Monday, December 20, 2010
I’ve been waiting to buy an e-reader because I don’t want to buy a plain early model only to find two months later they’ve unveiled a much cooler (and cheaper) one. I’ve been thinking about what feature would make me decide to take the plunge, and I came up with a fantasy list of many things I’d like to see in an e-reader:
- I’d want it to be the perfect size and weight to hold in one hand, yet big enough to see everything clearly
- Color e-ink with video capabilities
- Wi-fi and/or 3G
- A cell phone
- A camera and video camera
- MS Word for writing on the go (although if I’m online I could write in Wordpress or something)
- Enough memory to store writings till I can transfer them, or else a place to put my thumb drive
- An integrated laser keyboard for typing said writings, and for long chat sessions
- While we’re wishing, let’s give it a battery that lasts a week
Um, can I really still call it an e-reader after I add all these things to it? I guess I’d have to call it a tablet computer. What would you wish for in such a thing?
Yeah, definitely sounds like you want an iPad.
ReplyDeleteMy e-reader wishlist is a lot like yours--color touch-screen, plain and color e-Ink, wifi and 3/4G, email and a word processor, preferably MSword, or an open-format processor, and multiplatform computer syncing (I use Apple). also it should have adobe acrobat and acrbat reader installed.
Basically I would like an iPad-like device that has more reading and writing emphasis rather than a networking emphasis.
Exactly, but the deal breaker for me is really the e-ink. I'd rather just have a plain e-reader if I have to have a backlit screen for color.
When it comes to electronics, no matter how state-of-the-art you go, the next model will always make the one right before it look like something a monkey pooped out. It's not that the new model is that much better, it's that we've been trained by our throw-away, über-commercialistic society to always want something new. Consider Malibu Stacy's new hat. If that makes sense to you, then I need not explain my hypothesis any further.
ReplyDeleteS: "what a monkey pooped out"...lol, yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid. I don't mind having last year's model, not really. But I also see how when these new things come out they change at a rapid rate, and then hit a plateau. I'm waiting for that plateau. Which of course means I probably won't ever get one.
Tablet computers have their plusses and minuses, like all other devices. Honest and truly, I like the concept of the eReader; when my wife initially proposed them to me about 12 years ago I scoffed and said they'd never fly; a handheld device like a Palm Pilot or Zune would do that and so much more.
ReplyDeleteWhich one of us is the better prognosticator, do you suppose? :D
S: I don't think any of us foresaw the ereaders coming on so strong in such a short span of time.
ooh ooh, how about one where theres a button you can toggle backlighting on or off? yeah, I think that would be a must for me, now that I think of it.
ReplyDeleteS: Now that would be a great feature. Not enough light? *switch* Lamp directly overhead? *switch* Putting that on the list.
That sounds a lot like a iPad to me, what little I know of them. I haven't done much research into them lately.
ReplyDeleteS: I don't think even an iPad is a camera and a phone, but I might be wrong.
I think it's great that you made such a list - that way when you're ready to buy, you can make an informed evaluation and choose wisely. :)
That's the plan...we'll see how it works out. By the time I get enough money we'll have moved on to some other book reading/computing/writing device. Probably wet-wired.