2010 is supposed to be the year of many things. i’ve heard it called the 12 months of android and extra currently, the yr of the e-book reader.
i used to study plenty when i was a kid at the behest of my mother and father. my mother always attempted to put into effect a stability between video video games and books. that lamentably stopped as anandtech took off. maximum of my recreational reading turned into seeking to recognize datasheets or reading other reviews, the relaxation of the time changed into spent writing.
my first and simplest ebook reader was amazon’s kindle 2, and at the same time as it didn’t reinvigorate my ardour for reading, it did plenty better than anticipated.
amazon truely got the shape thing down best for the kindle 2. for a rigid tool, i don’t trust there’s a better formfactor than what amazon controlled with this aspect. it feels cozy in my palms and it’s skinny and mild sufficient that i don’t mind carrying it round. supply it a high res multitouch screen and i suppose this could be the correct form aspect for an apple pill.
the kindle 2 solves my hassle of being caught waiting someplace with nothing to do. a pair years lower back i purchased some books that i desired to begin sporting with me so i had some thing to do if i was looking ahead to a meeting, appointment, ferry, whatever. a good idea, but in exercise i almost in no way had the books with me.
the kindle 2 lets you deliver an unreasonable range of books of path, in order that solves the carrying trouble. you furthermore may get free wireless get right of entry to, wherever you get a cellular phone sign, to amazon’s kindle shop. the books download in a matter of seconds and the manner is quite simple. you could also have books wirelessly delivered (for no additional price) in your kindle if you buy them on a pc.
the biggest drawback about the complete ebook sporting/obtaining thing is amazon’s kindle save is rarely complete. even as the majority of books i’ve wanted to examine on the kindle were in the shop, there had been a few great exceptions. unfortunately there’s very little recourse. you may ship a be aware to the publisher on amazon’s book save indicating your interest in a kindle version, however you’re in any other case out of success.
usually the caveat about shows could come subsequent. approximately how it’s less difficult to observe and sense pages of a e-book than read some thing on an underpowered laptop. even as the kindle 2 and other e-book readers lack the ability of paperback, they use electrophoretic presentations (epds) which can be far easier on the eyes than an lcd.
unlike lcds, epds are static till the display contents trade - there’s no clean. that’s extraordinary for energy intake, however no longer so super for shifting images, in different words - best for a book.
epds additionally don't have any backlight, they paintings through reflecting/soaking up mild - just like a bit of paper. alas this means that analyzing a kindle in mattress at night calls for a analyzing lamp, yep the ones still exist.
the quit end result is a very e-book-like display, ideal for reading textual content although no longer fantastic for high resolution photos. there’s simply one last trouble: most socs don’t have incorporated epd controllers, they may be used to displaying on lcds.
the kindle 2 makes use of a separate epd controller made through epson. the external (to the gadget’s soc) controller requires its very own dram and nand flash. the dram is used to save what’s presently on the epd and what’s going to appear next, the distinction of the two is needed to calculate how to fee the epd to change the show. the nand flash is used to store statistics about the precise show used within the tool. there’s reputedly a whole lot of display-particular tuning that the controller desires to be privy to, something which can very from one display to the following in production or even due to environmental situations. the epd controller shops data about the show it’s paired with in local nand flash.
the hassle with this technique is that it unnecessarily duplicates hardware. the kindle 2 (and all different e-book readers) already use an application processor soc which has its own flash and dram. but maximum socs function an included display controller for traditional video outputs, now not an epd controller. you could possibly guess in which i’m heading with this.
marvell’s armada 166e: with integrated epd controller
more than one weeks in the past marvell introduced its armada line of arm-based totally socs, among them changed into the armada 166e. based totally on marvell’s pj1 arm cpu middle, the 166e is designed for programs with low performance necessities like virtual image frames and e-book readers. the 166e is also the sector’s first application processor with an included epd controller. not best does the integrated epd controller reduce board size (you integrate one extra controller), but it also reduces fee: you don’t need another package deal with an incorporated nand flash and also you don’t want any other dram.
marvell is also going to be imparting a entire platform around the 166e. platform, inside the e-book reader experience way the 166e in addition to bluetooth, wifi and cell network support.
today marvell is pronouncing that it has some of customers presently growing ebook readers based at the 166e, with the first examples due out in 2010. as organizations like marvell make placing collectively an ebook reader easier, you could assume hardware providers to jump into the reader commercial enterprise. we’ve already heard rumors of asus constructing an e-book reader as part of its eee lineup.
i’m not positive how massive the market gets, or even if ultimately there’s room for a standalone ebook reader as a primary device; if it weren’t for the reliance on an epd, i’d say that ultimately the capability would simply get included into a pill. there’s constantly the kindle app for the iphone.
