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Are the New Kindles Tablets-In-Training?
Hugh Pickens writes "TechNewsWorld reports that Amazon's new, slimmed-down Kindle devices are notable for several things, including upgrades to their experimental WebKit browser that makes it faster and easier to navigate, and the new 'article mode' feature extracts the main text-based content from Web pages for easier reading (as Safari does), suggesting the possibility that the Kindle may grow up to be a real tablet computer someday. Eventually, the tablet and e-reader categories 'are going to slam together,' says Rob Enderle, adding that they are 'held apart, largely because we don't yet have an affordable display that will do both tasks well.' One current problem 'is that TFT displays like the iPad uses suck for reading because they aren't outdoor viewable and are very power hungry. Display technologies like the Qualcomm Mirasol stuff will change this over the next 18 months, and by the end of next year — likely before — we'll begin to see converged devices.' Mirasol uses tiny mirrors, known as microelectronic machines, to create its display, which has the low power characteristics of E-Ink displays and the video-playing and color abilities of LCDs."
I want one of these, and think it's a great idea (de-innovation?) to remove the 3G support. I'm often in wi-fi areas, but don't really see the need to download books while I'm actually AT the beach. I can download enough when I'm at home (or at McDonalds, at Starbucks, etc...). Save money, save power, save bandwidth. I'm getting one!
Mirasol? Really? A technology that's not even on the market yet? Why not go with the already available and commercially viable pixel qi screen tech? It' the best of both worlds, a dual mode screen for indoor and outdoor use! And you can already get one! Just add touch-screen capabilities and you have the perfect tablet.
Save money, save power, save bandwidth. I'm getting one!
Indeed, I made the statement that this reader would have to be under $100 for me to get one when I first saw the Kindle. And now we're down to $139 so it edges even closer.
When I first saw that it would have 3G, I went searching for videos on the surfing experience and was not impressed. Unless drastic improvements were made in how it renders and handles web pages, it looks like it would be tedious and almost unusable except for outlying circumstances.
Now, that doesn't mean some software or new mobilized content mentality couldn't change all of that but from what I've seen it looks to be little more than a novelty like the web browser I have on my Nintendo DS.
So, like you note, the purpose of 3G really boils down to selling books while you're sitting around -- which is nice but not a crucial need. I guess I could imagine using 3G to get books off of Gutenberg or some other open repository of open formatted books but again that wouldn't really be worth a 35% price increase.
Is anyone able to comment on what the browsing functionality actually does for them? Is there news that you actually digest in a productive fashion? Certain news sites that work flawlessly? Blog technologies (like Wordpress or something) that always work? And how is the 3G coverage and reliability? I have so many questions about these devices and can find so little on reviewing this web browser functionality on the Kindle.
Good job on price but I don't ever see the Kindle replacing my Asus Netbook with Ubuntu on it. Yeah, you're going to have a large price delta and I think there's a long way to go -- much longer than the 18 months or sooner that the article mentioned -- before these two consumer products converge. Battery life is just one thing. Price, general purpose computing abilities and the ability to install open source software are big factors for me (not sure about other folks).
My work here is dung.
>> One current problem 'is that TFT displays like the iPad uses suck for reading because they aren't outdoor viewable and are very power hungry.
It's not a TFT display. It's IPS.
Geez...and this isn't news either.
I don't follow that. The Kindle is a reading device. They took an update from Safari that makes reading web pages easier. They improved it's reading abilities. That doesn't make it a more general purpose tablet.
If they add a touch screen, that will make it more of a "tablet in training". Refining a feature that was already there? Seems like a stretch.
That said, those new cheaper Kindles look really enticing, and the fact they have this mode only makes it more interesting.
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don't have need or use any of these wastes of your money or mine.
go ahead go stupid earth they need your money
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He wasn't just some tangential person either, he was deep into that shit running their propaganda errands. Explain to me why we'd ever listen to this analcyst?
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Has it not been obvious all along that the primary reason for the distinction between ereaders and tablets are limitations of current technology (screen readability vs battery life)?
Besides Mirasol there's also electrowetting technology by U of Cincinatti, and Liquavista (Philips).
http://www.physorg.com/news199330889.html
http://www.liquavista.com/default.aspx
And not to forget the Pixel Qi screens, which are already on the market.
http://www.pixelqi.com
I heard you like browsing so we put a browser in your e-reader so you can browse while you read.
Is anyone able to comment on what the browsing functionality actually does for them? Is there news that you actually digest in a productive fashion? Certain news sites that work flawlessly? Blog technologies (like Wordpress or something) that always work? And how is the 3G coverage and reliability? I have so many questions about these devices and can find so little on reviewing this web browser functionality on the Kindle.
I can't speak to the new one (or even the software upgrade, since I haven't used it extensively since it was installed), but I had the original Kindle DX for over a year. Critical new features in the software upgrade include "collections" (a way to organize documents you've loaded onto the Kindle, which was probably the number one feature request and something I can't believe they didn't originally include) and improved PDF handling (basic zoom/pan ability - before your only option was to flip the device to get a larger view).
As for web browsing... it's always been slow and unimpressive. My expectations aren't even that high, since I don't have a data service for my phone or anything like that. On the other hand, it came in handy when I was visiting my parents out in the boonies... jumping on the Kindle to check Wikipedia was faster than dialup. Sometimes I had to go outside to get a good signal, but we have to do that with cell phones anyway. Specific mobile sites I've bookmarked, like mobile New York Times, are fine... for me, though, it makes more sense to use an application like Calibre that will automatically download all the news you want in the morning and sync with the Kindle, rather than just relying on the 3G. I've used the web browser to get on Facebook and Slashdot from trains... again, better than nothing, but not exactly pleasant. I've gotten a few things directly from Project Gutenberg as well.
One great thing is that I've written up some scripts that use the command-line version of Calibre to watch a directory on my home server. Instead of having to e-mail documents to Amazon and pay for conversion (or carry around a sync cable and software capable of converting), I just e-mail my documents to a special address. The scripts check the e-mail, download the document, convert it, and upload it to a web server. A few minutes after sending it, I log into the web server from the Kindle and download the converted document. This is actually what I probably use the web browser for the most.
For reading text... IMO it kicks ass and bests any other style of device (netbook, tablet, etc.) currently available. But I also always carry about my 9" netbook with Ubuntu.
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So... if they got a much more powerful processor, a completely different display (color, fast refresh, touch screen) and an entirely different operating system... it might be like a tablet?
It's a lot more plausible that tablet display contrast will improve, and people will tend to use a tablet where a Kindle isn't enough for them. Kindles aren't ever likely to develop into the tablet space.
The fact that Rob thinks it will be tells me it will not. The man has never made an accurate prediction. He is a total whore for $'s and says whatever he is paid to say. He was the point guy for SCO.
...once it gets a 300 DPI ("Retina") display like the iPhone 4.
Just sayin.
LCDs do suck at reading, although admittedly less so than CRTs.
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... Once awake, space station astronauts powered down some attitude control systems .... to balance the heat loads on the outpost's backup cooling system, which is working well.
I would have guessed the most important part of the thermal control system was the attitude control system, because the station does not approximate a sphere very well and its got about one hemisphere pointed to cold space and another pointed to "room temperature" earth. But I guess whatever works for them.
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Troll and Truth are alliterative, asshole. Problems in electronics are easier to solve than problems in fundamental physics, where most of the technologies you want would get stuck, buttplug. And before you get flying cars, you will need to get a whole new traffic flow system that has to take into consideration A WHOLE NEW DIMENSION, you steaming pile of dogshit.
Apple must have seen the inevitable convergence of the tablets and dedicated ebook readers.
Amazon will probably want people to be locked into their software platform as much as possible, and they have quite a userbase already, as well as the ability to provide a lot of content.
When they control the software platform, they can easily extend the control to hardware.
Apple with it's iPad platform will not like that.
Hence introduced iBooks to hopefully turn the tide against Amazon.
Or at the very least allow them to stand on equal footing, where iBook is an equally established platform, with a large enough userbase that publishers cannot do exclusives without hurting themselves.
With both having a more or less similar selection of books, there will be no difference between the two platforms.
Why doesn't anyone speak about the need for cheaper ebooks? At $9.99, they still cost *twice* as much as economy version paperback and as much as a premium one, at least in developing countries. And paperbacks come with all the freedom you want.
If they are cutting all middlemen out, apart from the printing and transportation costs, they will still end up making a good deal of money at prices below $4.99 per book. Even lower prices will see greater volumes, so the authors also will not complain.
I believe the current prices will just encourage a greater amount of piracy, with rapidly falling costs of the e-readers especially where there are alternatives that don't tie you in to a specific store pr format.
Just a pet peeve of mine.
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The guy is only the biggest tech whore this side of Maureen O'Gara; his opinions are worth exactly what I've paid for them... nothing.
After going through two articles and a blog, we get to the Mirasol site. Mirasol is straightforward - each pixel is a flexible membrane in an air gap. It's bistable; either the membrane is against the front plate (dark) or against the back plate (light), pushed there by an electrostatic charge. So it's either monochrome, or an 8-color technology if RGB pixels are provided. By putting in more pixels, they can dither their way up to 3 bits of color per pixel, for 512 different colors. This costs resolution, of course. Their technical paper talks about dithering over time at 50Hz to get more even shades. But if they do that, they lose their power-saving advantage. It costs power to change a pixel.
This is one of many bistable persistent display technologies. Kent Displays has had a similar technology, cholesteric LCD devices, for years, used mostly for big display signs and military applications. Until recently, Kent's displays were very expensive, but they've finally solved the cost problem. This year's DEFCON badge has a built-in Kent display.
I agree that display is what keeps both apart at the moment, but even with a slow e-ink display, e-readers could do so much more. Personally I want to read scientific papers. So the basic features I'd be looking for are excellent pdf support, and very good search, tagging and annotation capabilities. Give me this and I will buy one. Nice extras would be a very simple, text based access, to some online scientific paper databases. We're not even close though.
Unfortunately don't think it's ever going to happen on the e-readers side, so my hopes lay on the tablet front.
Aren't webapps all the rage now, supposedly? With a better browser (I think it even wasn't Webkit previously?) and "more interactive" screen in the next version, we would have basically the Google tablet...certainly quite general purpose.
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2. Money. I would rather have a $10, disposable e-reader than the $35 computer India is offering. Cheap computers will never be viable because we always upgrade the stuff we want to do on them, while e-readers don't need to do that.
3. Upgrades and Viruses It is fairly easy to create a safe, simple OS for an ereader simply by limiting what you can do with it. Upgrading them really is unnecessary. A tablet OS on the other need much more variability and upgradeability. As such, tablets will be MUCH more susceptible to viruses, while the tablets can be locked down a lot more, preventing viruses.
Net results = tablets should be cheaper, longer battery life, more stable, and last longer (less upgrades).
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I would argue it's already a tablet proper - there is after all already a Kindle SDK. I was mulling over writing some things for it, but the bandwidth requirements for application development were too stringent (since the KIndle apps have to care mighty about not using too much of the 3G bandwidth that Amazon is paying for, I think you need to be accepted to read the details).
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My major problem with *any* e-book reader is a limited format support. I have lots of books in pdf format, no problem here, but I also have quite few in djvu and fb2 formats. Yes, I can convert them to pdf, but I guess I'm too lazy. On a laptop you just install the fb2 and djvu readers and here you go.
So the e-book reader I have in mind would allow me to install web-based readers, for reading additional formats. Plus, of course, other applications of your choice. That, of course, makes it somewhat closer to tablet. Whatever. I still want it to be mostly a reader. B/W is OK, very light, long battery life.
Why not just ask that the device be free?
A hybrid car should cost under $15k too, because I want one but don't want to pay $40k for it.
For the most part people that say "I'll buy X when it is such-and-such price." are liars or non-consumers. What I see is that people buy devices because they really want them, and when the price is lowered just a tiny bit the sales double. Eventually people who make grand claims about a price point give in when the price lowers a little bit and even more people are using it. It's like bartering really, I say $180, you say $99, eventually we get to $139 and you buy it. For the people who want a Kindle for $80 or less, I don't think Amazon needs you money at this time. They can do just fine without you selling it for $140.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Off-line Wikipedia would be real good. Love the wikireader, but the screen is boring and goes off after a few minutes.
I'm sure with a 8-16GB memory card we could liven up the text based wiki with a few 16 shade greyscale pictures.
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Amazon seem to know just exactly what I want as a book reader, a lightweight device with a clear screen and a long battery life. I don't need to play Tetris on it, or watch hi-def video, I just need something easy on the eye and easy to hold up while I sit in my armchair and relax with a book. Owning one of these would open up all those great old books in Project Gutenburg to me (which I could read now, but sod sitting at a PC to read!)
Good idea allowing those of us who can plan ahead to get it without 3G.
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Eventually, the tablet and e-reader categories 'are going to slam together,' says Rob Enderle, adding that they are 'held apart, largely because we don't yet have an affordable display that will do both tasks well.'
what about the this?
The 3G connectivity is what got me to buy the Kindle instead of the Sony ereader. Sites that are already set up for mobile use are great on the Kindle. Anything else is a pain, but for no monthly charge I'll take it. I even have a mobile version of Google Voice running through my Kindle so I can send and receive texts there. I don't have data or text plans on my cell phone so those features are a game changer for me. It goes with me whenever it is practical to carry it around, and I don't think that would be the case if it didn't have the 3G connectivity.
Wi-Fi instead of 3G would save money. I'm not so sure you'd be saving a lot of bandwidth given the Kindle's web-browsing limitations. As far as saving power, I regularly go 5-6 days between charges and I use my Kindle all the time both as a reader and web browser. When I'm careful about turning wireless off when I'm not using it, I can stretch that to 8 days. I think it's saving plenty of power.
Once you have a colourful, vibrant e-paper (or similar) that reads well in direct sunlight, every tablet is a de facto e-reader.
Obviously, e-readers will not simply disappear over night, but if I ever saw two converging technologies, this is one...
typing away on his LCD-equipped PC that, oddly enough, always worked just fine for reading before.
Sure, but the difference is that no one ever suggested LCD devices like netbooks for e-reading. It was well understood that "e-readers" had specific advantages (not just the display, but also battery life).
Then along came the Ipad, and we have no end of astroturfing of how it's a much better "e-reader" because it's also colour and does Internet (possibly because people can't think of any other niche for it?) ... except these people never seem to include the many already existing (and far cheaper) devices like netbooks (or indeed other tablets). So drawing attention to the Ipad seems reasonable.
Plus, he said "like an iPad" - if we get the Apple iProduct Placement everytime a generic term is mentioned (it's not "on your phone" anymore round here, it's "on your iPhone and other devices"), you can hardly complain the one time it's a negative comment, especially when, as I explain, singling out the Ipad actually is reasonable for once.
I find the iPad's screen distinctly non-sucky, and got through "Anathem" over a course of subway commutes.
Of course, YMMV. I suppose glare might be an issue if you're out in the sun.
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