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That looks Pretty Cool(tm) for dorks, but what's the real advantage over an actual piece of paper? Other than infinite content-to-weight ratio I don't really s

That looks Pretty Cool(tm) for dorks, but what's the real advantage over an actual piece of paper? Other than infinite content-to-weight ratio I don't really see the justification for the price tag. It's inconvenient, much heavier than single piece of paper or small magazines, journals, and printed out papers, needs a special pencil, requires charging. I used to think that something like a Kindle DX would be amazing for reading datasheets while I design circuits, but in reality I need to draw the circuit and read multiple datasheets at the same time. One of these gizmos can't do that. Printing can do that, and at a tiny fraction of the price.

walterbell 12y ago
No device can compete with the usability of paper. Devices can compete with libraries. Letter size e-ink pdf readers have long battery life (weeks), no eye strain due to page refresh, security/privacy of cloud-free offline SD card storage, fonts & diagrams in their original layouts, with handwriting annotation that exercises motor memory. The Sony device weighs 20% less than an iPad Air 2 while providing 60% more screen space. For anyone who travels and needs access to a changing subset of a large document corpus, there are few alternatives. The excessively high price on the Sony device is reportedly due to an exclusivity period (less than a year), because Sony funded research for the new screen. Hopefully cheaper competitors will appear soon. Even at the $1K price, the Sony device is selling far beyond their expectations, into business markets, so they are now selling it direct online.