Ebook readers as they are today are somewhat crippled when faced with the new to come touch-tablets, which i believe will surely be “the gadgets of the moment” for the next 1-2 years. Although they offer stellar battery life and no-eye-strain displays, their features pale when compared to the goodies touch devices bring on the table: vivid colorful screen, multi-touch interfaces, video playing, web-surfing, good prices, etc.
But things are about to change for digital readers, as 2010 is set to bring many innovations in this field. especially now, when competition gets fiercer, more and more producers will turn their attention towards this niche, making technology and end products better and better.
But what exactly are we expecting from an ebook reader at the end of 2010?Well, let’s see:
- Color display capable of displaying moving images. This is by far the biggest problem for e-ink based readers: they can only display black and white content, and because of their low refresh-time, movies or clips are just a no-no yet. But things are about to change, companies are working on solutions to integrate the advantages of LCDs and e-ink displays in only one screen, while keeping it reliable and affordable. So it should not take long before we’ll see digital readers with new color-display that won’t strain the eye when used for a longer time, like nowadays LCDs do.
- Touch interfaces. If you had the chance to play with any of the Kindles or Sony Readers, you might have noticed how annoying is the lack of a tactile interface. It’s not because the buttons are not placed correctly, they are pretty ergonomic, it’s just that a touch-display would be a lot more comfortable and intuitive to use. Companies are expected to start offering touch e-ink screens in the next months. There are already several prototypes announced with this technology, but none ready for a real-life test yet.
Touch interfaces expected for ebook readers
- Flexibility, while keeping displays reliable. Big ebook readers like the Kindle DX are uncomfortable to use for a longer time; because of their weight, you can’t hold them in one hand like you would do with a regular book, and this is annoying. But this is schedules to change, as the next generation e-ink displays are expected to be flexible, thus requiring less glass for their layers and making them lighter. Combine this with the advance in technology and you’ll end with lighter devices all-around, thus solving the existing problem mentioned above.
- Better software. Most ebook readers have none-intuitive and limited software attached to them. There are so many things that could be added in order to make the reading experience easier and more useful. This could happen by allowing third parties to create software for these readers. of course, the touch-displays claimed above will also help a lot.
And there are some other interesting points that could change for digital readers in 2010, but i doubt they will:
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More contrast is definitelly needed for ereaders
more contrast for the screens. Actual e-ink displays offer 8 to 16 shades of gray, but overall contrast is still poor when compared to that of a regular paper book. So a lot can be improved in here.
- no DRM for content. Most content these days comes with DRM rights. Also, each producer tries to impose its proprietary file format. And that’s very annoying when migrating from a device to another and finding out that none of the content you previously bought on the old machine can be used on the new one. But although critical, i doubt this concern might change, not in the next couple of years at least.
- lower prices. With digital readers ranging from $350 to $500 (or more), they are pretty expensive. Not to mention that each new book will cost around 5 to 10 bucks. And you don’t end with any hard-copy to place in the bookshelf afterward. Not you can resell or borrow the content to others. Thus, price is a huge impediment for digital readers right now, and I’m pretty sure more will be drawn by these devices if producers would somehow manage to squeeze down prices.
- keep battery life high. Current digital readers benefit of very nice stand-by times, mostly because energy is only used when you turn pages. But if all the other changes above are to be applied to ebook readers, this might change, loosing them one of their strongest advantage over regular touch tablets.
And i’m pretty sure there still are other nice features we would love to have in our ebook readers by the end of this year. Or maybe next year? If you have any suggestions or ideas, don’t hesitate to leave a comment.