a year at most. There are probably hundreds of millions of engineers, technicians, scientists and college/university student's reading more obscure documents that are formatted for an 8.5/11inch piece of paper. That's the real market.
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Funny, that -- my PalmOS PDA does this just fine, with the bundled PicselViewer. I can zoom in and out as much as I like, and move the view around on the paper.
It's also my preferred e-book reader -- with subpixel font rendering, it's a lot more readable than the e-ink readers, even though it's only 480 pixels wide,
Re:So... (Score:4, Informative)
I had a PDA that I used for reading eBooks, the Toshiba e805 with its beautiful 640x480 screen. The problems always seemed to be battery life (3.5-4 hours with screen set to near minimum brightness) so you really had to charge it every day, and distractions (real easy to get distracted while reading, go to look something up, then get distracted surfing the net). Because of this I bought a Sony PRS-505. No regrets. I bought a $2.50 book light, and guess what, I can read a night too. The screen is like reading paper in daylight. I charge it about once every 8-10 books.
Before I bought it I could never manage to really find time to read for enjoyment, I got tired of carrying multiple books, so I welcomes eBooks, but I got tired of forgetting to charge the PDA every night.
Great battery life, multiple books, looks great in sunlight and a cheap booklight makes it readable even at night. Great buy and as a dedicated reader its damned near perfect.
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I know its bad form to reply to your own post, but I forgot one other issue to mention. In spite of what they say in the article, the page turn time is not 2 seconds. It was that slow with the original libre and PRS 500, the 505 has it down to a second or less. If you hit the next page button as you are hitting the last line, its all good.
e-books, a-books (Score:2)
I too once read ebooks on a PDA, but stopped a while back when I found that was the ONLY thing I used it for, and got tired of carrying it and a phone, camera, etc.. I now read 'em on my iPhone using Stanza. Battery life is better than that of my HP 5500, beats playing games or watching video, and the phone always goes on the nightstand charger anyway.
I think one rainy day I read maybe 5 hours on and off, and still had a half charge. After all, a book reader isn't very processor intensive.
About half my book
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i think Sony should add e-book reader functionality to the PSP. it's not as big as the Amazon Kindle or Sony Reader, but its high-quality screen is very easy to read text on. the only major benefit to the Kindle & Sony Reader are that they use e-ink displays which are viewable under direct sunlight.
but i still prefer the PSP as it doesn't have the slow refresh rate of e-ink displays, can produce vibrant colors for reading magazines and other e-books containing graphics, and has wi-fi and web browsing ca
Re:So... (Score:5, Informative)
the only major benefit to the Kindle & Sony Reader are that they use e-ink displays which are viewable under direct sunlight.
And that they don't drain battery life nearly as much as back-lit high-refresh rate screens do. And that they typically are much less likely to cause eyestrain.
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i agree that the longer battery life is a significant advantage, but i hardly think that the technology being packaged is worth $300~400. if anything, they should be cheaper than portable entertainment devices like the PSP. if they were, i would go out and get one immediately.
personally, i'm not really affected by the eyestrain caused by LCD screens, but maybe that's because i'm used to staring at the computer screen all day long. it's probably not good for me, but i'm more accustomed to reading on an LCD s
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I don't disagree that they're pricey, but they're definitely worth it for a certain segment of the population, and not just limited to early adopters. I do a lot of traveling, and when I'm not I have about 3 hours/day of commute time to work via public transit. For me, the huge battery life is incredibly important, as is the ability to bring a LOT of reading material with me in the same small space. I absolutely hate the fact that my laptop won't last throughout an entire flight unless I bring extra batteri
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well, i guess such e-book readers do make sense for you and people with similar circumstances. but i think it'll continue to be a niche market for a while.
having an e-ink device instead of lugging around 30-40 lbs. of books would be a great improvement. unfortunately, i don't think textbook publishers would risk the potential for piracy by distributing textbooks in digital format. if they did, that would mean further proliferation of the trusted computing platform for DRMed e-books. in that case, students s
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Totally! I was thinking about bringing up the DRM/resale issue in my post, but it felt off-topic.
What I will say is that I would like it if rather than buying a textbook, I bought a "subscription" that would get me the basic text and updates/edits as they happen to that text. I would cheerfully pay the same amount for a digital book that updated itself with each edition as I would for the paper edition. It'd be win-win for the student and publisher: the student gets to have a reference that continually upda
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heh, i guess i do go off on a lot of tangents in my posts.
and yea, you're probably right about most fields not requiring textbooks with lots of color. as with most learning technologies, it will probably be adopted gradually, with the disciplines most suitable for B&W texts going first. i'm just skeptical that textbook publishers will pass savings from the absence of printing costs onto the students. they'll probably charge $200 for a hardcover book, and $180 for the e-book.
and if they do go with a subs
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Heh, the Sonys and the Amazons of the world should pay attention :p
Actually, I wouldn't have any problem with the eBook version of a textbook costing exactly the same as the printed one, as long as I got the updates at no extra cost.
As to book fees rather than buying books, a friend of mine went to a really cool liberal arts school where they charged every student a flat book fee each semester of about $300. Some semesters you only got $50 worth of books, some semesters you got $500 worth of books, so it mo
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You can sort of do this already.
If you can get the eBook in HTML format, you can load it onto the PSPs memory card, and then browse to it directly.
Because its hard to type in addresses, I'd suggest making a "home page" for the eBooks (like a Table of Contents), add a Bookmark for the "Contents page" and then just add a link to each eBook's home page from there.
I've been using the eBook's from Baen that way for a year or two.
Yeah ... it would be easier if Sony just incorporated a Moby-book reader, but this w
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There's also Bookr [sourceforge.net], which hasn't been updated in a few years but can do some basic PDF reading as well as straight ASCII text. I imagine that if you wanted to add support for formats like the non-protected form of .LIT, you probably could since Bookr is open source.
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Does Bookr rely on a homebrew "cracked" PSP?
I haven't done that to mine, and probably wont. One of the things I liked about the HTML approach was that it didn't require anything more than simple File copying, and editing one HTML page to set up a main index. :)
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Admittedly, it's homebrew and requires a modified firmware, but that hasn't been a real problem in roughly two years. The custom firmware guys are on the ball, and have CFW up to date with the official firmware within a very short time.
Bookr also supports cutting CPU speed down to minimum, which prolongs the battery life quite a bit compared to the bloated HTML renderer on the PSP.
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hrmm... right now i'm using Bookr (i used to run PSPDF, but i think that project is dead). but these are homebrew solutions that void your warranty, which a lot of consumers might be afraid to do. i just think e-book support would be a major selling point for a lot of potential PSP buyers (it's one of my favorite uses for the PSP).
but the HTML method is a good solution too that i'd never even thought of. i might just develop a browser-based e-book library so that i can run the application on a local web ser
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You're right. I'm one of those users who doesn't want to get into Homebrew (seems too complicated to set up and deal with upgrading firmware for later games). I want my electronics to "just work", which the PSP has been pretty good about doing.
Hadn't thought about extending the eBook library to a webserver. Neat idea. Most of the time I'm using it, I'm stuck either underground (commuter train), or in the air, both of which preclude a network connection. :)
Gutenberg project texts preformated for eReaders (Score:3, Informative)
This people will serve you Gutenberg project texts on a series of specific formats (or custom created PDFs or HTML). To the best of my knowledge, there is no other site like this.
manybooks [manybooks.net]
Pick a book. On the right side, you will find a button free download and some 500 formating choices (many custom, many gadget-specific).
PS I have no relation whatsoever with manybooks, but I was horrified that it took me so long to find them again at Google).
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I'm a big fan of manybooks.net. I've downloaded, well, many books from there for my Kindle, including a fair number of Jules Verne novels that you simply cannot find in dead-tree versions.
If you find that you are using the site frequently, please think about making a small donation to help keep it going. (Just for the record, I should point out that I have NO connection to manybooks.net either.)
If you have a Kindle or some other portable, you can use manybooks' mobile-friendly version: mnybks.net
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It depends. I've tried large-format books with source code and while the text was legible, the code was hard to read unless I put it in landscape mode.
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I have a Hanlin eReader and reading PDFs which were not specifically produced for its screen size AND screen resolution is a RPITA.
The GP question is spot on: there is a lot of interesting content on the web that I would like to read comfortably in my Hanlin.
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US Letter size? Why not A4? PDFs comes in all shapes and sizes, and eink doesn't scroll well. Also you can't reliably reflow text on more than about half of the PDFs out there. I think Amazon understands that people what this, but have been unable to deliver something that works well enough to be considered a product.
iRex can do PDFs on its giant display, go buy that. Of course you won't have access to Amazon store or great wireless coverage through a cell network. Enjoy trying to connect to random 802.11 a
Second Post (Score:2)
Slashdotted. :-(
Kindle 2 pics (Score:5, Informative)
Since the original link is slashdotted, you can find some pics here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10058352-1.html [cnet.com]
Scrollwheel vs joystick (Score:4, Insightful)
Wouldn't a scrollwheel be better than a joystick for the purpose of this reader?
I had been considering purchasing one, now I wonder if I should hurry up and buy v1 before the new one comes out.
Great, just what I need... (Score:5, Funny)
"turn the page by swiping their finger across the screen" ...
Leaving smeary, Cheetos marks across my books.
Wait, that isn't really a change.
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With a e-book reader, you can get Cheetos on all of your books at the same time. Progress!
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Speaking of pages smeared with Cheetos marks, I can't wait until I can get a set of DnD books for the reader. PDFs get the job done on my laptop, but the form factor of the Kindle would be a real win.
Count me in as an ipod touch reader (Score:5, Interesting)
after being left in the cold by Sony with their librie (closed format, no fw upgrades to read pdf or epub) I will stick with my ipod touch and stanza, the screen is a bit small and not as nice as the librie's e-ink one, but at least I can read every format without issues and the integration with feedbooks is awesome.
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And I'll stick with my tablet computer. But both really use up batteries quickly. With E-Ink displays, battery life goes from hours to weeks.
For me, the closed architecture, tiny displays, and high prices are all deal breakers. But it's still a fundamentally a better way to read an E Book.
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as much as I agree that the batteries in my librie last longer, I wouldn't say 'weeks' unless you leave it off all the time: from my experience reading about an hour a day I had to change the batteries on my librie every 2 weeks, and recharge my ipod maybe once a week (turning it off after reading).
The thing is, though, if you ever added wifi to the e-ink reader its battery life would get a lot lower, not to mention that turning pages on an e-ink display is so slow as to be distracting (ok, I am a fast read
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Bwahahaha! Read a real book on the tiny ipod touch screen?! Seriously, how long do the batteries last? I guess you like reading extremely slowly too.
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? batteries on the ipod touch last about 5-6 hours of reading, and if you make the font small enough (and read landscape) you can fit about 1/3rd to 1/2 of a standard paperback page on the screen. I am a very fast reader (120-140 paperback pages/hour usually) and I haven't noticed any decrease in reading speed using the touch, it was more of an issue on the librie since changing pages took 0.5-1 seconds, which is an eternity.
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You're trying to be funny, but...
1) The batteries last quite a long time (I think one day I read 4-5 hours and still had a half-charge left.)
2) The iPhone/Touch screen may be small, but it's bright, has high-contrast, and subpixel rendered text on its dense high-resolution screen is VERY easy to read. MUCH better than the Kindle's non-backlit low-contrast 80% gray text on a 20% gray screen.
3) I use Stanza in tap-screen-to-turn-page mode, and it's tap-flip, tap-flip in terms of flipping screens/pages. It's f
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Those screens are just so small for me.
I tried using my WindowsCE PDA ( several generations ), then later my Palm T/X and its just too damned small.
Too bad my newton cant do PDF.. its the perfect size, and you aren't stuck with 'just' an E-book reader. ( plus you can get 'new' ones cheaper )
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the librie did not fail, sony just rebadged it and upgraded the firmware and sold it all over the world (instead of just in Japan), they could have easily upgraded the librie FW to support pdf also but they didn't.
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yes, I did use makelrf and html converters, but it was always a hassle (try to convert the original format to txt, then convert to lrf, then upload, then rebuild the index), and there is still no way to convert pdf besides installing the printer driver and printing the pdf to it, which just generates huge bitmaps and upload those.
The reading interface is also not very good, with user-created books missing chapters and capability to jump to a particular page (you better never stop halfway 'war and peace' and
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You don't need to convert PDFs for the Sony eReader. I've read PDFs on my PRS-505 model eReader simply by dragging them to the /database/media/books directory on the device.
The original librie did not support PDF, but the current eReader does.
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I have an original librie in fact, and Sony not providing an updated FW that supports pdf (and epub) despite the librie being pretty much the same hw wise as the ereader is the reason why I am never going to buy any other sony ereader product.
filthy screens (Score:4, Insightful)
"turn the page by swiping their finger across the screen"
Only appeals to those whose laptop screens are encrusted with fingerprints. Ugh. Gross. I'm also not impressed with cellphones that accumulate a "face-print" on their LCDs.
Yet another product that looks great until actually used. I'm sure the focus group loved it.
Perhaps the target market is those folks whom still run their finger along underneath the words?
It's like promoting the "quality" of HDTV to nation where 90% of sets have 1/4 inch of dust and pet hair and badly maladjusted picture controls.
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I'm also not impressed with cellphones that accumulate a "face-print" on their LCDs.
Maybe I'm a degenerate slob in your eyes, but I never found this to be a problem. When I need the screen for something, I just rub it on my shirt a couple of times.
I mean, what's your alternative? Where would you put the screen on a phone such that it won't get dirty?
Just rub the screen... (Score:4, Insightful)
Thing is, with a cell phone you only need the screen for a few seconds, you won't be trying to read text with no backlight for hours and cursing every single page turn.
Still, it'll look cool in the marketing videos and that's what counts.
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"Buy an LED booklight."
The Kindle's 80% gray text on a 20% gray background needs a LOT of light. Hard to read under ANYTHING but optimum conditions. And it's geeky enough to be reading a Kindle on a train or in a restaurant WITHOUT sticking a LED booklight on the stupid thing.
"My eyes would hurt after awhile."
The iPhone has subpixel antialiased text on a high-resolution 163 ppi LED backlit screen. No flicker. No eyestrain. It's actually a joy to read.
Braille (Score:1)
Perhaps the target market is those folks whom still run their finger along underneath the words?
Those people are blind, you insensitive clod!
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You tell 'em Internet Snob Guy!
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Perhaps the target market is those folks whom still run their finger along underneath the words?
Do you mean speed readers following the Evelyn Wood [wikipedia.org] system?
maybe the Sony reader would be more (Score:4, Insightful)
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That's why he mentioned the Mac and not Linux. Everyone knows Linux users thrive on being ignored...
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You can hook up the eReader to a Mac or a linux box. It appears as a drive. Copy any pdf or lrf file to the /database/media/books directory. Unmount the drive, turn on the reader and the books will be available for reading.
There's a number of sources of free lrf files, and lots of sources of free pdf files. The only thing that requires Windows is their store.
Kindle Design (Score:5, Interesting)
Ugh. The Kindle is one of the best-designed gadgets I've ever owned. I hope we don't suffer through a series of crappy re-thinkings based on some misplaced notion of hipness to try to sell readers to people who don't actually read books.
For instance, a touchscreen is an incredibly lame idea. You spend a _lot_ of time with an e-reader, ok? It takes hours and hours to read a book. Are you really going to want to read the another novel on that screen you've been dragging your finger across for the last three months? Yuck. Not a mobile phone, folks.
I was totally skeptical about the Kindle until I actually held one. It fits great in either hand, and unlike other readers I've seen you can use it one-handed. If you use your Kindle in the supplied leatherette case you're doing it wrong!
The Sony reader looks nicer in photos but doesn't have the same kind of balance. I'll take function over form on something like this any day.
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Same here, there's a training period of a few minutes while you learn how to hold it without hitting the page turner buttons by accident but that's about it. The rest is pure joy.
I had secretly planned to wait until v2 to buy our second Kindle and come up with some kind of lame excuse to take over the new device and give the old one to my wife, but it looks like it is going to be the other way around, if v2 is the one available when we purchase the second unit, it goes to her and I'll keep the v1 device.
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I'm with ya. The *only* thing that I don't like about the Kindle design is that I haven't found a way to reassign the next and previous page buttons. The new Kindle doesn't look good to me. They've made it longer, took away the carrying case to put it in a bag, and it doesn't seem like there are any compelling features.
As for the touch screen on the Sony... Yeah, unless it's multi-touch, not glass, but very resistant to wear and marking, I have absolutely no interest. Moreover, how well would the touch scre
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I totally agree. My wife and I got Kindles as early Christmas presents this year. We've had them for just over a week, and totally love them. I've read some complaints about the page-turning button placement on the Kindle, but I find after a bit of getting used to, I have no problem with them. In fact, I hold my Kindle in my left hand, and having the Next/Prev buttons right there make reading a lot easier.
I've even found the instructions on how to create my own Kindle books (hint: use the free MobiPocke
Re:Kindle Design...with "metal back"?! (Score:2)
Seriously...who thought that was a good idea?! If holding an e-reader I'd like it to have _some_ similarity to holding a book...not some cold piece of metal!
Now I'm thinking about getting V1 asap...even it will be a bit complicated (Kindle not available here...)
Kindle and Sony have the same basic problem (Score:3, Insightful)
They're single-purpose devices with closed formats in an increasingly multipurpose open-format world. Why would anyone in their right mind spend about $400 on a device that is locked to proprietary formats and doesn't do much else except "read books." Just one more [expletives deleted] gadget to carry around.
On the other hand, smart phones like the iPod and Android, which can also presumably serve as schedulers, notepads, book readers, mp3 players/audiobook players and *gasp* phones?
Kindle and Sony were effectively obsolete the day they were released.
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I can only assume that you are still young and have great eyesight. I've tried reading on small screen devices and either the font is too small to comfortably read, or too large so you get to read only a few sentences between "page flips". The appeal of the ebook readers is that they are legible and provide a good reading experience.
However, the closed formats have got to go! When somebody comes out with an affordable device which will take a wide range of open formats, then there will be one in my hands.
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However, the closed formats have got to go! When somebody comes out with an affordable device which will take a wide range of open formats, then there will be one in my hands.
While I don't disagree that it'd be nice to not have to convert files, I haven't had any problems converting stuff for my Kindle... I set up some automation around the MobiPocket software that will batch process LOTS of files to convert them. I downloaded thousands of Gutenberg files and had my computer convert them for me while I slep
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I don't think so, necessarily. E-ink is great for this application, but pretty terrible for most others right now. I can't imagine reading something long on an iPhone, while the Kindle, and I'd assume the Sony are very easy to read off of.
Of course, the target market for e-book readers I tend to think is significantly smaller than mp3/pda/cell phone convergence devices, but that doesn't mean that they're obsolete. But if you enjoy reading (I try to make at least half an hour a day to read novels), then i
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Well ... there is at least SOME stuff out there if you look in the Mobibook format (and like SciFi/Fantasy).
From Kindle's Tech Specs
(emphesis mine
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"They're single-purpose devices with closed formats in an increasingly multipurpose open-format world."
I received a Kindle as a gift and the very first thing I loaded onto it was a plaintext file. It worked beautifully. It's hard to be more "open-format" than plain text. Not only that but unless you ever used one you will never know the pleasure of reading e-ink displayed text. It is nothing less than wonderful after staring at backlit text from an LCD all day.
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I have no idea about the Markdown formatting. I'm embarrassed to say this is the first I've heard of it.
The screen refresh rate is really not an issue. You have to wait a second or so and it's really no big deal. The only problem I have with it is that it doesn't support monospace fonts, so for any technical books with code examples in it is just not very readable. For everything else it's great.
If you only read paperbacks it's probably not worth it, but if you read new releases and other non-pulp kinds
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As for the
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In principle I agree, but phones are just too small. I've used my nokia tablet for reading, but at 4.1" the screen is about as small as I can stand... and heavier than I'd like.
There's a reason you don't see many 4" paper books. You're never going to sell a phone with a 7" screen, so there's certainly a market for larger devices for reading. Though preferably these larger devices would do other things besides just reading.
Cost? (Score:1)
Until it is cheaper, it's not going to gain a lot of popularity - paying almost $400 for the ability to read books never made sense to begin with; and as the economy gets worse, it will make even less sense.
Cost?-Well that's a load off. (Score:2)
"Until it is cheaper, it's not going to gain a lot of popularity - paying almost $400 for the ability to read books never made sense to begin with; and as the economy gets worse, it will make even less sense."
Well considering all the money I've spent over the years and subsequently lost because books aren't easily movable. $400 for a reader and I can easily take everything with me from now on. I'd say it's worth it.
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Full sized images of Kindle 2 (Score:1)
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/gallery/devices/amazon-kindle-2/ [boygeniusreport.com]
And yet the major problems remain: (Score:2)
In addition, EFF discussed some issues here [eff.org].
When? (Score:2)
When will they get it right? I would love to own an E-book and I'd buy lots of E-texts. But first they need to:
- Quit trying to force us into their middle-man monopoly.
- Let it read open formats.
- Get rid of the DRM.
Is it so hard to understand? I want to own the stuff I buy. PERIOD. I don't want a license, and I want to buy it from whomever I choose. Until then I'll keep buying pressed trees.
Then you're missing the point (Score:2)
The entire point of these devices is to force you into a model where Sony or Amazon makes money as the middleman. Otherwise, there would be no reason for the proprietary formats and DRM.
Why a keyboard, anyway? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's still not clear to me why precisely I want a hardware keyboard in my ebook reader. There just aren't a lot of reasons to interact with an ebook reader that can't be done with a couple arrow buttons.
Frankly, the Kindle looks like a bargain-basement product, with an upper-tier price. Yes I know most of the cost is in the screen, I just wish it didn't look like crap. Also, open formats would be nice...
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Technically, you can use the keyboard to make notes. I don't find that very useful. Searching for text in a book is much more important. But the biggest use for the keyboard is because the device has free wireless Internet, so the keyboard can be used in the browser (and particularly, as far as amazon is concerned, in the Kindle store -- you can hear about a book and immediately find and purchase it straight from the device).
I'm wondering if your question was rhetorical or what, since saying "It's still n
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It's still not clear to me why precisely I want a hardware keyboard in my ebook reader.
Scenario: you're reading some fiction and something stupid happens which detracts from your enjoyment of the story. Now you can use the handy keyboard to rewrite the offending parts.
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed completely. I can't believe they actually made it bigger. And a keyboard? For reading books? Arg. The design trend should be to make the non-screen elements smaller and the screen bigger. There's no reason an e-book reader should be anything more than a touch-sensitive e-ink screen and a power button.
Focus!!! (Score:2)
I'm not too keen on these latest announcements really. It looks like a lot of manufacturers are looking at the iPhone and getting worried that it can do a lot of stuff that their device can't.
I'm not really interested in that. I'd like a dedicated reading device. Why does the Kindle have a keyboard? Why is the new Reader getting a touch screen? I guess Sony / Amazon aren't making the screen tech themselves, so maybe just have to concentrate on other areas that they can change.
I'm happy with the feature
Keyboards and touch displays (Score:2)
Keyboards for using the wireless to search for books. Putting touch on an eink screen reduces the visual quality of the display, for a device that is for reading books it seems like the wrong direction to go.
And yes, everyone tries to chase Apple's industrial design. Even when it doesn't make sense.
Re: (Score:2)
My preference would be that you'd connect the device to a PC and search for and buy books on the PC. The wireless should just be for connecting up to a PC and syncing the books. Depending on the cost and othe rimpacts I'd be happy with a cable.
Re: (Score:2)
"The wireless should just be for connecting up to a PC and syncing the books."
Then I would recommend a device that uses Bluetooth or USB Wireless. Both are more power friendly than 802.11, if you don't plan on having the ability to browse the internet, then 802.11 is not that worthwhile due to complex configuration of MAC filters, encryption keys, and network connection. There are some possible solutions for easy LAN network that I am not willing to discuss. But Bluetooth is easy to implement and easy for t
No SD slot? (Score:2)
Well that might be a deal killer for me. Sounds like they want to move away from 'user supplied content', and this is the first step.
Wonder how the web browser is in this one, and when they will start charging for its use.
Book prices are holding these back (Score:3, Insightful)
The PRS-505 launched in the UK recently, and I was all set on getting one until I saw the price of books for these things.
When I buy a book from Amazon, it's delivered the next day and at least two people read it. The same titles as e-books cost the same amount on the Waterstones store, if not slightly more than on Amazon, and only 1 person can read them unless I shell out for a second reader. And in some cases, I was able to get new books from Amazon BEFORE they would be available on the Waterstones store.
E-books have to be at least 30% less than their physical counterparts before I'll start buying them or a reader to read them.
Of course, if I could find a decent site on the net I might be convinced, but I never managed to find one that caters to most of my reading tastes.
Still not close to my favorite (Score:2)
If I have the money someday, the device that I'll be giving a try is sold by http://www.irextechnologies.com/
They have been producing a nice one for some time, but their new series of e-readers is one step closer to my dream. The price tag is way too high, but considering the amount of material I have to read (tech guy + PhD student) it is still an investment worth considering. I can not read from the screen no matter what kind of device (laptop, lcd monitor, shiny, glossy, crt etc..) I use. E-Ink seems to
color... (Score:2, Interesting)
Hrm. I was hoping for color ePaper by now. I love the look of ePaper. I've played with the Sony reader and the Kindle and the displays look just like a piece of paper. So much more pleasant to read than an LCD or similar display! But was hoping for color by now.
Sure, the average novel doesn't require color, but any book with illustrations, graphs, photographs or maps (as often found in Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels) would really benefit from color.
I've followed the ePaper tech for a bit and I know color is bei
Bother Anyone else? (Score:2)
"The unit didnâ(TM)t go down too much in size which is unfortunate, but then again, you want something pretty large so itâ(TM)s comfortable to read on. He says that the unit is a little wider and a little longer, but it should help those that thought the first unit was a little too awkwardly-shaped."
It didn't go down too much in size which is too bad . . . in fact it's both wider and longer, which is good?
I want a kindle myself - if I get ahead of the game next year it's my next priority after upg