Comments on: Dual-screen Android e-readers multiply

By: Horace Bryan

Horace Bryan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:34:55 +0000

Good job.
Does the Alex read the text audibly, as does the kindle?
That is a great feature in that it turns the reader into an audio-book generator.

By: Mitch Ratcliffe

Mitch Ratcliffe — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:30:29 +0000

Good points. I tend to view it from the perspective of the non e-reader owner who is presented the choice between another device and adding an e-reader app to their phone or laptop. Having been a big fan, indeed and advocate of PDAs (see the books I wrote about Newton and EO, for instance), my experience is that such specialized applications become must-haves when they are an add-on rather than a dedicated purchase.

Screen geometry, battery life and color, I think, will be factors in the length of dedicated e-readers’ market life, but cost is the prohibitive issue, as most people who would buy a smartphone will use the voice and data services daily, but most readers buy one to three books a year. For we, the active readers with dozens or hundreds of books a year, the dedicated e-reader makes a lot of sense, but there my not be a mass market for them.

By: theAntiELVIS

theAntiELVIS — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:24:33 +0000

->Mitch

Perhaps – but see my comments here:

http://rfuture.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/follow-up-will-tablets-kill-e-readers/

By: Mitch Ratcliffe

Mitch Ratcliffe — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:07:54 +0000

When the e-reader becomes that fundamental device, what’s the difference between it and a tablet, a smartphone, an iPod Touch? That’s a convergence device, which suggests that the the dedicated e-reader is a transitory thing. I don’t think Amazon or B&N will be concerned about making and selling the devices when this happens, they will want to be selling books.

-Mitch

By: Yabbar

Yabbar — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:13:24 +0000

Amen.

By: theAntiELVIS

theAntiELVIS — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:17:53 +0000

I was just remembering my first cell phone. They had been around for about a decade, but the thing had a belt clip I never used because it weighed so much it pulled my pants down. All you could do with it was talk, the display was black-on-white, and it had no signal about half the time. And it cost a fortune.

E-readers are going to a fundamental device function in the future. Soon they will have color, personal organizers, a video phone, email, full web browsing, and a monthly service charge. It all levels-out after a while.

-tAE-

By: Kindle books come to the PC -- a Nook counterpunch | Rational rants | ZDNet.com

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:54:35 +0000

[...] competition at the device level. Amazon, facing the introduction of BN.com’s Nook and other e-readers this week, has announced it will support reading of Kindle books on Windows 7, Vista and XP Service [...]

By: Nook Clarified: Really solid progress for e-readers | Rational rants | ZDNet.com

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:52:14 +0000

[...] Noble. I don’t think it is a revolutionary device, particularly because an almost identical dual-screen Android-based device, from Spring Design, was announced the day [...]

By: Yabbar

Yabbar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:50:16 +0000

They can pump out as many different designs as they want, most people, including those sitting on the fence, will not buy these eReaders until the prices for these devices come down. A LOT! Myself among these.

I use my Palm IIIc and SmartPhones for reading ebooks – have for over 6 years, and now have well over 300 ebooks, but no matter how exciting they make these new devices sound, I am not buying one until they are sub-$100 Cdn. Until then, my PDA’s and SmartPhones are just fine for reading my eLiterature.

By: B&N's Nook e-reader: Weirdly unrevolutionary | Rational rants | ZDNet.com

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:05:47 +0000

[...] iTunes-like shopping. Google’s Android operating system drives this capability, which I think points to some interesting design opportunities. TeleRead reports that during the Q&A at the press conference, B&N execs said there will be [...]