It's not like Amazon develops the eInk screen. They just haven't made the color eInk production ready yet, although they have working prototypes.
I like how people demand stuff. It takes time and money to develop it for the market, and even the black and white eInk is still finding its market. And eInk isn't fast enough for tablet-like functionality, and is mostly used for reading novels, etc, and color adds very little to that.
It isn't the telcos' selling point to offer free 3G browsing. It is Amazon's. So why would the telcos lose money on it. They'd likely get paid by Amazon per byte used from an aggregate of their Kindle users. It is Amazon that does not want to carry the cost of 3G for the cheapest of their readers. So do blame Amazon. And I don't begrudge them. At that price, I'd be content with wifi.
Moving the tip of your thumb is hardly an arduous task. And I remember having to hunt down the page turn buttons on my PRS-505, so a quick swipe is preferable for me. The good thing about theSony readers is that they also give you the key options.
> this eReader not having touch and also using an onscreen keyboard... people will NOT be impressed by it at all...
That's like saying people will not be impressed with the power of the Geo Metro, when they discover it doesn't put out 300hp, and 300 foot pounds of torque. You want the power, get the car that offers it. The people that won't be impressed, should focus their disappointment on their lacking pre-purchase research.
Besides, for the most part, eReaders aren't used for input, but reading, and simple page turns, selecting a bookmark, etc, all of which can be accomplished with a few menu keys.
I don't see how the wireless carrier would care, as long as Amazon paid them their fees per contract. The cheapest Kindle is so cheap, I'm sure already a big loss leader, that Amazon either a) doesn't want to lose more money on it or b) take sales away from the more expensive models. The removal of the on-screen keyboard makes me believe that they want to avoid butchering sales of the more expensive model.
From what I know, removing DRM from Amazon's books is simple, and I personally would have no qualms about doing that.
Obviously, you still have the moral high ground of refusing to add fuel to their fire by supporting their DRM store, but I don't know if enough people care to make a real change. Maybe as readers get adopted more broadly, there will one day be a mass movement. But until then, just strip the DRM.
Wonder if any of that is motivated by avoiding patents. Samsung just signed an agreement to pay Microsoft a fee for each Android phone sold to lessen its exposure to Microsoft's legal moves against Google. Another company that did that (motorola?) paid MS $5 per phone.
Wonder if these apps lessen the amount of IP possibly being infringed upon.
What are the odds that your phone doesn't have GPS? Accept this device for what it is and move on. No camera, no mic, no GPS. If it doesn't suit your needs, it isn't for you. Why slag it for not catering to your specific needs, or copying every other tablet out there.
Does $10 really make a difference to one's choice of a reader? What about your preference in store, formats, and form factor? Can't imagine it being my deal breaker.
eInk isn't as susceptible to fingerprints as a glossy LCD screen. Besides, you won't be doing too much swiping anyway. Turn a page every few minutes or whatever. Peck at a few menus to get to your book. Plus, the touch sensors are on the sides of the screen (if it's anything like the Sony readers), so you're only trying to set those off, not physically touch the screen, resulting in you only lightly touching the screen So prints are a non-issue.
Exactly. Why can't they just use cheap laptops? You can get functional, 2 year old laptops for dirt cheap, that will serve what these people think is their problem (I got myself a perfectly functional, fast, and loaded ThinkPad T61 for $300US recently). But when spending other people's money, why would you look at the price tag? It's government as usual, been that way for centuries.
This has more to do with unimaginative user interfaces. How hard would it be to "pin" one page and have a button to flick back and forth between the page you're currently reading and the pinned one?
It's nearly the same functionality as flipping through real pages, and I've used it to find a spot in a book, and see how many pages were left in a chapter, same as I've done in a paper book.
The color Kindle will be powered by Android, therefor it will most likely be LCD based. If Amazon does use a color eInk display, it will be a completely separate device. Whether it will replace the LCD/Android Kindle, that's Amazon's business decision.
Well, 11 of your 12 points apply to my Sony ereader. Not sure why you're so antagonistic towards ereaders. Is someone threatening to rip your paper books out of your hands? You might consider contacting local authorities.
You don't really need to be a geek to at least know the term micron. The interviewer shows himself to be a bit of an idiot with that one, and was all around annoying in that video.
Except that the first color eInk displays that come out will probably be dreadfully slow and you'll complain about them and get nothing. If you want a device for reading, you might as well get a current Pearl screen device. Or a tablet. Usable color eInk is still some years away.
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It's not like Amazon develops the eInk screen. They just haven't made the color eInk production ready yet, although they have working prototypes.
I like how people demand stuff. It takes time and money to develop it for the market, and even the black and white eInk is still finding its market. And eInk isn't fast enough for tablet-like functionality, and is mostly used for reading novels, etc, and color adds very little to that.
It isn't the telcos' selling point to offer free 3G browsing. It is Amazon's. So why would the telcos lose money on it. They'd likely get paid by Amazon per byte used from an aggregate of their Kindle users. It is Amazon that does not want to carry the cost of 3G for the cheapest of their readers. So do blame Amazon. And I don't begrudge them. At that price, I'd be content with wifi.
I wonder what is so special about wikipedia that it is allowed, and nothing else would be.
Moving the tip of your thumb is hardly an arduous task. And I remember having to hunt down the page turn buttons on my PRS-505, so a quick swipe is preferable for me. The good thing about theSony readers is that they also give you the key options.
> this eReader not having touch and also using an onscreen keyboard ... people will NOT be impressed by it at all...
That's like saying people will not be impressed with the power of the Geo Metro, when they discover it doesn't put out 300hp, and 300 foot pounds of torque. You want the power, get the car that offers it. The people that won't be impressed, should focus their disappointment on their lacking pre-purchase research.
Besides, for the most part, eReaders aren't used for input, but reading, and simple page turns, selecting a bookmark, etc, all of which can be accomplished with a few menu keys.
I guess already having a reader, I don't care to know too much about Amazon's lineup.
The $79 model has no touch screen, so no touch keyboard, so my last sentence is plain wrong.
I don't see how the wireless carrier would care, as long as Amazon paid them their fees per contract. The cheapest Kindle is so cheap, I'm sure already a big loss leader, that Amazon either a) doesn't want to lose more money on it or b) take sales away from the more expensive models. The removal of the on-screen keyboard makes me believe that they want to avoid butchering sales of the more expensive model.
From what I know, removing DRM from Amazon's books is simple, and I personally would have no qualms about doing that.
Obviously, you still have the moral high ground of refusing to add fuel to their fire by supporting their DRM store, but I don't know if enough people care to make a real change. Maybe as readers get adopted more broadly, there will one day be a mass movement. But until then, just strip the DRM.
Wonder if any of that is motivated by avoiding patents. Samsung just signed an agreement to pay Microsoft a fee for each Android phone sold to lessen its exposure to Microsoft's legal moves against Google. Another company that did that (motorola?) paid MS $5 per phone.
Wonder if these apps lessen the amount of IP possibly being infringed upon.
What are the odds that your phone doesn't have GPS? Accept this device for what it is and move on. No camera, no mic, no GPS. If it doesn't suit your needs, it isn't for you. Why slag it for not catering to your specific needs, or copying every other tablet out there.
Does $10 really make a difference to one's choice of a reader? What about your preference in store, formats, and form factor? Can't imagine it being my deal breaker.
eInk isn't as susceptible to fingerprints as a glossy LCD screen. Besides, you won't be doing too much swiping anyway. Turn a page every few minutes or whatever. Peck at a few menus to get to your book. Plus, the touch sensors are on the sides of the screen (if it's anything like the Sony readers), so you're only trying to set those off, not physically touch the screen, resulting in you only lightly touching the screen So prints are a non-issue.
Hmm, never knew Kool Aid frothed. Might be because I don't drink it.
So the government's first priority is their comfort, and not spending their tax payers' money effectively? Then they'll cry they need to tax the rich.
Which ones specifically that you've seen that aren't able to open PDFs?
Exactly. Why can't they just use cheap laptops? You can get functional, 2 year old laptops for dirt cheap, that will serve what these people think is their problem (I got myself a perfectly functional, fast, and loaded ThinkPad T61 for $300US recently). But when spending other people's money, why would you look at the price tag? It's government as usual, been that way for centuries.
But you could slip one into a ziplock bag as a precaution and still be able to flip pages, whereas that would prove more difficult with a paper book.
This has more to do with unimaginative user interfaces. How hard would it be to "pin" one page and have a button to flick back and forth between the page you're currently reading and the pinned one?
It's nearly the same functionality as flipping through real pages, and I've used it to find a spot in a book, and see how many pages were left in a chapter, same as I've done in a paper book.
The color Kindle will be powered by Android, therefor it will most likely be LCD based. If Amazon does use a color eInk display, it will be a completely separate device. Whether it will replace the LCD/Android Kindle, that's Amazon's business decision.
Well, 11 of your 12 points apply to my Sony ereader. Not sure why you're so antagonistic towards ereaders. Is someone threatening to rip your paper books out of your hands? You might consider contacting local authorities.
You don't really need to be a geek to at least know the term micron. The interviewer shows himself to be a bit of an idiot with that one, and was all around annoying in that video.
Except that the first color eInk displays that come out will probably be dreadfully slow and you'll complain about them and get nothing. If you want a device for reading, you might as well get a current Pearl screen device. Or a tablet. Usable color eInk is still some years away.
Apparently you haven't seen the Sony readers.
And ultimately IP addresses belong to RIRs and are delegated to ISPs and whatnot, so I wonder what ownership anyone can claim to them.