Fujitsu’s Color E-book Reader: Mobile Computer Form Factor of the Future?
Folks are understandably excited over the news of the new color e-book device out of Fujitsu called FLEPia. The 385-gram device will undoubtedly be compared to Amazon’s Kindle unit, and while it might fall short in some areas, it’s actually on par or better in many others. Like the Kindle, it uses a low-powered display technology and offers connectivity so you can purchase content directly. Unlike Amazon’s use of Sprint’s 3G network, the FLEPia relies on 802.11b/g WiFi, but adds Bluetooth as well. Instead of the Kindle’s 16-color grayscale, the biggest difference is that FLEPia can display up to 260,000 colors.
But the key differences don’t stop there. FLEPia looks to me like a new computing device class. It’s very much what I’d like to carry with me all day.
Oh, it won’t set the world on fire when compared to today’s mobile computing devices like smartphones, netbooks and notebooks. After all, it runs Windows CE 5.0 on an XScale RISC CPU. But looking beyond that, I’m thinking of potential, future iterations with a hardware tweak here and there. Putting aside the limitations of Windows CE at the moment, look at what you can do today with the FLIPia’s 8-inch, 768×1024 resolution touch-screen display:
- View docs
- Browse web pages
- Use Microsoft Office
- Send and receive email
- Listen to books on the stereo speakers or headphone jack
- Input text using a stylus or software keyboard
- Add data via the SD card slot or the mini-USB connection
I’ll admit that the experience would be rudimentary at best, especially when compared to other current devices on the market today. But there’s potential there. I could easily see myself carrying a lightweight color e-Ink type of device for mobile activities. I wouldn’t be doing any hard-core computing tasks, just the basics and mainly on the web. Fujitsu says that the FLIPia lasts for 40 hours on a charge, which is likely due to the combination of the RISC CPU and the display technology. Surely that would decline if using the device for heavy web activity, if a more powerful processor were placed inside or we added 3G radios. Still, if I could get 8-10 continuous hours of use, I’d be happy.
Enough talk of tomorrows. Today, the device is mainly an e-book reader costing 99,750 yen ($1,018) when it hits Japan on April 10th. There’s no mention of any plans to sell it outside of Japan and since the digital content formats it supports are used mainly in Japan, I don’t see much hope of getting my hands on one of these.
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Kevin, I doubt you’d like using it for very long since it has a 1.8 second screen refresh time. :-)
Scotty: I’m really looking ahead at the potential form factor here. Not necessarily the device in it’s current state. ;)
it would certainly be acceptable as a mobile computing device. i would like the color screen, wifi, bluetooth, along with expansion options(sdhc) in a kindle form factor(the cell antennae is nice too)… compromises would be necessary, but it would certainly be a nice option. a slight bump in page refreshes would make it alot easier to work on.. not looking for major power here, just general light purpose computing with great battery life and uber thin form factor.
i suspect that, once the technology matures a little more, these will win in places where our current slate and tablet pcs failed.
i’d love to have a 8 or 10 inch THIN and always on slate to go with my computer, keep docs on, and use it like a clipboard. i have a tablet pc, but since it’s my main computer, i rarely use it in slate mode. i’ve noticed my work flow requires 2 screens/devices: 1 for brain-input and 1 for brain-output.
so, a THIN little e-paper client like this would be ideal for the brain-input half…and could be used on it’s own for input–scribbling notes or reminders, etc.