Plastic Logic's e-reader vs Amazon Kindle... fight! (updated with video)
By Thomas Ricker 
posted September 11th 2008 9:38AM
posted September 11th 2008 9:38AM
The kids at tgdaily have a hands-on video of Plastic Logic's biggie e-reader unveiled at DEMO earlier this week. With it, they've also nabbed a bit more information on this potential subscription-based, Kindle killer. The 7-mm thin reader connects via micro-USB to a PC to charge the unit or transfer documents. Documents can also be transferred over WiFi or Bluetooth (no cellular radio?) -- the reader can even communicate wirelessly with other readers to transfer documents. The 8.5- x 11-inch touchscreen allows for gesture control, as we heard, with the added bonus of quick and easy on-screen annotation of any supported media type such as Word docs, PowerPoint slides, or PDFs. Plastic Logic says they don't plan to compete with Kindle directly, instead, it's targeting business mobile professionals with "a lot of documents already," not those who will get all their content from the Amazon store.
Of course, a variety of leaks have already made it clear that Amazon's not exactly standing still with its Kindle reader with larger and more, eh hem, attractive models in the works. Sony, too, is planning a special Reader-based event next month. So... is 2009 shaping up to be the death of print? Oh hells no -- but it's certainly getting a lot more interesting.
Update: DEMO launch video showing a complete walkthough of a prototype device now posted after the break.
Of course, a variety of leaks have already made it clear that Amazon's not exactly standing still with its Kindle reader with larger and more, eh hem, attractive models in the works. Sony, too, is planning a special Reader-based event next month. So... is 2009 shaping up to be the death of print? Oh hells no -- but it's certainly getting a lot more interesting.
Update: DEMO launch video showing a complete walkthough of a prototype device now posted after the break.
That thing is cool... and much nicer than Amazon's Kindle...
Plastic Logic's biggie e-reader. I need this right now! Transferring documents via my cell phone. The world would be at my door. Where can I get one?
Any ebook reader needs to have some type of way to write in the margin or right on the page. Books and Newspapers let you do this and are still cheaper.
I just hope that this accelerates the obsolescence of news print.......in 2008 it is so wasteful. The idea that a one-time usage would eat up so much in the way of resources, it's unacceptable and antiquated now.
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This presenter reminded me why Apple is so successful these days. Although this seems to be a great product, the presenter doesn't seem very enthusiastic about it. And he tried to hide that little mishap when the item didn't respond to his touch. He said something like "touch it the right way." Guess what, I didn't see any buttons at all. Did he said anything about that? No. Why not? That's a great selling point for a lot of people. And, when he concludes, he says "well that's it." You never want to say that whenever you're trying to sell a product.
Why did I compare this presenter to Steve Jobs? Because love him or hate him, Jobs could sell you a cardboard box and you'd feel special about it. I'm not saying anything about Apple products. But, Jobs' selling skills are what has brought Apple from its stale deathbed it was lying in to very successful company. Suddenly the MP3 markets woke up, and so did the cellphone services. Again, you can love or hate Apple all you want, but you can't deny Jobs' ability and talent to sell you anything.
What will all the college bookstores do when students can download their textbooks? Those poor people at the book return, waiting to give you that $10 voucher for the $500 worth of books that you bought 4 months earlier.
How embarrassing that the one they show in the demo video has a series of blown-out scanlines...
It's a prototype - little glitches are more easily overlooked at this phase.
D.
We need a price for this!
It wold be fantastic if they added a Wacom digitizer to it, so we could draw on that thing. I love my tablet PC, but it has too much glare, is a bit heavy, and runs too warm. I've been dreaming of e-paper for 20 years now, I'm glad to see it coming true gradually. Just finish it by adding a pen to it already!
The iRex Iliad (http://www.irextechnologies.com/products) has a digitizer built-in. Smaller (A5 size), but this may be an advantage for some.
The problem with this thing is that there won't be content for it, it will be primarily aimed for corporate and educational use with materials generated for it along with the reading of .pdf and .word files.
As the HD format wars proved, content trumps quality. People want the ability to buy a cheap download book quickly and have it on the device ready to read in a matter of minutes.
Hopefully though Amazon will take the hint and come out with a Kindle (and soon) that doesn't look like a Coleco football game from the 1980's.
Remember to rumors of a new Kindle this fall, that Amazon squashed? Maybe, just maybe, Kindle 2 will be this! Plastic Logic may be focusing on the business world because they have a 1000 lb gorilla (Amazon) as a partner that will be targeting the retail world. PL stated that the product will be formally announced at the start of next year, which might be a good timeline match to Amazon's "no new Kindle this fall" comments.
D.
This is way too big to be a Kindle 2. As I mentioned in a reply to another post, the Kindle's size makes it more convenient to carry around. You can even stow it in a purse, glove box, etc.
welcome to the social
If these guys make a smaller version as well (which should be fairly easy) then lets say good bye to kindle
Since the demo only talks about business use, and Plastic logic doesn't talk about competing directly with the Kindle maybe this ereader will be priced really high.
LOL. The definition of "irony" at 1:35. Good one guy.
I quite liked 4:25 :)
The simple idea to read in a Slime Plastic Awesome Microdevice without Spam it's so cool...wait
price? dont care, sign me up for one. clean curves, thin, large screen, PDF support, I sooo want one.
I love it how he expects his device to be praised as if it was an ipod.
"Isn't this cool?........... (chuckle)"
lol!!
Hey Plastic Logic, throw in a stylus so I can scribble over stuff, along with a really good note taking app, and you won't be able to stop me from buying this.
Agreed... if it was reasonably priced and comes with some sort of "notebook" app (onenote-like app comes to mind) it would be neat. I also hope that we can write more neatly (with a stylus) that those broad strokes shown.
Amazon can simply buy this firm.
NICE!!! That was a really cool product!
Jason, HD wars? what are you talking about? Blueray came out the winner. Look at all the polls people wanted blueray and, by most, its considered a better product. Oh right and Microsoft is a big company too, and vista crashed on the first public showing.
At 5:55 he says "since we have a full touch screen I can just touch the display and markup." By the way did anyone notice the key word here ....open format, i cant wait to hack this thing, ill make my own keyboard if necessary, but i really think it already implemented by the time of release.
Thanks ahdok, that's a great video. I love the shoe-smashing comparison. It's reassuring to know that, if necessary, I can perform tribal rain-dances on top of my e-reader. It's something that's always irked me about laptops.http://www.discountgolfclubsnow.com,http://www.cheapshoesreview.com,http://www.worldhairproducts.com Reading an ebook on the PDA is a pain, and who the phuck wants to walk around with the amazon brick aka Kindle? this is the kind of technology that people understand right away. Put this thing at price point of under $199 and I will never buy another paper book again..except for porn..sometimes you need a tactile response ;)
Thanks ahdok, that's a great video. I love the shoe-smashing comparison. It's reassuring to know that, if necessary, I can perform tribal rain-dances on top of my e-reader. It's something that's always irked me about laptops.http://www.discountgolfclubsnow.com,http://www.cheapshoesreview.com,http://www.worldhairproducts.com Reading an ebook on the PDA is a pain, and who the phuck wants to walk around with the amazon brick aka Kindle? this is the kind of technology that people understand right away. Put this thing at price point of under $199 and I will never buy another paper book again..except for porn..sometimes you need a tactile response ;)