Slashdot Mirror
Plastic Logic E-Newspaper
Ostracus writes with news of another contender for a next-gen device suitable for displaying a newspaper page. It's very thin but weighs a bit more than a Kindle. "Plastic Logic, a spin-off company from the Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory, has recently released its design of a future electronic newspaper reader. This lightweight plastic screen copies the appearance, but not the feel, of a printed newspaper. This electronic paper technology was pioneered by the E-Ink Corporation and is used in the current generation Sony eReader and Amazon.com's Kindle. Plastic Logic's device, yet to be named, has a highly legible black-and-white display and a screen more than twice as large compared to current versions available on the market."
And what about cost? Seriously, if this thing is $500, I don't care how great it looks; for me (and I am guessing, the average slob) that would be too expensive.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
That's not quite right, the iLiad DR1000S is on the market right now (and the wifi capable DR1000SW in soon) and they both have similiar sized screens (an A4 sized piece of paper sans normal margins). The difference is that these screens are traditional e-ink screens with glass (?) prone to cracking/breaking while Plastic Logic's is flexible.
There are other drawbacks to both. This is Plastic Logic's first device. 1st Generation devices can really suck, not to mention 1st one ever out of a company. iRex's pushed out previous ereaders (iliad) but they all suffer from a battery problem: as I understand it the CPU never really goes to "sleep" - draining the thing in a day. One of the point of e-ink was that it takes no energy once the display is rendered. So obviously this is a drawback. Also, since the battery is non-user changeable it will cost that much more to replace more frequently. They promised to fix it soon, but what are promises worth?
OTOH, iRex recently opensourced much of their software system with more soon to come. Which is a major plus. Also, it has a wacom enabled screen - allowing you to annotate your texts and take notes on it. The problem with all e-ink displays right now is that there will be lag from your writing and it being rendered.
In reality, we're in the opening stages of the e-ink revolution (much like cell phones in the 80's) and that means we won't have a truly GOOD device for many years. Kindle helped really kickstart it. Hopefully we will see color soon, although that is really one of the lower priority things considered.
IMHO, this is a niche that a competent software/hardware company (Apple) could really exploit much like they did in previous 'established' niches when the time comes. Just set up a book section in iTunes and they'd have half the market already.