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Sony releases the Holy Grail: A flexible e-ink screen

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Re: Sony releases the Holy Grail: A flexible e-ink screen

#71

Post by anigbrowl »

dfc wrote: post #62
anigbrowl wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a premium price that's partly for early adopters to show off, but when you can read and write Japanese on it (as shown in the product video) the deal is basically made. Lawyers will flock to this in droves, not least because it will be a deductible business expense. The color will be irrelevant to them and the Sony brand will actually be an asset, because they're less concerned about Sony's cool factor than the…

> when you can read and write Japanese on it the deal is basically made Why is this the deal maker? I do not read/write japanese so maybe I am missing something obvious.[^1] Is writing/reading japanese with pen/pencil and paper difficult? Is there something that differentiates Japanese reading/writing from Korean? Have there been other tablets that worked with western scripts but not Japanese? [^1]: I am assuming we…

Japanese (and Chinese) features intricate ideograms with up to (I think) 22 strokes per character. It's not the language itself, so much as the fact that the display and touch-sensor resolution is good enough to be competitive with paper. Other handwriting platforms I've looked at in the past required writing on a larger-than-natural scale or comparatively slowly (often because of OCR requirements, which are not relevant here, but also because at the time display resolutions were comparatively low). What I saw in the video was natural handwriting speed and good registration with good resolution, which to me passes a threshold of usability that only paper has met up to now.

Re: Sony releases the Holy Grail: A flexible e-ink screen

#72

Post by anigbrowl »

dfc wrote: post #70
dfc wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when you can read and write Japanese on it the deal is basically made Why is this the deal maker? I do not read/write japanese so maybe I am missing something obvious.[^1] Is writing/reading japanese with pen/pencil and paper difficult? Is there something that differentiates Japanese reading/writing from Korean? Have there been other tablets that worked with western scripts but not Japanese? [^1]: I am assuming we…

Downvoted for asking a legitimate question. Who does that? I could care less about the karma but in light of the pending comments change this is very troublesome.

I gave you an extra upvote. I hate it when that happens and thought your question was entirely legitimate - my original comment was a bit vague.

Re: Sony releases the Holy Grail: A flexible e-ink screen

#73

Post by JensRantil »

mdip wrote: post #29

As I've been reading the coverage of this product throughout the day, the price seems to be the biggest drawback everyone focuses on, and I agree that $1100 is overpriced for what this product is offering. I got the sense from several articles that $1100 would be way overpriced for any e-reader. Because of the huge number of PDF files in larger paper sizes that I have, I'd happily pay $1500 for this if in addition to…

Why don't you want it from Sony?

Re: Sony releases the Holy Grail: A flexible e-ink screen

#74

Post by SixSigma »

lugg wrote: post #64
SixSigma wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your particular Sony beef? I've found their products rock solid, on the whole. Rootkit and Sony Network otoh are the negatives I can think of. I'm typing this on the Xperia Z, I've got a S1 tablet, an Prs -101 e-reader, two mp3 players - and I'd recommend every single one. My video edit suite was all Sony gear (camera, firmware deck, amp & speakers), never a problem - not so with the Sanyo, Panasonic or Philip…

Careful opinions follow, Something to do with suing users who use their owned hardware in a way Sony disagrees with. Suck fony and all that. Honestly since the geohots case I've pretty much laughed and ridiculed sales people in stores who reccomend Sony products. None of them get it and they all think I'm a little bit crazy but sometimes you just have to stand up for what you believe in. Openness and being able to mo…

"Break law, face consequences" is a fairly common occurrence across the world.

Re: Sony releases the Holy Grail: A flexible e-ink screen

#75

Post by scholia »

bashcoder wrote: post #56
scholia wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a retail product, it's a professional product. Sony hasn't launched it in the US, it's being imported by Worldox, which is targeting lawyers etc. http://www.worldox.com/news/sony-digital-paper-worldox I wonder if people would be better informed if there were more professional journalists and not as many crappy blogs...

This tech, and that business plan, is nothing new. Plastic Logic aimed squarely at the professional market with a flexible e-ink reader that debuted at CES 2009. [0] It hasn't worked out so well for them. I visited their booth in 2009, and they showed a large flexible screen housed in a rigid case. It was to be the advent of flexible e-ink, and the beginning of a new era. Eventually, their announced content partners…

Yes, thanks, I know. I knew (had met with) Plastic Logic in the UK several years before I went to the Que launch at CES in 2010. It came out of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge.

The Sony screen is made by LG. It's a much bigger operation.

Re: Sony releases the Holy Grail: A flexible e-ink screen

#76

Post by anonbanker »

SixSigma wrote: post #61
mdip wrote: post #29

As I've been reading the coverage of this product throughout the day, the price seems to be the biggest drawback everyone focuses on, and I agree that $1100 is overpriced for what this product is offering. I got the sense from several articles that $1100 would be way overpriced for any e-reader. Because of the huge number of PDF files in larger paper sizes that I have, I'd happily pay $1500 for this if in addition to…

What's your particular Sony beef? I've found their products rock solid, on the whole. Rootkit and Sony Network otoh are the negatives I can think of. I'm typing this on the Xperia Z, I've got a S1 tablet, an Prs -101 e-reader, two mp3 players - and I'd recommend every single one. My video edit suite was all Sony gear (camera, firmware deck, amp & speakers), never a problem - not so with the Sanyo, Panasonic or Philip…

I was a named party in Sony vs. Bleem!, LLC. I don't support people that sue me or my friends.

Re: Sony releases the Holy Grail: A flexible e-ink screen

#77

Post by bashcoder »

scholia wrote: post #75
bashcoder wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This tech, and that business plan, is nothing new. Plastic Logic aimed squarely at the professional market with a flexible e-ink reader that debuted at CES 2009. [0] It hasn't worked out so well for them. I visited their booth in 2009, and they showed a large flexible screen housed in a rigid case. It was to be the advent of flexible e-ink, and the beginning of a new era. Eventually, their announced content partners…

Yes, thanks, I know. I knew (had met with) Plastic Logic in the UK several years before I went to the Que launch at CES in 2010. It came out of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. The Sony screen is made by LG. It's a much bigger operation.

Very good - then don't you also share my skepticism about this as a viable product?

The first meetings I had about Que was actually with Hearst, if I recall. The Plastic Logic play was backed by content providers seeking a new channel, including Barnes & Noble. The Sony play is backed by a hardware provider seeking a new channel. So producers have this need, but what about customers?

I find myself having the same three doubts I had back in the day:

1) Nobody cares if a screen is flexible for these particular product applications (especially for the Que, which mounted flexible display tech in a rigid form).

2) It's a solution in search of a problem. Who is clamoring for this device at market scale? Even for a specific vertical?

3) Haven't we learned that these devices need the support of a broader ecosystem? That developers need to find opportunity in a platform for it to succeed, and that requires a certain critical mass? How is that going to happen serving a niche vertical market?

Interested in your thoughts.

Re: Sony releases the Holy Grail: A flexible e-ink screen

#78

Post by bashcoder »

jjsz wrote: post #59
bashcoder wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This tech, and that business plan, is nothing new. Plastic Logic aimed squarely at the professional market with a flexible e-ink reader that debuted at CES 2009. [0] It hasn't worked out so well for them. I visited their booth in 2009, and they showed a large flexible screen housed in a rigid case. It was to be the advent of flexible e-ink, and the beginning of a new era. Eventually, their announced content partners…

baschcoder, or scholia, do you guys know of a blog that follows the professional market?

Well, I think the crux of my criticism is that I'm not sure there actually is a real professional market for e-ink devices.

Re: Sony releases the Holy Grail: A flexible e-ink screen

#79

Post by scholia »

bashcoder wrote: post #77
scholia wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, thanks, I know. I knew (had met with) Plastic Logic in the UK several years before I went to the Que launch at CES in 2010. It came out of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. The Sony screen is made by LG. It's a much bigger operation.

Very good - then don't you also share my skepticism about this as a viable product? The first meetings I had about Que was actually with Hearst, if I recall. The Plastic Logic play was backed by content providers seeking a new channel, including Barnes & Noble. The Sony play is backed by a hardware provider seeking a new channel. So producers have this need, but what about customers? I find myself having the same thr…

The Que was aiming at a much wider market, and when the iPad was announced, they folded.

Sony is aiming at a much smaller professional market, and it has a chance where people don't use Latin alphabets, including Japan. I don't know enough about the US legal scene to know whether it will find a market there, but Worldox thinks it's worth a go....

Re: Sony releases the Holy Grail: A flexible e-ink screen

#80

Post by tenfingers »

joshvm wrote: post #54
tenfingers wrote: post #27

I actually want/need a digital sketchpad, and while I do read/annotate PDFs, this is not what I would do the majority of the time. If this device would be hackable (run linux on it), I would find so many use cases for it that I could justify the price in a heartbeat. Somehow, being a device from Sony, I expect this reader to be a piece of junk software-wise, to the point that I wouldn't be surprised that you need to…

If you want a cheap digital sketchpad, look at the Boogie Board LCD slates. They're nowhere near as good as a proper graphics tablet, but you can draw and save stuff on them. High end model is around $100, other models more like $30.

I really want an e-ink screen, otherwise paper is still a better option for me. Price is not really an issue if the screen delivers.
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