sony e reader and game related pdfs

[Steel_Wind]

In a few weeks, we'll see what Apple is about to bring to the gaming table. Might be overpriced dreck... and then again, maybe not.

Aside: I had (and still have) a perfectly fine 30 gig Video Ipod with leather case. I used it often. Perfect working order - literally not a scratch on it. It stayed in this custom leather flip over wallet the moment it was opened. The thing is in pristine shape.

For reasons of a miscommunication (I certainly didn't think I needed or even wanted a new iPod), my wife got me a 30 gig 5th gen Ipod touch for Xmas a few weeks ago.

Battery life is longer, playback options for moving through a long mp3 (I listen to audiobooks a lot - so this is nice) are way improved. Of course the video playback is much better with a bigger screen. But the whole host of iPhone apps, games, Safari browser , email etc. it can run via wireless access point make the thing WAY cool. Battery life is 4 times as long as my old iPod too.

Same price as my video iPod was three years ago too. Quite impressive technology.

If the new iPod Tablet is anywhere near as good as the iPhone/iPod touch? That's going to be a -hot gadget with .pdf options and gesture controls which should rock your socks off at the gaming table.

 

[Felon]

If the new iPod Tablet is anywhere near as good as the iPhone/iPod touch? That's going to be a -hot gadget with .pdf options and gesture controls which should rock your socks off at the gaming table.

Yes. And CES debuted quite a few slates. It's funny, tablet PC's have long been considered an evolutionary dead end, and now suddenly they're the Next Big Thing. Guess they just had to get to get the pricing under control. The iPhone/iPod Touch helped too I suppose.

Say, did anybody else see the Lenovo Ideapad? It's a pretty sharp little netbook/tablet hybrid. The touchscreen monitor detaches from the keyboard and becomes a slate. Among other things, it can be used as an ereader.

Stuff like that's why the clock is probably ticking on devices dedicated exclusively to ebooks. the "e-ink" is neat, but they gotta find a cost effective way to support graphics and color, or they'll be outclassed even in the one thing they do. I wanna read digital comics and magazines.

 

[mpattee]

The regular kindles can read native pdf's now but it sounds like its identical to the sony in that if you want to get to a decent font size you have to go landscape on it.

I'm really curious about what Apple is going to bring out more so because of the development potential. I've really enjoyed working on i4e for the iPhone/iPod touch but I'm constantly battling screen size and amount of information I can reasonably show at once. With a reasonably sized tablet I think I could do some even cooler things than what I'm already doing.

Being that I already own a kindle the development side is really all that appeals to me at the moment with a new Apple Tablet. Although I can't wait to find out more details and I'm hoping that even though the rumors say it won't be released until March, that they'll release the SDK for it when they have their showing at the end of the month.

 

[Steel_Wind]

My bet on the SDK side is that Apple is going to position the new tablet as a bridge between the iPhone and the Macintosh line, with the emphasis for now being on iPhone interoperability.

A few options for Apple fans to embrace, but the emphasis being on stand-alone options for the iPhone's/iPod's MS Windows users to love.

Above all, I expect to see an extended development environment which attempts to have devs create apps for both the iPhone and iSlate (for lack of a better term) at the same time. A move twoards a more unified dev environment, with differenr screen resolutions perhaps, but otherwise, more or less the same capabilities.

If Apple plays its cards right, they will own the netbook market just as they do the mp3 player market by 2020. If they do it right, frankly, I can even see how Apple can dramatically expand their market share in the coming decade on the PC side, too.

And it may be that what we think of as a PC, at least in the home, will begin to change substantially as well.

I'm not an Apple fanboi. I'm a MS Windows user and for the most part, always have been (albeit my first computer was an Apple ][+ back in 1985)' everything after that was a MS based PC. But the stars are aligning against MS in the home market. Given that dedicated PC gaming has essentially died as a mainstream home application, one of the greatest advantages MS had over Apple in the home market has now been lost. As that market gives way to portability and usability, I think Apple has just as much - maybe MORE to leverage in the longterm than Microsoft does.

And that's saying something.

I'm not saying that Apple is going to dominate the PC market in the way that MS does -- or has. But if all of this unspools in Apple's favor over the coming decade, I can easily see a market in 2020 where Apple has a 25% market share of the "PC market".

Ten years ago - that would have been unthinkable.

That's the problem with being #1. The only way to go, generally, is down.

 

[Felon]

Those sound like some reasonable projections to me, Steel. They should bill the tablet on not just being a bigger iPhone, but a more powerful one too. One of the iPhone's big edges over the competition is its app store--so the conventional wisdom goes anyway. Personally, I don't think 100,000 apps are really necessary, and most people with iPhones are using the same 15 or so apps, most of which Google has or will have.

But anyway, they should ideally strive to position an iSlate as an all-in-one device, and that means not just as a smartphone and netbook, but also as an e-reader, not to mention an alternative to the Nintendo DS or PSP. It doesn't actually have to be able to perform that well in those categories, mind you, such is Apple's blessing that consumers give it a free pass on tangible performances issues and lack of features (like how iTunes software sucks and the iPhone UI sucks and the camera doesn't a flash or zoom and the battery drains like water through a sieve and oh yeah, lots of dropped calls). They're just cool like that.

Btw, folks, you want e-readers? I got your e-readers right here, fresh from CES. Check out that Orizon and that Skiff.

Roundup: new 2010 e-book readers | Fully Equipped - CNET Reviews

 

[Mercule]

The Orizon doesn't really wow me, but I've been following the Skiff since it was announced. I'd really like a ballpark on the price, though -- I'll probably grab it at $300, but not at $700.

My dream would be the Skiff form factor and flexibility with the Mirosol color. Since the stainless steel screen is pretty much the reason the Skiff is unique, I don't really see that happening, though.