16 ms·

Sony Digital Paper e-ink PDF tablet for notes and forms

229 points by fidotron 13y ago

unicornporn 13y ago
Looks like a dream. Here's the product page for DPTS1: http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-digitalpaper/cat-digitalpapersub/product-DPTS1/ http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-digitalpaper/cat-digitalpap... I imagine it's terribly expensive. "Pricing available upon request". EDIT: That's right. $1000. http://www.golem.de/news/dpts1-sonys-digital-paper-kostet-mehr-als-1-000-us-dollar-1403-105441.html http://www.golem.de/news/dpts1-sonys-digital-paper-kostet-me...
- fidotron 13y ago
  Techcrunch say it will be $1100. The hardware is lustworthy, though the resolution could be higher, it's just a shame there's no SDK. The buttons on the front look very old school Androidish.
  - bildung 13y ago
    > The hardware is lustworthy, though the resolution could be higher, it's just a shame there's no SDK. The buttons on the front look very old school Androidish. I have a 10" e-ink device with 1200x825px which is perfectly fine for A4/letter-designed PDFs, so I'd say the resolution should be fine. I also have a 10" notebook, and the readability is considerably worse at about the same resolution, so I guess e-ink resolutions are not really comparable with lcd resolutions (the pixel layout is quite different: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2286311679_f98bdba47f_m.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2286311679_f98bdba47f_m....).
    - j_s 13y ago
      Which device do you have? The Kindle DX is 9.7" Visionect sells developer-friendly (SDK included) 6" and 9.7" devices starting around $500: http://www.visionect.com/ http://www.visionect.com/
      - adiM 13y ago
        Don't know about the GP, but I have an iRex DR1000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Reader_1000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Reader_1000) which was perfectly sized for reading A4/letter papers. But it is bulky and has no wireless connectivity.
      - bildung 13y ago
        I have an Onyx BOOX M92: https://onyx-boox.com/productsinfo/onyx-boox-m92-black-pearl/ https://onyx-boox.com/productsinfo/onyx-boox-m92-black-pearl... It did cost 300€/420$ a year and a half ago. The alternative at that time was the Pocketbook Pro 912 (http://www.pocketbook-int.com/de/products/pocketbook-912 http://www.pocketbook-int.com/de/products/pocketbook-912) at around the same pricepoint, but that seemed less open (technically both run Linux, but Pocketbook didn't publish their modified sources).
  - noahl 13y ago
    it's just a shame there's no SDK I noticed that the battery life is 3 weeks. Given the size of the product (not large), it's safe to say that they get that battery life by doing as little as possible. It may be that they don't have enough processing power to run any sort of apps, or if they did, it would drain the battery so much that it would ruin the device. With that said, it would still be cool to try. It should at least be able to support a calculator.
    - fidotron 13y ago
      As long as you don't busy wait and only update the parts of the screen that change it's not too hard to write software which doesn't impact battery life too much. EDIT: To add, obviously minimise network connections. And if you do need them, batch them.
    - Groxx 13y ago
      Nah. Nook Simple Touches can be rooted and run Android just fine. As long as wifi is off (thus disabling the vast majority of app background syncing / periodic updates) it easily lasts a couple weeks. For that you can run a surprising number of apps just fine in a ridiculously-limited available RAM space. I can't imagine this would be anywhere near as slow as a NST, so it should be able to do just about everything except play 3D games and visit crazy-bad websites.
    - onthiscarousel 13y ago
      The test model I used for a month only needed one charge, it works a lot like the black and white kindle and the document stays static on the screen and the device only really turns on when you write on it or turn pages.
  - acc01 13y ago
    > The hardware is lustworthy what part? I have a 1440x1080 ereader retailing at $170.
    - noir_lord 13y ago
      Which one?
      - acc01 13y ago
        https://www.kobo.com/koboaurahd https://www.kobo.com/koboaurahd
- NotOscarWilde 13y ago
  > Looks like a dream. Indeed. As a PhD student that reads and annotates a ton of scientific papers, this really seems like something that could help me do my job much better. Please, if any of you manage to get your hands on one, I would love a hands-on review with a lot of pictures. The price is really high, that's true, but I can see top people in academia or enthusiasts like me adopting it.
  - doorhammer 13y ago
    Have you checked out the surface pro 2? I'm a sucker for being able to write notes by hand, and when I tried out the surface pro 2 I was pretty blown away by how nice the handwriting felt. Also seems to be in the same price range, and you end up with a full blown PC (which may not be what you're shooting for). One more thing that I liked is how natural it was to use one note to make notes, cut a part out, and move it around. When I'm sketching ideas out, or learning math stuff, it's always nice to be able to move a snippet over really quickly. I also used to review and edit a lot of training materials that were being designed, and I was using an ipad 2 with PDFExpert, which was pretty great for that, but I always hated how crap the ipad was for writing things with a stylus or a finger. If I could go back and do it again with a surface pro 2, I would in a heartbeat. I tried other larger form factor e-ink devices like the Kindle DX and such, but if the screen wasn't big enough to fit the entire page on the screen at once, it didn't matter how big the screen was. The device just ended up being too slow. I liked the ipad because I could swipe around, highlight, circle things, make notes, etc. Obviously the battery life on the surface pro 2 wouldn't be in the same universe as this thing, and it's bulkier, but just thought I'd throw it out there. Kind of rambly, heh, YMMV
    - deong 13y ago
      I have a DX in the closet, and even if the screen is big enough, it's still too slow. The other huge problem with the DX or any other e-ink reader so far is the lack of note-taking. I hoped the DX would be good for academic papers, but it just isn't.
      - 13y ago
blisse 13y ago
Pricing doesn't matter until this gets into a good reviewer's hands (Anand!). But yeah this is amazing if it functions perfectly eventually at ~$400
personlurking 13y ago
Here's a hands-on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzIx0InzJIw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzIx0InzJIw
- muyuu 13y ago
  It still lags enough to be distracting (at least to me). It's nice that they are pushing the tech forwards though.
  - onthiscarousel 13y ago
    I beta tested it and it was so slow and cumbersome that I gave up on using it because it just got in the way of trying to do anything. It was super light and cool but it's so damn big and fragile feeling that it didn't feel safe putting it into a bag. It was just one more thing to carry around. You had to connect it every time to transfer files on or off of it, could not even email it out. Supposedly the only service it was going to work with via wifi was Evernote. We asked for dropbox but that didn't seem like an option. Felt like the future in concept but more like using a palm pilot.
    - muyuu 13y ago
      Speaking of which, I love the tech in Palm Pilots. To this day I'd take the monochrome screen that lasts forever and is extremely responsive. But seems like people prefer burning batteries that need daily recharging, or input lag.
      - onthiscarousel 13y ago
        Screen and OS is more like the black and white kindles, it loads an image to the screen and records what you draw on it. It's not live or fluid. There was a distinct screen flash when it updated new content.
        muyuu 13y ago
        If you mean the product linked in this post, then yep. Palm Pilots had nothing of that though :'(
higherpurpose 13y ago
Didn't they just kill their e-book store recently? Also, from the images it does look like it would be "e-ink" but I see no mention of it on the page. Is it really "e-ink" (like Kindle) or just "e-paper", which is just a transflective LCD (Pebble, Notion Ink Adam, etc).
- _cbb1 13y ago
  The store was killed on the 20th. :/
- muyuu 13y ago
  This device is less symbiotic to an e-book shop than any simple e-reader. From the youtube link posted above it looks like e-ink.
- mbrubeck 13y ago
  "e ink" is a trademark of the E Ink Corporation. Other vendors of e-paper displays can't use the same name, regardless of what type of display technology they use.
- e12e 13y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GksPX8qi4fQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GksPX8qi4fQ "E Ink Booth Tour at CES 2014, Sony DPT-S1, Smartwatches, wall clocks and more"
rayiner 13y ago
I'm looking for a relatively paperless legal workflow, and I have been surprised at how hard it is. It's hard to pull out a laptop in a meeting to take notes, if only because in a 1:1, you are often in someone else's office and don't have a desk handy. I've been looking at the Livescribe for digitizing handwriting, but to date the software has been shitty. The new version that integrates with iPad/OneNote seems to be a step up, though. The problem with the iPad, however, is that it's not good for marking up documents. It's great for reading legal cases, but not for marking them up and taking margin notes. Personally, I'm one of those people that gets a lot more out of having paper in my hand and scribbling on it than I do just reading something off a computer screen. I'm really intrigued by this product: http://www.thedigitalink.co.uk/products/capturx-markup-for-pdf http://www.thedigitalink.co.uk/products/capturx-markup-for-p..., which lets you print out PDF's onto special paper so that when you write on it with a digital pen, the markings are reintegrated onto the digital copy. Unfortunately, it's really expensive! Also, 10" is on the small side for what's ideal. A standard piece of paper is 13" diagonal. I've been looking at the 12.2" Samsung, which also has a digitizer, but Samsung's Android skin is just god-awful. It's a shame nobody makes a 12"+ Baytrail Windows 8 tablet with good battery life... This product seems to really tackle this niche. Apparently Sony is going to be showing it off this week at the ABA tech show in Chicago.
- slantyyz 13y ago
  You should try a Surface Pro (1/2) with OneNote. You can get the 1st gen Pro heavily discounted right now. The battery life is not the greatest, but you can now cheat with the power cover. But like you said, a 12"+ Baytrail would be fantastic.
  - rayiner 13y ago
    I almost pulled the Trigger on a Surface Pro 2. The big problem for me,[1] is that the 16:9 aspect ratio is annoying for reading documents. A 12" 4:3 device would be a lot better. I'm very curious to see what MS has in store for this fall. A native Metro version of Word launching with Surface Pro 3 might seal the deal. [1] Well the big problem is that the UI is an abomination, with the clunky obsolete desktop married to the slick, intuitive Metro interface. Having to flip between the two just to use Word is a sick joke.
mdip 13y ago
This looks fantastic. When the e-reader craze was going on, I avoided buying one because I wanted one pretty much like this. Most of my e-books are PDFs that display really well in a larger format device. My wife had a nook, and I tried it out for a bit, but the size/resolution made viewing PDFs designed for letter sized paper look just below adequate. Is it wrong for me to also admit that ever since the "Root Kit Debacle" from Sony, I cringe a little at the idea of plugging a Sony product into my PC? Or am I just being paranoid?
- mnw21cam 13y ago
  It isn't paranoia if they really are out to get you! But yes, I have been waiting for a device like this for ages. I tried a smaller e-ink device, but trying to view PDFs on that was painful at best. I'm even wondering if 1200x1600 resolution is good enough for scientific papers. Why letter size? Isn't that a little bit obscure?
  - Turing_Machine 13y ago
    Right. I'd think long and hard before using a Sony product after that.
    - mnw21cam 13y ago
      (Un)fortunately they quite often make some fantastic hardware. I'm just disappointed that the whole horror of the various computer misuse/hacking laws weren't thrown at them for those CDs.
      - mdip 13y ago
        I agree, Sony has produced some excellent products and some of their laptop designs have made me very tempted to purchase their PC products in the past. I own a few Sony products, but I tend to flinch a little with any Sony product that: (A) Probably has a DRM scheme associated with it (as most e-readers do, I assume this one does as well). or (B) Requires me to plug it into my PC and install Sony produced software. It may have been a long time ago, but I tend to be one of those guys where trust is easy to establish, easy to break and serious loss of trust is nearly impossible to recover from. The Rootkit Incident was a serious loss of trust to me, so I'll steer clear for now. It's too bad, even at $1100, it'd be worth it to handle my collection of printed-to-pdf notes, documents and books.
bryanthompson 13y ago
I remember when http://noteslate.com/ http://noteslate.com/ launched their site & demos and being excited, checking back weekly, then monthly, then realized that it was all a big cloud of vaporware. I hope Sony actually goes through with this. I currently use an ipad mini & notesplus with a jot pro - it's a good setup and works well, but I still find myself reaching for legal pads half the time.
- slantyyz 13y ago
  I waited and waited for NoteSlate to come out. So disappointed when it became clear it was vaporware. I currently use a Surface Pro with OneNote (full version, skip the W8 app store version), and it's fantastic. I have actually stopped using the hardcover sketchbooks I normally carry around, and the Surface takes up space than those books. StylusLabs Write is a pretty great app too, and it's available for most major platforms. You might want to consider one of the smaller tablets that have a real Wacom digitizer, i.e. Samsung's Note / Pro series or Asus' new W8 8" tablet. I don't know about how good the Dell Venue Pro 8 is, since its stylus isn't a Wacom.
- c0ldfusion 13y ago
  This product is already out in Japan. So at least it's not vaporware.
  - slantyyz 13y ago
    Do you have a link for a place that sells it? I can't find seem to find it.
happyscrappy 13y ago
Looks nice but I don't see a way to zoom in, which is a deal breaker for using it with building plans.
SeanDav 13y ago
If this thing supports epub as well it would be perfect. I have been looking for a full A4-sized e-ink reader for ages now but aside from my Kindle DX, (which has to be hacked to read PDF's and epub) there has been very little. I am not interested in the note taking, although it may prove useful at some point, I want it as a large e-ink reader for technical books.
mbq 13y ago
Onyx made something like that already; the software is terrible (although hackable) and there is no place to attach stylus to the reader, but it is only ~300USD http://www.amazon.com/Onyx-M92-Black-Pearl-Edition/dp/B00BBD1LUI/ http://www.amazon.com/Onyx-M92-Black-Pearl-Edition/dp/B00BBD...
T-zex 13y ago
Its always great to see new e-ink products. I think they are unreasonably overshadowed by the tablets. [off topic] Are there any recent product launches which would not feature a cup of coffee on their landing page?
froo 13y ago
If they really wanted to go after the note-taking market hard, they should have created a way to have the "eraser" in the opposite end of the stylus rather than have to go through a menu system to modify notes. For me then, it would go from "yeah, its kinda neat" to "I really ought to consider giving them my money for this"
Edmond 13y ago
If this is real it may finally be the dream of anyone who's ever wanted an electronic notebook! I will go back to school just to use this!
jber 13y ago
I want it now!! But I bought a Sony E-Reader before a Kindle 5 years ago. Their customer service was very bad :(
sergiotapia 13y ago
That battery life is delicious. That's the first thing I looked for and I'm happy Sony came through!
BugBrother 13y ago
The probable killer problem: What is the page switch time? Can I browse pdf manuals on this? (My iPad 3 is a bit too slow imho. Will get an Air) Speed in general? How is it to write notes on? Linux/wireless support?
- vixen99 13y ago
  Indeed! To expand a little, can I also download a text from Gutenberg public domain classics, convert to pdf (via LibreOffice for instance) and read on this machine along, as you say, with all the public domain articles and books I have in the same format?
taylorbuley 13y ago
Very cool. Except the "Click here to be contacted for more information about Digital Paper" leads to a "Contact Us" form. Do I use a "Contact Us" form to ask Sony to "Contact Me" whenever it releases this?
thu 13y ago
I see an on-screen keyboard on one of their promotional pictures, could this be used as a lightweight dumb terminal ? If not, what would be a possible e-ink device to display an SSH terminal over Wifi and pair with a bluetooth keyboard ?
- RBerenguel 13y ago
  I remember seeing a rooted kindle used for that. Digged the article up: Kindleberry Pi: http://www.ponnuki.net/2012/09/kindleberry-pi/ http://www.ponnuki.net/2012/09/kindleberry-pi/
  - thu 13y ago
    Thanks, the idea of using a shared GNU Screen session is nice. This means that actually instead of an RPi and additional keyboard, the e-ink screen could simply be laid on a laptop.
eponeponepon 13y ago
It's thoroughly disappointing that they're sticking to PDF for this. In every other way, it looks like progress, but not supporting EPUB is a pretty long step backwards, imho.
- rando289 13y ago
  And how about a terminal and some vim/emacs so I can develop comfortably in sunlight?
  - eponeponepon 13y ago
    Good god yes. I would just about kill for that. ...though I might insist on nano ;)
- muaddirac 13y ago
  "In addition to PDF source files, MS Word®, PowerPoint®, and Excel® files can be converted to the PDF format, then saved, viewed, and annotated on Digital Paper." Don't worry, though, in addition to PDFs, you can convert other files to PDFs!
sebnukem2 13y ago
Can I read my large collection of Kindle books with it? A negative answer is a deal breaker, and I suspect I'm not alone.
- derscheister 13y ago
  That's not Sony's decision I guess
- msh 13y ago
  yes, if you remove the DRM from your books (pretty easy).
jwr 13y ago
This would look great if it wasn't made by SONY. They have a history of building devices that seem great, but on closer inspection it usually turns out that the user interface is horrible, overall usability is poor, and to use the device you have to install a proprietary piece of Windows-only SONY software that might be maintained and updated for a while — or not. So after a couple of years you might be left with no way to access your data. After I had this experience two or three times I figured I'd stay away from SONY products.
- blisterpeanuts 13y ago
  I'm just worried about Sony's long term viability. They don't seem as competitive as they once were, and as you say, they have this not-invented-here culture similar to other old line companies that are no longer dominant (Nokia, IBM).
  - ekianjo 13y ago
    In 2013 (or 2012, not sure anymore), they made more money off their financial services than all of their combined product lines. That says how much Sony sucks at making products nowadays.
    - josu 13y ago
      According to their annual report [1] only 14.8% of their sales came from financial services. What are you exactly referring to? [1] http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/ar/2013/shr/pdf/AnnualReport_E.pdf http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/ar/2013/shr/pdf/An...
      - ekianjo 13y ago
        I need to find the source again, but it's not about revenue but actual profits.
        josu 13y ago
0xdeadbeefbabe 13y ago
Some grep would be nice, and I don't mean the kindle touch search experience: tap, wait, tap search, wait, type, wait, type, wait, type, enter, wait, browse results, tap to scroll, wait, browse results, tap to scroll.
srd 13y ago
eInk based ebook readers have been around since at least the iRex in '06. My current jetBook in the same format as the Sony here even has 4096 colors. The thing that always kept theory from practice for me was the high latency when doing the actual annotations. 150ms is too much when writing and your pen is 3 strokes ahead of the display. Is this reader any different? Just looking at the page, I don't quite get what makes it different and HN worthy?
hrktb 13y ago
The hardware seems really great. Sony has a ton of experience in e-readers, I trust their capability to pull out marvelous hardware, and this is a product that feels a really valuable spot on the market. Except, there is so few informations on the software. It seems the supported sync service is worldox [1], as it's the only link in the sidebar and there is no explicit mention of any other solution. Does this means one has to contract this service provider just to wirelessly sync this device ? Of course, no mention of an SDK or any third party integration. As usual with Sony, the hardware seems perfect and the software an afterthought. [1] http://www.worldox.com http://www.worldox.com
- knightofmars 13y ago
  The user manual states, "By using the WebDAV protocol, you can access a specific network drive to synchronize documents between the Digital Paper device and the network drive, or transfer documents from the device to the network drive. Connect to a Wi-Fi network beforehand (page 38)." [1] [1](http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/assetDownloadController/User_Guide.pdf?path=Asset%20Hierarchy$Professional$SEL-yf-generic-427521$SEL-yf-generic-427522SEL-asset-427524.pdf&id=StepID$SEL-asset-427524$original&dimension=original http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/assetDownloadController/User_Guide....)
  - hrktb 13y ago
    Nice. Auto-sync is also featured, it's way more interesting than I thought.
kin 13y ago
The demand is no doubt there. This needs to be executed well and priced well also. I'm going to bet it's neither. Sony is notorious for high prices. Also, who's to say the writing feels as natural as they're making it look?
lrem 13y ago
There is still a pretty significant delay between writing and the text appearing. Nothing like the prototype display Microsoft was showcasing some time ago. I wonder if this may be a limitation of e-ink.
Altenuvian 13y ago
finally! looks great and I hope sony doesn't mess this up. and please make a external monitor version! preferably 24" so I can have a secondary monitor dedicated to word-processing. even though refresh times might be slow for anything else having an e-paper external monitor for word-processing would make total sense from an ergonomics perspective. a lot of people spend many hours a day writing/editing text and e-paper is much more eye-friendly.
discardorama 13y ago
The resolution seems to be about 150DPI. Unfortunately, I've been spoiled by Apple's Retina display :-( But still: $1100? When an iPad (which can do so much more) is ~$500 ? Once again, Sony seems to be miscalculating.
- JohnTHaller 13y ago
  eInk DPI and LCD DPI aren't really directly equivalent in terms of readability. And this is a specialized device that seems much more suited to the type of work it's designed for than an iPad is. The iPad doesn't even support a stylus (except for the big nub stylus, which is really more of a stylized finger replacement).
- SeanDav 13y ago
  ipad is heavier, smaller, not useable in bright light and with poor battery life in comparison. In fact, where is no comparison.
  - gress 13y ago
    The iPad Air is light enough - I use one all day. The smaller size of the iPad is an advantage for portability. The iPad battery is more than good enough for a full day of work, so the comparison is empty. The iPad is highly usable in all indoor conditions. Bright sunlight is a problem for it. That's only one advantage the Sony device has that matters, and it's a niche one.
    - kgabis 13y ago
      Comparing this to ipad is pointless. It's a paper replacepemt, not a computer replacement.
      - gress 13y ago
        An iPad is a paper replacement too.
dragontamer 13y ago
Seems good, but the honest competition to this would be all the other tablets with styluses. Surface Pro, Galaxy Tab, Asus Vivotab Note. Each hit vastly different price ranges (Surface Pro ~$900 high-quality device, Galaxy Tab rounds out $500 mark, and Vivotab Note hits $300). I doubt Sony can beat the Vivotab Note on price / performance, and I doubt it can win on flexibility vs Android or Surface Pro.
hamxiaoz 13y ago
$1100 price will kill it unless it doesn't target normal customers.
ihaveone 13y ago
I want this so bad, I have a Kindle DX that's pretty good but I just want to be able to 'print' directly to it and have it automatically turn on and show it. This is getting there with the pen, I love that idea. They should have it sync back after you annotate it automatically. That's friction free.
njharman 13y ago
Thought Finally! But, too soon $1000 is way, 2-4 times, too much. Back to waiting.
- X4 13y ago
  a) Would you please tell me where you found how much it costs and where I can buy it please? b) I really need something like this urgently. $1000 isn't much, if it makes your life measurably easier. It IS expensive, but unlike tablets, smartphones, convertibles and notebooks this is something that directly effects my productivity. c) I was hoping for foldable Mirasol or Electrowetting (EWD) displays in Q1 2014 since 2009 and it's still not there. These are the most promising display technologies that I know of, which are still hold back for reasons that I simply don't understand. It may have to do with the Display Technology Cartels, bad marketing, or no funding. I just wish to know why Electrowetting isn't mainstream yet. See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf1GjCaYzYg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf1GjCaYzYg The MirasolHD 5,1" display prototype with 2.560 x 1.440 Pixel had a pixel depth of incredible 577 ppi and you could use clearly see everything at direct sunlight. Here's an old video I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDoVzKd9H4U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDoVzKd9H4U PS: It makes me quite sad and disappointed that we still don't have this technology: http://imgur.com/a/Pr2Sq http://imgur.com/a/Pr2Sq
  - sosborn 13y ago
    >still hold back for reasons that I simply don't understand I'm speculating, but in general the only thing that holds good technology back is an inability to scale manufacturing to the point where it is profitable.
    - X4 13y ago
      yeah that makes a lot of sense, good point!
codezero 13y ago
The first ebook reader I bought was a Sony and it was great. I preferred it to the kindle at the time because it let me import any format file into it via USB. So I have no issues with the brand as others do. Sony has a solid presence though on the periphery of the eInk scene. My only concern with this device is input latency. Every eInk screen I've used that takes input has too high of a latency for annotation to feel as natural as pen and paper.
vapour 13y ago
I don't want to charge my paper thanks.
- e12e 13y ago
  Ah, but you only need to charge if it you want to change what's printed on it...
therealmarv 13y ago
What we need is a android tablet, combined e-ink and the power of a Samsung Note. Then we have a kindle reader (through the app), a note taking device and can also read something from apps like pocket and Evernote... at least I can dream about it.
fuzzythinker 13y ago
I know this sounds like nitpicking, like complaining about the cup holder in a luxury car, but the stylus holder is just too ugly and an afterthought for a $1k device. Why they even bother to point out the design as if they were proud of it? Why can't they just use the palmV or many other push to eject design? That holder thing sticks out so much that I not only feel embarrassed to show it off, but fear it'll break any moment. And this is from SONY?
thorntonbf 13y ago
A device like this has such awesome potential, but I am so underwhelmed by Sony's execution. $1000 +, closed to common eReader document types and no path to openness for developers. Add in Sony's miserable record for supporting their customers after they move to the next flavor of the week and this is a great illustration of their march towards increasing irrelevance.
- Rizz 13y ago
  I bought a sony e-reader 5 years ago, it still functions fine. Sony did however give up their e-reader business in the past weeks, but they have transferred all purchased books to a different vendor, so I don't lose anything. And earlier when they discontinued their own proprietary DRM format, they freely converted all books to EPUB. I have had no problems with how well Sony has supported me as a customer, despite their organization going through changes.
bazzargh 13y ago
I used to have one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad The iRex Iliad had a big screen and you could write on it with a stylus. It ran linux and didn't use proprietary file formats, so was great for actually doing stuff. BUT The refresh rate on the screen meant that doing anything with the stylus was painful. It lagged way too much. I see nothing in the specs for the sony device that refers to this problem with e-ink, and no video demo. Anyone have better info?
acc01 13y ago
Previously: http://www.asus.com/Eee_Family/Eee_Note_EA800/ http://www.asus.com/Eee_Family/Eee_Note_EA800/
accidc 13y ago
The Bridgestone Aerobee was another device that seemed fit all the specifications for a electronic notebook. Bridgestone had teamed up with a Delta Electronics to bring these out but killed it. Does anyone know how qr-lpd compares to e-ink? http://www.slashgear.com/bridgestone-aerobee-flexible-e-paper-shown-off-in-video-18146724/ http://www.slashgear.com/bridgestone-aerobee-flexible-e-pape...
sizzle 13y ago
I remember getting a Sony Clie PDA, the software was a pain to sync and then they stopped supporting it. Really irked me back then
frik 13y ago
I wonder why Amazon doesn't release a new version of Kindle DX (9.7" E Ink Display). Its hardware is comparable to the old Kindle 2. The Kindle DX was withdrawn from sale in October 2012, but in September 2013 was made available again. An improved Kindle DX with touch support for $199 would be awesome. Color e-ink displays exist for years, add one. The new Sony Digital Paper for $1100 is too expensive .

229 points by fidotron 13y ago

Looks like a dream. Here's the product page for DPTS1: http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-digitalpaper/cat-digitalpapersub/product-DPTS1/ http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-digitalpaper/cat-digitalpap... I imagine it's terribly expensive. "Pricing available upon request". EDIT: That's right. $1000. http://www.golem.de/news/dpts1-sonys-digital-paper-kostet-mehr-als-1-000-us-dollar-1403-105441.html http://www.golem.de/news/dpts1-sonys-digital-paper-kostet-me...

fidotron 13y ago
Techcrunch say it will be $1100. The hardware is lustworthy, though the resolution could be higher, it's just a shame there's no SDK. The buttons on the front look very old school Androidish.
- bildung 13y ago
  > The hardware is lustworthy, though the resolution could be higher, it's just a shame there's no SDK. The buttons on the front look very old school Androidish. I have a 10" e-ink device with 1200x825px which is perfectly fine for A4/letter-designed PDFs, so I'd say the resolution should be fine. I also have a 10" notebook, and the readability is considerably worse at about the same resolution, so I guess e-ink resolutions are not really comparable with lcd resolutions (the pixel layout is quite different: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2286311679_f98bdba47f_m.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/2286311679_f98bdba47f_m....).
  - j_s 13y ago
    Which device do you have? The Kindle DX is 9.7" Visionect sells developer-friendly (SDK included) 6" and 9.7" devices starting around $500: http://www.visionect.com/ http://www.visionect.com/
    - adiM 13y ago
      Don't know about the GP, but I have an iRex DR1000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Reader_1000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Reader_1000) which was perfectly sized for reading A4/letter papers. But it is bulky and has no wireless connectivity.
    - bildung 13y ago
      I have an Onyx BOOX M92: https://onyx-boox.com/productsinfo/onyx-boox-m92-black-pearl/ https://onyx-boox.com/productsinfo/onyx-boox-m92-black-pearl... It did cost 300€/420$ a year and a half ago. The alternative at that time was the Pocketbook Pro 912 (http://www.pocketbook-int.com/de/products/pocketbook-912 http://www.pocketbook-int.com/de/products/pocketbook-912) at around the same pricepoint, but that seemed less open (technically both run Linux, but Pocketbook didn't publish their modified sources).
- noahl 13y ago
  it's just a shame there's no SDK I noticed that the battery life is 3 weeks. Given the size of the product (not large), it's safe to say that they get that battery life by doing as little as possible. It may be that they don't have enough processing power to run any sort of apps, or if they did, it would drain the battery so much that it would ruin the device. With that said, it would still be cool to try. It should at least be able to support a calculator.
  - fidotron 13y ago
    As long as you don't busy wait and only update the parts of the screen that change it's not too hard to write software which doesn't impact battery life too much. EDIT: To add, obviously minimise network connections. And if you do need them, batch them.
  - Groxx 13y ago
    Nah. Nook Simple Touches can be rooted and run Android just fine. As long as wifi is off (thus disabling the vast majority of app background syncing / periodic updates) it easily lasts a couple weeks. For that you can run a surprising number of apps just fine in a ridiculously-limited available RAM space. I can't imagine this would be anywhere near as slow as a NST, so it should be able to do just about everything except play 3D games and visit crazy-bad websites.
  - onthiscarousel 13y ago
    The test model I used for a month only needed one charge, it works a lot like the black and white kindle and the document stays static on the screen and the device only really turns on when you write on it or turn pages.
- acc01 13y ago
  > The hardware is lustworthy what part? I have a 1440x1080 ereader retailing at $170.
  - noir_lord 13y ago
    Which one?
    - acc01 13y ago
      https://www.kobo.com/koboaurahd https://www.kobo.com/koboaurahd
NotOscarWilde 13y ago
> Looks like a dream. Indeed. As a PhD student that reads and annotates a ton of scientific papers, this really seems like something that could help me do my job much better. Please, if any of you manage to get your hands on one, I would love a hands-on review with a lot of pictures. The price is really high, that's true, but I can see top people in academia or enthusiasts like me adopting it.
- doorhammer 13y ago
  Have you checked out the surface pro 2? I'm a sucker for being able to write notes by hand, and when I tried out the surface pro 2 I was pretty blown away by how nice the handwriting felt. Also seems to be in the same price range, and you end up with a full blown PC (which may not be what you're shooting for). One more thing that I liked is how natural it was to use one note to make notes, cut a part out, and move it around. When I'm sketching ideas out, or learning math stuff, it's always nice to be able to move a snippet over really quickly. I also used to review and edit a lot of training materials that were being designed, and I was using an ipad 2 with PDFExpert, which was pretty great for that, but I always hated how crap the ipad was for writing things with a stylus or a finger. If I could go back and do it again with a surface pro 2, I would in a heartbeat. I tried other larger form factor e-ink devices like the Kindle DX and such, but if the screen wasn't big enough to fit the entire page on the screen at once, it didn't matter how big the screen was. The device just ended up being too slow. I liked the ipad because I could swipe around, highlight, circle things, make notes, etc. Obviously the battery life on the surface pro 2 wouldn't be in the same universe as this thing, and it's bulkier, but just thought I'd throw it out there. Kind of rambly, heh, YMMV
  - deong 13y ago
    I have a DX in the closet, and even if the screen is big enough, it's still too slow. The other huge problem with the DX or any other e-ink reader so far is the lack of note-taking. I hoped the DX would be good for academic papers, but it just isn't.
    - 13y ago

blisse 13y ago

Pricing doesn't matter until this gets into a good reviewer's hands (Anand!). But yeah this is amazing if it functions perfectly eventually at ~$400

personlurking 13y ago

Here's a hands-on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzIx0InzJIw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzIx0InzJIw

muyuu 13y ago
It still lags enough to be distracting (at least to me). It's nice that they are pushing the tech forwards though.
- onthiscarousel 13y ago
  I beta tested it and it was so slow and cumbersome that I gave up on using it because it just got in the way of trying to do anything. It was super light and cool but it's so damn big and fragile feeling that it didn't feel safe putting it into a bag. It was just one more thing to carry around. You had to connect it every time to transfer files on or off of it, could not even email it out. Supposedly the only service it was going to work with via wifi was Evernote. We asked for dropbox but that didn't seem like an option. Felt like the future in concept but more like using a palm pilot.
  - muyuu 13y ago
    Speaking of which, I love the tech in Palm Pilots. To this day I'd take the monochrome screen that lasts forever and is extremely responsive. But seems like people prefer burning batteries that need daily recharging, or input lag.
    - onthiscarousel 13y ago
      Screen and OS is more like the black and white kindles, it loads an image to the screen and records what you draw on it. It's not live or fluid. There was a distinct screen flash when it updated new content.
      - muyuu 13y ago
        If you mean the product linked in this post, then yep. Palm Pilots had nothing of that though :'(

higherpurpose 13y ago

Didn't they just kill their e-book store recently? Also, from the images it does look like it would be "e-ink" but I see no mention of it on the page. Is it really "e-ink" (like Kindle) or just "e-paper", which is just a transflective LCD (Pebble, Notion Ink Adam, etc).

_cbb1 13y ago
The store was killed on the 20th. :/
muyuu 13y ago
This device is less symbiotic to an e-book shop than any simple e-reader. From the youtube link posted above it looks like e-ink.
mbrubeck 13y ago
"e ink" is a trademark of the E Ink Corporation. Other vendors of e-paper displays can't use the same name, regardless of what type of display technology they use.
e12e 13y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GksPX8qi4fQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GksPX8qi4fQ "E Ink Booth Tour at CES 2014, Sony DPT-S1, Smartwatches, wall clocks and more"

rayiner 13y ago

I'm looking for a relatively paperless legal workflow, and I have been surprised at how hard it is. It's hard to pull out a laptop in a meeting to take notes, if only because in a 1:1, you are often in someone else's office and don't have a desk handy. I've been looking at the Livescribe for digitizing handwriting, but to date the software has been shitty. The new version that integrates with iPad/OneNote seems to be a step up, though. The problem with the iPad, however, is that it's not good for marking up documents. It's great for reading legal cases, but not for marking them up and taking margin notes. Personally, I'm one of those people that gets a lot more out of having paper in my hand and scribbling on it than I do just reading something off a computer screen. I'm really intrigued by this product: http://www.thedigitalink.co.uk/products/capturx-markup-for-pdf http://www.thedigitalink.co.uk/products/capturx-markup-for-p..., which lets you print out PDF's onto special paper so that when you write on it with a digital pen, the markings are reintegrated onto the digital copy. Unfortunately, it's really expensive! Also, 10" is on the small side for what's ideal. A standard piece of paper is 13" diagonal. I've been looking at the 12.2" Samsung, which also has a digitizer, but Samsung's Android skin is just god-awful. It's a shame nobody makes a 12"+ Baytrail Windows 8 tablet with good battery life... This product seems to really tackle this niche. Apparently Sony is going to be showing it off this week at the ABA tech show in Chicago.

slantyyz 13y ago
You should try a Surface Pro (1/2) with OneNote. You can get the 1st gen Pro heavily discounted right now. The battery life is not the greatest, but you can now cheat with the power cover. But like you said, a 12"+ Baytrail would be fantastic.
- rayiner 13y ago
  I almost pulled the Trigger on a Surface Pro 2. The big problem for me,[1] is that the 16:9 aspect ratio is annoying for reading documents. A 12" 4:3 device would be a lot better. I'm very curious to see what MS has in store for this fall. A native Metro version of Word launching with Surface Pro 3 might seal the deal. [1] Well the big problem is that the UI is an abomination, with the clunky obsolete desktop married to the slick, intuitive Metro interface. Having to flip between the two just to use Word is a sick joke.

mdip 13y ago

This looks fantastic. When the e-reader craze was going on, I avoided buying one because I wanted one pretty much like this. Most of my e-books are PDFs that display really well in a larger format device. My wife had a nook, and I tried it out for a bit, but the size/resolution made viewing PDFs designed for letter sized paper look just below adequate. Is it wrong for me to also admit that ever since the "Root Kit Debacle" from Sony, I cringe a little at the idea of plugging a Sony product into my PC? Or am I just being paranoid?

mnw21cam 13y ago
It isn't paranoia if they really are out to get you! But yes, I have been waiting for a device like this for ages. I tried a smaller e-ink device, but trying to view PDFs on that was painful at best. I'm even wondering if 1200x1600 resolution is good enough for scientific papers. Why letter size? Isn't that a little bit obscure?
- Turing_Machine 13y ago
  Right. I'd think long and hard before using a Sony product after that.
  - mnw21cam 13y ago
    (Un)fortunately they quite often make some fantastic hardware. I'm just disappointed that the whole horror of the various computer misuse/hacking laws weren't thrown at them for those CDs.
    - mdip 13y ago
      I agree, Sony has produced some excellent products and some of their laptop designs have made me very tempted to purchase their PC products in the past. I own a few Sony products, but I tend to flinch a little with any Sony product that: (A) Probably has a DRM scheme associated with it (as most e-readers do, I assume this one does as well). or (B) Requires me to plug it into my PC and install Sony produced software. It may have been a long time ago, but I tend to be one of those guys where trust is easy to establish, easy to break and serious loss of trust is nearly impossible to recover from. The Rootkit Incident was a serious loss of trust to me, so I'll steer clear for now. It's too bad, even at $1100, it'd be worth it to handle my collection of printed-to-pdf notes, documents and books.

bryanthompson 13y ago

I remember when http://noteslate.com/ http://noteslate.com/ launched their site & demos and being excited, checking back weekly, then monthly, then realized that it was all a big cloud of vaporware. I hope Sony actually goes through with this. I currently use an ipad mini & notesplus with a jot pro - it's a good setup and works well, but I still find myself reaching for legal pads half the time.

slantyyz 13y ago
I waited and waited for NoteSlate to come out. So disappointed when it became clear it was vaporware. I currently use a Surface Pro with OneNote (full version, skip the W8 app store version), and it's fantastic. I have actually stopped using the hardcover sketchbooks I normally carry around, and the Surface takes up space than those books. StylusLabs Write is a pretty great app too, and it's available for most major platforms. You might want to consider one of the smaller tablets that have a real Wacom digitizer, i.e. Samsung's Note / Pro series or Asus' new W8 8" tablet. I don't know about how good the Dell Venue Pro 8 is, since its stylus isn't a Wacom.
c0ldfusion 13y ago
This product is already out in Japan. So at least it's not vaporware.
- slantyyz 13y ago
  Do you have a link for a place that sells it? I can't find seem to find it.

happyscrappy 13y ago

Looks nice but I don't see a way to zoom in, which is a deal breaker for using it with building plans.

SeanDav 13y ago

If this thing supports epub as well it would be perfect. I have been looking for a full A4-sized e-ink reader for ages now but aside from my Kindle DX, (which has to be hacked to read PDF's and epub) there has been very little. I am not interested in the note taking, although it may prove useful at some point, I want it as a large e-ink reader for technical books.

mbq 13y ago

Onyx made something like that already; the software is terrible (although hackable) and there is no place to attach stylus to the reader, but it is only ~300USD http://www.amazon.com/Onyx-M92-Black-Pearl-Edition/dp/B00BBD1LUI/ http://www.amazon.com/Onyx-M92-Black-Pearl-Edition/dp/B00BBD...

T-zex 13y ago

Its always great to see new e-ink products. I think they are unreasonably overshadowed by the tablets. [off topic] Are there any recent product launches which would not feature a cup of coffee on their landing page?

froo 13y ago

If they really wanted to go after the note-taking market hard, they should have created a way to have the "eraser" in the opposite end of the stylus rather than have to go through a menu system to modify notes. For me then, it would go from "yeah, its kinda neat" to "I really ought to consider giving them my money for this"

Edmond 13y ago

If this is real it may finally be the dream of anyone who's ever wanted an electronic notebook! I will go back to school just to use this!

jber 13y ago

I want it now!! But I bought a Sony E-Reader before a Kindle 5 years ago. Their customer service was very bad :(

sergiotapia 13y ago

That battery life is delicious. That's the first thing I looked for and I'm happy Sony came through!

BugBrother 13y ago

The probable killer problem: What is the page switch time? Can I browse pdf manuals on this? (My iPad 3 is a bit too slow imho. Will get an Air) Speed in general? How is it to write notes on? Linux/wireless support?

vixen99 13y ago
Indeed! To expand a little, can I also download a text from Gutenberg public domain classics, convert to pdf (via LibreOffice for instance) and read on this machine along, as you say, with all the public domain articles and books I have in the same format?

taylorbuley 13y ago

Very cool. Except the "Click here to be contacted for more information about Digital Paper" leads to a "Contact Us" form. Do I use a "Contact Us" form to ask Sony to "Contact Me" whenever it releases this?

thu 13y ago

I see an on-screen keyboard on one of their promotional pictures, could this be used as a lightweight dumb terminal ? If not, what would be a possible e-ink device to display an SSH terminal over Wifi and pair with a bluetooth keyboard ?

RBerenguel 13y ago
I remember seeing a rooted kindle used for that. Digged the article up: Kindleberry Pi: http://www.ponnuki.net/2012/09/kindleberry-pi/ http://www.ponnuki.net/2012/09/kindleberry-pi/
- thu 13y ago
  Thanks, the idea of using a shared GNU Screen session is nice. This means that actually instead of an RPi and additional keyboard, the e-ink screen could simply be laid on a laptop.

eponeponepon 13y ago

It's thoroughly disappointing that they're sticking to PDF for this. In every other way, it looks like progress, but not supporting EPUB is a pretty long step backwards, imho.

rando289 13y ago
And how about a terminal and some vim/emacs so I can develop comfortably in sunlight?
- eponeponepon 13y ago
  Good god yes. I would just about kill for that. ...though I might insist on nano ;)
muaddirac 13y ago
"In addition to PDF source files, MS Word®, PowerPoint®, and Excel® files can be converted to the PDF format, then saved, viewed, and annotated on Digital Paper." Don't worry, though, in addition to PDFs, you can convert other files to PDFs!

sebnukem2 13y ago

Can I read my large collection of Kindle books with it? A negative answer is a deal breaker, and I suspect I'm not alone.

derscheister 13y ago
That's not Sony's decision I guess
msh 13y ago
yes, if you remove the DRM from your books (pretty easy).

jwr 13y ago

This would look great if it wasn't made by SONY. They have a history of building devices that seem great, but on closer inspection it usually turns out that the user interface is horrible, overall usability is poor, and to use the device you have to install a proprietary piece of Windows-only SONY software that might be maintained and updated for a while — or not. So after a couple of years you might be left with no way to access your data. After I had this experience two or three times I figured I'd stay away from SONY products.

blisterpeanuts 13y ago
I'm just worried about Sony's long term viability. They don't seem as competitive as they once were, and as you say, they have this not-invented-here culture similar to other old line companies that are no longer dominant (Nokia, IBM).
- ekianjo 13y ago
  In 2013 (or 2012, not sure anymore), they made more money off their financial services than all of their combined product lines. That says how much Sony sucks at making products nowadays.
  - josu 13y ago
    According to their annual report [1] only 14.8% of their sales came from financial services. What are you exactly referring to? [1] http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/ar/2013/shr/pdf/AnnualReport_E.pdf http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/ar/2013/shr/pdf/An...
    - ekianjo 13y ago
      I need to find the source again, but it's not about revenue but actual profits.
      - josu 13y ago

0xdeadbeefbabe 13y ago

Some grep would be nice, and I don't mean the kindle touch search experience: tap, wait, tap search, wait, type, wait, type, wait, type, enter, wait, browse results, tap to scroll, wait, browse results, tap to scroll.

srd 13y ago

eInk based ebook readers have been around since at least the iRex in '06. My current jetBook in the same format as the Sony here even has 4096 colors. The thing that always kept theory from practice for me was the high latency when doing the actual annotations. 150ms is too much when writing and your pen is 3 strokes ahead of the display. Is this reader any different? Just looking at the page, I don't quite get what makes it different and HN worthy?

hrktb 13y ago

The hardware seems really great. Sony has a ton of experience in e-readers, I trust their capability to pull out marvelous hardware, and this is a product that feels a really valuable spot on the market. Except, there is so few informations on the software. It seems the supported sync service is worldox [1], as it's the only link in the sidebar and there is no explicit mention of any other solution. Does this means one has to contract this service provider just to wirelessly sync this device ? Of course, no mention of an SDK or any third party integration. As usual with Sony, the hardware seems perfect and the software an afterthought. [1] http://www.worldox.com http://www.worldox.com

knightofmars 13y ago
The user manual states, "By using the WebDAV protocol, you can access a specific network drive to synchronize documents between the Digital Paper device and the network drive, or transfer documents from the device to the network drive. Connect to a Wi-Fi network beforehand (page 38)." [1] [1](http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/assetDownloadController/User_Guide.pdf?path=Asset%20Hierarchy$Professional$SEL-yf-generic-427521$SEL-yf-generic-427522SEL-asset-427524.pdf&id=StepID$SEL-asset-427524$original&dimension=original http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/assetDownloadController/User_Guide....)
- hrktb 13y ago
  Nice. Auto-sync is also featured, it's way more interesting than I thought.

kin 13y ago

The demand is no doubt there. This needs to be executed well and priced well also. I'm going to bet it's neither. Sony is notorious for high prices. Also, who's to say the writing feels as natural as they're making it look?

lrem 13y ago

There is still a pretty significant delay between writing and the text appearing. Nothing like the prototype display Microsoft was showcasing some time ago. I wonder if this may be a limitation of e-ink.

Altenuvian 13y ago

finally! looks great and I hope sony doesn't mess this up. and please make a external monitor version! preferably 24" so I can have a secondary monitor dedicated to word-processing. even though refresh times might be slow for anything else having an e-paper external monitor for word-processing would make total sense from an ergonomics perspective. a lot of people spend many hours a day writing/editing text and e-paper is much more eye-friendly.

discardorama 13y ago

The resolution seems to be about 150DPI. Unfortunately, I've been spoiled by Apple's Retina display :-( But still: $1100? When an iPad (which can do so much more) is ~$500 ? Once again, Sony seems to be miscalculating.

JohnTHaller 13y ago
eInk DPI and LCD DPI aren't really directly equivalent in terms of readability. And this is a specialized device that seems much more suited to the type of work it's designed for than an iPad is. The iPad doesn't even support a stylus (except for the big nub stylus, which is really more of a stylized finger replacement).
SeanDav 13y ago
ipad is heavier, smaller, not useable in bright light and with poor battery life in comparison. In fact, where is no comparison.
- gress 13y ago
  The iPad Air is light enough - I use one all day. The smaller size of the iPad is an advantage for portability. The iPad battery is more than good enough for a full day of work, so the comparison is empty. The iPad is highly usable in all indoor conditions. Bright sunlight is a problem for it. That's only one advantage the Sony device has that matters, and it's a niche one.
  - kgabis 13y ago
    Comparing this to ipad is pointless. It's a paper replacepemt, not a computer replacement.
    - gress 13y ago
      An iPad is a paper replacement too.

dragontamer 13y ago

Seems good, but the honest competition to this would be all the other tablets with styluses. Surface Pro, Galaxy Tab, Asus Vivotab Note. Each hit vastly different price ranges (Surface Pro ~$900 high-quality device, Galaxy Tab rounds out $500 mark, and Vivotab Note hits $300). I doubt Sony can beat the Vivotab Note on price / performance, and I doubt it can win on flexibility vs Android or Surface Pro.

hamxiaoz 13y ago

$1100 price will kill it unless it doesn't target normal customers.

ihaveone 13y ago

I want this so bad, I have a Kindle DX that's pretty good but I just want to be able to 'print' directly to it and have it automatically turn on and show it. This is getting there with the pen, I love that idea. They should have it sync back after you annotate it automatically. That's friction free.

njharman 13y ago

Thought Finally! But, too soon $1000 is way, 2-4 times, too much. Back to waiting.

X4 13y ago
a) Would you please tell me where you found how much it costs and where I can buy it please? b) I really need something like this urgently. $1000 isn't much, if it makes your life measurably easier. It IS expensive, but unlike tablets, smartphones, convertibles and notebooks this is something that directly effects my productivity. c) I was hoping for foldable Mirasol or Electrowetting (EWD) displays in Q1 2014 since 2009 and it's still not there. These are the most promising display technologies that I know of, which are still hold back for reasons that I simply don't understand. It may have to do with the Display Technology Cartels, bad marketing, or no funding. I just wish to know why Electrowetting isn't mainstream yet. See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf1GjCaYzYg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf1GjCaYzYg The MirasolHD 5,1" display prototype with 2.560 x 1.440 Pixel had a pixel depth of incredible 577 ppi and you could use clearly see everything at direct sunlight. Here's an old video I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDoVzKd9H4U http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDoVzKd9H4U PS: It makes me quite sad and disappointed that we still don't have this technology: http://imgur.com/a/Pr2Sq http://imgur.com/a/Pr2Sq
- sosborn 13y ago
  >still hold back for reasons that I simply don't understand I'm speculating, but in general the only thing that holds good technology back is an inability to scale manufacturing to the point where it is profitable.
  - X4 13y ago
    yeah that makes a lot of sense, good point!

codezero 13y ago

The first ebook reader I bought was a Sony and it was great. I preferred it to the kindle at the time because it let me import any format file into it via USB. So I have no issues with the brand as others do. Sony has a solid presence though on the periphery of the eInk scene. My only concern with this device is input latency. Every eInk screen I've used that takes input has too high of a latency for annotation to feel as natural as pen and paper.

vapour 13y ago

I don't want to charge my paper thanks.

e12e 13y ago
Ah, but you only need to charge if it you want to change what's printed on it...

therealmarv 13y ago

What we need is a android tablet, combined e-ink and the power of a Samsung Note. Then we have a kindle reader (through the app), a note taking device and can also read something from apps like pocket and Evernote... at least I can dream about it.

fuzzythinker 13y ago

I know this sounds like nitpicking, like complaining about the cup holder in a luxury car, but the stylus holder is just too ugly and an afterthought for a $1k device. Why they even bother to point out the design as if they were proud of it? Why can't they just use the palmV or many other push to eject design? That holder thing sticks out so much that I not only feel embarrassed to show it off, but fear it'll break any moment. And this is from SONY?

thorntonbf 13y ago

A device like this has such awesome potential, but I am so underwhelmed by Sony's execution. $1000 +, closed to common eReader document types and no path to openness for developers. Add in Sony's miserable record for supporting their customers after they move to the next flavor of the week and this is a great illustration of their march towards increasing irrelevance.

Rizz 13y ago
I bought a sony e-reader 5 years ago, it still functions fine. Sony did however give up their e-reader business in the past weeks, but they have transferred all purchased books to a different vendor, so I don't lose anything. And earlier when they discontinued their own proprietary DRM format, they freely converted all books to EPUB. I have had no problems with how well Sony has supported me as a customer, despite their organization going through changes.

bazzargh 13y ago

I used to have one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILiad The iRex Iliad had a big screen and you could write on it with a stylus. It ran linux and didn't use proprietary file formats, so was great for actually doing stuff. BUT The refresh rate on the screen meant that doing anything with the stylus was painful. It lagged way too much. I see nothing in the specs for the sony device that refers to this problem with e-ink, and no video demo. Anyone have better info?

acc01 13y ago

Previously: http://www.asus.com/Eee_Family/Eee_Note_EA800/ http://www.asus.com/Eee_Family/Eee_Note_EA800/

accidc 13y ago

The Bridgestone Aerobee was another device that seemed fit all the specifications for a electronic notebook. Bridgestone had teamed up with a Delta Electronics to bring these out but killed it. Does anyone know how qr-lpd compares to e-ink? http://www.slashgear.com/bridgestone-aerobee-flexible-e-paper-shown-off-in-video-18146724/ http://www.slashgear.com/bridgestone-aerobee-flexible-e-pape...

sizzle 13y ago

I remember getting a Sony Clie PDA, the software was a pain to sync and then they stopped supporting it. Really irked me back then

frik 13y ago

I wonder why Amazon doesn't release a new version of Kindle DX (9.7" E Ink Display). Its hardware is comparable to the old Kindle 2. The Kindle DX was withdrawn from sale in October 2012, but in September 2013 was made available again. An improved Kindle DX with touch support for $199 would be awesome. Color e-ink displays exist for years, add one. The new Sony Digital Paper for $1100 is too expensive .