e-book Readers

I have been thinking for a while about e-book readers since the time that Kindle came out. The currently available models accomplish a lot, but even with the ones on the horizon, much still seems to be desired. Here's the best comparison of various models available right now (will keep changing over time of course).

So what features do I want in a future e-book reader? (more below the fold)

Basically a fantastic tablet:
1. The size should be very slightly bigger than a letter paper, probably half and inch thick, almost like a note-pad.
2. Should have wireless internet access, and an interface like the iphone, should be able to bring up something like one-note, a touch sensitive screen.
3. A full sized keyboard should fit nicely on a letter paper in the landscape mode, and the screen should be able to recognize double handed typing.
4. All with colored e-ink, and should be able to play video as well. The refresh rate will have to improve considerably for this to happen. The OLEDs can already do this, so e-ink should not be too far behind.
5. Of course, mp3 player, GPS etc are a given, but probably not too large a hard-drive (solid state).

So let's see how much of this is available in the existing models.

The Iliad I-Rex comes close, as you can see in the following video. Dimensions are slightly smaller, but will do. Refresh rate is a real problem, and the internet browsing needs a clunky hack.


Jinke, the Chinese company making the less flashy Hanlin e-book reader had announced the V9 which would be the perfect size, but since then they have withdrawn it from the website, so probably not happening. I might have read somewhere that the company which makes the e-ink screens canceled, couldn't keep up with the order flow.