I read that Xerox once stated that any eBook reader would need 300dpi to be as pleasant a reading experience as a printed book.
That sounds about right to me. A while back I saw a black and white 300dpi CRT monitor and it was amazing! Even 4pt text was very readable. No eye strain at all.
From what I could find on the Internet, Philips has a small color LCD at roughly 260dpi, Samsung and IBM's go slightly above 200dpi.
A 9"-12" 250dpi color LCD eBook reader would be an amazing thing. With OS X resolution independence and PDF support small print won't need to stay small, everyone could have the print size they prefer.
And if it would be as thin as an iPod nano, I'd buy it in a second!
A 12" high res color LCD display with "OS X's" res independence is a tablet, not an "e-reader". Such a device might incorporate a reader app, but it would not be a narrowly purposed machine like, say, the iPod.
The appeal of an actual e-reader is related to the appeal of the iPod: by focusing tightly on dong one thing very well you can make it do that thing really, really well.
First, if the idea is to replicate, as nearly as possible, the experience of reading a book, then black and white is actually desirable, not a limitation.
Secondly, any back lit tech is going to be power hungry, relatively thick, difficult to read in daylight and a fundamentally different experience from the printed page, which is why e-ink was developed in the first place.
Look at the Sony thing I've linked to a couple of times. The basics are there, and as the e-ink tech matures it will get better. As it stands you have a perfectly readable black text on white page that is entirely reflective, just like a real book, so you don't have the subtle eye strain of looking directly into a source of illumination and it doesn't get washed out by daylight.
The display tech is persistent, meaning power is applied only when changing characters and not to keep them there, so you can use a much smaller battery to achieve a given life, further reducing size and weight.
It's what I'd want in an electronic book replacement (not the Sony per se but that approach). A super thin, light "page" that was indistinguishable from a printed page, about the size of a paper back book without the thickness, with gestural controls for moving around from page to page and a few discrete ports, possibly wireless, for getting content on. The least interface possible for setting up prefs and managing the thing.
Something that just got out of the way and let me read, without drawing undo attention to itself as a electronic device.
A 12" high res color LCD display with "OS X's" res independence is a tablet, not an "e-reader".
Depends what you want to read. While agreeing that e-ink is an amazing display technology, personally I would find a grayscale monitor useless. I have a lot of manuals and technical documents with color images that I'd love to be able to have with me in an easy to carry, easy to search and easy to read fashion. A black and white display would not do as these texts are about and refer to the color images.
What I'd like is a dedicated player for my visual content akin the iPod being a player for audio content. And with visual content I don't mean photos in VGA resolution, I mean a proper text document reader for eBooks and PDFs with color. On a 200+ dpi screen for a good reading experience.
It's not a tablet computer and does not ever need to be able to run Word or Excel, or even Photoshop.
Although I would not mind having wifi and Safari built in too.
Depends what you want to read. While agreeing that e-ink is an amazing display technology, personally I would find a grayscale monitor useless. I have a lot of manuals and technical documents with color images that I'd love to be able to have with me in an easy to carry, easy to search and easy to read fashion. A black and white display would not do as these texts are about and refer to the color images.
What I'd like is a dedicated player for my visual content akin the iPod being a player for audio content. And with visual content I don't mean photos in VGA resolution, I mean a proper text document reader for eBooks and PDFs with color. On a 200+ dpi screen for a good reading experience.
It's not a tablet computer and does not ever need to be able to run Word or Excel, or even Photoshop.
Although I would not mind having wifi and Safari built in too.
Well, that's the problem with feature creep. Once you start adding color and res independence and SafarI and wifi and the ability to read multiple formats (and why not basic text editing, while your at it) you might as well be a tablet, because what you need to do all that can also do a lot more. So you're really talking about a somewhat hobbled tablet with a lot of apps just arbitrarily left off, which isn't a compelling product cost/benifit wise.
I see where you're going addabox, but the point is to have a device with no HD, no DVD drive, a cheap iPod CPU (no Intel chip that requires cooling) plus multitouch.
Such an eReader can only do a limited number of things given its hardware: viewing texts, PDFs and photos. I doubt it would be up to the task of showing movies full screen on its ultra-high res display. Too many pixels to shift.
Web browsing might be doable, also basic text editing, but that's pretty much it.
And that is where I draw the line of the device's functionality. But even with these 'limitations' I would consider such a device very useful. Whether it's a compelling product for many others and hence for Apple to produce, I don't know.
The problem I have with the concept is not the technology but the economics. So far, all the eReaders were about $300 and the cost of the books that go on them are often only 10% less expensive than the paper book.
That's not a situation I'm prepared to accept when the initial and marginal costs of publishing eBooks are a lot lower than with a printed volume. Apple can fix other things if they chose to get into the market, but I don't think they can or will push the costs of the books down.
I see where you're going addabox, but the point is to have a device with no HD, no DVD drive, a cheap iPod CPU (no Intel chip that requires cooling) plus multitouch.
Such an eReader can only do a limited number of things given its hardware: viewing texts, PDFs and photos. I doubt it would be up to the task of showing movies full screen on its ultra-high res display. Too many pixels to shift.
Web browsing might be doable, also basic text editing, but that's pretty much it.
And that is where I draw the line of the device's functionality. But even with these 'limitations' I would consider such a device very useful. Whether it's a compelling product for many others and hence for Apple to produce, I don't know.
Fair enough, I'm just sure how stripped down a thing that can do multitouch with a good color screen, web browsing, etc. can actually be. And if has the capacity then it's pretty much a given it will be given the functionality.
Again, I don't actually know what enough tech to do what you want gives you, but I suspect it's a little like asking for a MacBook that "just" does video, maybe a little image manipulation. Fine as far as it goes, just pretty unlikely.
The problem I have with the concept is not the technology but the economics. So far, all the eReaders were about $300 and the cost of the books that go on them are often only 10% less expensive than the paper book.
Again, it depends on what you want to read. There are a lot of books I have in print (and which do not exist in electronic form) I would pay good money for to have in a form where I could do a simple text search through them. I do not expect them to be cheaper, heck, I'd pay double or three times the print price without even a second of hesitation!
If the ability to search through a book does not have any value to you, then of course you would not want to pay extra for it and would merely compare cost of printed book vs. cost of electronic book.
Similarly I like to zoom into images to check out more detail. A lot of PDFs come with images embedded at 300 or 600dpi or even store them as vector graphics. These provide more detail than most prints can show.
But if you're not interested in images and zooming in on them then having books in electronic form has no extra value to you.
With most of my PDF manuals I'd prefer to read them on a separate device with a 200+ dpi screen. To me there is value in:
- much crisper text and color images (compared to viewing them on my computer screen)
- the ability to keep reference pages open on a separate device while working on my computer (as opposed to having to constantly switch back and forth between PDF reader and application)
Sure, I could just print those PDFs. But full page color printing is still expensive.
Or I could buy a separate ultra-highres monitor just for those PDFs. Apart from limited desk space 200dpi monitors are still rather expensive too.
All in all such a device would be very economical for me from the start.
Eink is too slow to be used as a proper display, but it's fine for displayig static pages. However, it is available in 200+dpi versions, so the image quality is quite good.
The Sony reader I linked to claims to be using e-ink, at 170 pixels per inch.
That may not be 300 dpi, but it looks adequate for black text on a white background at paperback book font sizes.
Yes, it's adequate for simple text. I'm talking about a flexible full-color display that would be on par with 150 line screen glossy magazine print. It will eventually happen, but like I said, likely within 10 years.
coupla points; any predictions on how much space would be needed to shift the unit with the entire english language (or others) preloaded as standard? could be a tie-in with project guttenberg or something google would do. i can see, however, publishers being a bit narked about that. they must still make a lot of money on classics. it would, however, been a totally killer selling point.
i also think the ebooks would have to be considerably cheaper than the printed versions. i'm not a big reader, but i think a lot of people like to own books and it would be a shame to not have your personal library... the ebooks have zero production costs and would take nothing to convert from what ever digital form they exist in at the publishers before going to print. it would be unjustifiable to charge more than a few $s for them
and yeah, i really do think it would encourage people to read more
also, what do people think about the product name? the ibook?!?! they already have that trademark and it's not being used at the moment! i can't think how anything else would be appropriate!
the ibook. 8gig on-board and the complete works of shakespeare on-board with room for your next "paperback"
not for a few years, but it would be a great product
Comments
I read that Xerox once stated that any eBook reader would need 300dpi to be as pleasant a reading experience as a printed book.
That sounds about right to me. A while back I saw a black and white 300dpi CRT monitor and it was amazing! Even 4pt text was very readable. No eye strain at all.
From what I could find on the Internet, Philips has a small color LCD at roughly 260dpi, Samsung and IBM's go slightly above 200dpi.
A 9"-12" 250dpi color LCD eBook reader would be an amazing thing. With OS X resolution independence and PDF support small print won't need to stay small, everyone could have the print size they prefer.
And if it would be as thin as an iPod nano, I'd buy it in a second!
A 12" high res color LCD display with "OS X's" res independence is a tablet, not an "e-reader". Such a device might incorporate a reader app, but it would not be a narrowly purposed machine like, say, the iPod.
The appeal of an actual e-reader is related to the appeal of the iPod: by focusing tightly on dong one thing very well you can make it do that thing really, really well.
First, if the idea is to replicate, as nearly as possible, the experience of reading a book, then black and white is actually desirable, not a limitation.
Secondly, any back lit tech is going to be power hungry, relatively thick, difficult to read in daylight and a fundamentally different experience from the printed page, which is why e-ink was developed in the first place.
Look at the Sony thing I've linked to a couple of times. The basics are there, and as the e-ink tech matures it will get better. As it stands you have a perfectly readable black text on white page that is entirely reflective, just like a real book, so you don't have the subtle eye strain of looking directly into a source of illumination and it doesn't get washed out by daylight.
The display tech is persistent, meaning power is applied only when changing characters and not to keep them there, so you can use a much smaller battery to achieve a given life, further reducing size and weight.
It's what I'd want in an electronic book replacement (not the Sony per se but that approach). A super thin, light "page" that was indistinguishable from a printed page, about the size of a paper back book without the thickness, with gestural controls for moving around from page to page and a few discrete ports, possibly wireless, for getting content on. The least interface possible for setting up prefs and managing the thing.
Something that just got out of the way and let me read, without drawing undo attention to itself as a electronic device.
A 12" high res color LCD display with "OS X's" res independence is a tablet, not an "e-reader".
Depends what you want to read. While agreeing that e-ink is an amazing display technology, personally I would find a grayscale monitor useless. I have a lot of manuals and technical documents with color images that I'd love to be able to have with me in an easy to carry, easy to search and easy to read fashion. A black and white display would not do as these texts are about and refer to the color images.
What I'd like is a dedicated player for my visual content akin the iPod being a player for audio content. And with visual content I don't mean photos in VGA resolution, I mean a proper text document reader for eBooks and PDFs with color. On a 200+ dpi screen for a good reading experience.
It's not a tablet computer and does not ever need to be able to run Word or Excel, or even Photoshop.
Although I would not mind having wifi and Safari built in too.
Depends what you want to read. While agreeing that e-ink is an amazing display technology, personally I would find a grayscale monitor useless. I have a lot of manuals and technical documents with color images that I'd love to be able to have with me in an easy to carry, easy to search and easy to read fashion. A black and white display would not do as these texts are about and refer to the color images.
What I'd like is a dedicated player for my visual content akin the iPod being a player for audio content. And with visual content I don't mean photos in VGA resolution, I mean a proper text document reader for eBooks and PDFs with color. On a 200+ dpi screen for a good reading experience.
It's not a tablet computer and does not ever need to be able to run Word or Excel, or even Photoshop.
Although I would not mind having wifi and Safari built in too.
Well, that's the problem with feature creep. Once you start adding color and res independence and SafarI and wifi and the ability to read multiple formats (and why not basic text editing, while your at it) you might as well be a tablet, because what you need to do all that can also do a lot more. So you're really talking about a somewhat hobbled tablet with a lot of apps just arbitrarily left off, which isn't a compelling product cost/benifit wise.
Such an eReader can only do a limited number of things given its hardware: viewing texts, PDFs and photos. I doubt it would be up to the task of showing movies full screen on its ultra-high res display. Too many pixels to shift.
Web browsing might be doable, also basic text editing, but that's pretty much it.
And that is where I draw the line of the device's functionality. But even with these 'limitations' I would consider such a device very useful. Whether it's a compelling product for many others and hence for Apple to produce, I don't know.
That's not a situation I'm prepared to accept when the initial and marginal costs of publishing eBooks are a lot lower than with a printed volume. Apple can fix other things if they chose to get into the market, but I don't think they can or will push the costs of the books down.
I see where you're going addabox, but the point is to have a device with no HD, no DVD drive, a cheap iPod CPU (no Intel chip that requires cooling) plus multitouch.
Such an eReader can only do a limited number of things given its hardware: viewing texts, PDFs and photos. I doubt it would be up to the task of showing movies full screen on its ultra-high res display. Too many pixels to shift.
Web browsing might be doable, also basic text editing, but that's pretty much it.
And that is where I draw the line of the device's functionality. But even with these 'limitations' I would consider such a device very useful. Whether it's a compelling product for many others and hence for Apple to produce, I don't know.
Fair enough, I'm just sure how stripped down a thing that can do multitouch with a good color screen, web browsing, etc. can actually be. And if has the capacity then it's pretty much a given it will be given the functionality.
Again, I don't actually know what enough tech to do what you want gives you, but I suspect it's a little like asking for a MacBook that "just" does video, maybe a little image manipulation. Fine as far as it goes, just pretty unlikely.
The problem I have with the concept is not the technology but the economics. So far, all the eReaders were about $300 and the cost of the books that go on them are often only 10% less expensive than the paper book.
Again, it depends on what you want to read. There are a lot of books I have in print (and which do not exist in electronic form) I would pay good money for to have in a form where I could do a simple text search through them. I do not expect them to be cheaper, heck, I'd pay double or three times the print price without even a second of hesitation!
If the ability to search through a book does not have any value to you, then of course you would not want to pay extra for it and would merely compare cost of printed book vs. cost of electronic book.
Similarly I like to zoom into images to check out more detail. A lot of PDFs come with images embedded at 300 or 600dpi or even store them as vector graphics. These provide more detail than most prints can show.
But if you're not interested in images and zooming in on them then having books in electronic form has no extra value to you.
With most of my PDF manuals I'd prefer to read them on a separate device with a 200+ dpi screen. To me there is value in:
- much crisper text and color images (compared to viewing them on my computer screen)
- the ability to keep reference pages open on a separate device while working on my computer (as opposed to having to constantly switch back and forth between PDF reader and application)
Sure, I could just print those PDFs. But full page color printing is still expensive.
Or I could buy a separate ultra-highres monitor just for those PDFs. Apart from limited desk space 200dpi monitors are still rather expensive too.
All in all such a device would be very economical for me from the start.
...and I want it to go into two-page mode when rotated 90°
I want to slide my finger on the page, as when changing pages on a book, and see the page flip by as in a real book.
The Sony reader I linked to claims to be using e-ink, at 170 pixels per inch.
That may not be 300 dpi, but it looks adequate for black text on a white background at paperback book font sizes.
Yes, it's adequate for simple text. I'm talking about a flexible full-color display that would be on par with 150 line screen glossy magazine print. It will eventually happen, but like I said, likely within 10 years.
coupla points; any predictions on how much space would be needed to shift the unit with the entire english language (or others) preloaded as standard? could be a tie-in with project guttenberg or something google would do. i can see, however, publishers being a bit narked about that. they must still make a lot of money on classics. it would, however, been a totally killer selling point.
i also think the ebooks would have to be considerably cheaper than the printed versions. i'm not a big reader, but i think a lot of people like to own books and it would be a shame to not have your personal library... the ebooks have zero production costs and would take nothing to convert from what ever digital form they exist in at the publishers before going to print. it would be unjustifiable to charge more than a few $s for them
and yeah, i really do think it would encourage people to read more
also, what do people think about the product name? the ibook?!?! they already have that trademark and it's not being used at the moment! i can't think how anything else would be appropriate!
the ibook. 8gig on-board and the complete works of shakespeare on-board with room for your next "paperback"
not for a few years, but it would be a great product