Yes, Amazon disappointed me when it denied rumors that it would introduce a new Kindle by Christmas, but there’s still plenty of reason to be excited about e-readers.
iRex just unveiled three business-oriented devices with 10.3-inch touch screens that can translate your scribble into text.
Sony seems to be preparing the next generation of its reader — the announcement is on October 2 — and it will likely copy everything that’s good about the Kindle will improving on its shortcomings.
PlasticLogic will enter the market early next year, with a device that weighs less than a pound and has an 8.5-by-11-inch screen (pictured above).
By then, Amazon will almost certainly have a new Kindle ready for use.
Why is all this exciting? Because each new product makes important advances.
The original Sony Reader was the first device I ever saw with a screen that was almost as easy on the eyes as ink on paper.
The Kindle was the first I ever tested that made getting electronic books easier than getting paper ones.
But problems still remain.
The screens on both devices are too small for certain types of books. It takes to long for them to change pages. The resolution could be superior. They’re not flexible like paper. You can’t underline passages or write notes in the margins. They can’t show things in color.
The next few devices will fix some — but not all — of these problems.
Eventually, someone will develop a device that beats paper in each way. It will look better, do more and save the enormous cost of creating, distributing and storing physical material.
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