Toshiba to Enter e-Book Reader Market
Toshiba has confirmed it intends to produce its own e-book reader for sale in mid 2010. The company is evaluating two models, a 7-inch that is approved for production and a 9-inch model that is still being considered. Toshiba admits that its readers will not have touchscreens, as they are considered unnecessary for operation of a reader device.
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7″ sounds like good size for a e-reader. Although if it has a big bezel it might be a little too large for my taste. I’m guessing huge bezel as it has no touchscreen. The most important factor is price though. If it isn’t dirt cheap, it might not succeed.
What I’d think would be great is a more than just an e-reader. If you could use 5 to 7″ screen with pixel qi technology and some decent arm chip, cortex a8 perhaps, you could make a device that could be just an e-book reader but that could be so much more. Add touch, linux os, sd-slot, wifi, and about 4 gb sdd and the device can play videos, surf web, read e-books and has a good battery-life( although not as good as e-paper).
I agree with OSSI on the Pixel Qi thing. If you have ever seen it in person, in real life operating environments – i.e. in less than optimal lighting – it may be hard to appreciate what this technology brings to the mix. It is nearly as god as the newer e-Ink screens for reader use and the ability to do color and video in appropriate settings is well worth the (very) minor trade-off in readability in the “reader” profile. This is exciting technology!
I differ in opinion on the OS, though. As a professional developer, I’d like to see them (or someone, anyone) take their JournE type product and do the Pixel Qi screen. I find the WinCE OS to be as robust (actually, more!) than the current darlings of the press. WinCE is under the hood of more products than most people realize. It is a very good platform to build upon IMHO. As the scren shots and videos on the JournE show, it can be mde to look sexy, finger friendly, etc. It is only when forced to drill down to the older MS apps that the stylus/keyboard-centric elements show up. That is merely a software developer thing, not an OS thing, per se. That is, it can be addressed/fixed according to and dependent upon the need/application at hand.
Clearly, the JournE is being pushed as a multi-media “pad” but it could be so much more, too. I’d rather see a similar form factor but with a larger screen for “real work”… The Holy Grail for Readers in the business world is the letter or A4 screen size, but with the capabilities of the Pixel Qi screen, I suspect something like a 9″ – 10″ screen would suffice. The same volume requirements of even the current JournE device, spread out to handle a 9″ or 10″ screen would make for an even thinner (14mm) device, though they would likely just add a larger battery, or whatever. That said, with the power savings available via the Pixel Qi screen technology, they could likely reduce the battery size somewhat to still obtain the necessary “all day” battery life.
Just my 2¢