I don’t know where I’ve been, but I see from this xconomy.com article that the E Ink display driver in the Kindle 2 actually supports pen and touch. I don’t know how well these two features work, but it definitely suggests that given more interactive content we’re on the verge of some very interesting “reading” devices down the road.
Here’s what the article says:
One of the big advances for this generation is that we’ve developed a new method for driving the electronics—essentially, a new graphics card, the Broadsheet. The Sony PRS-700 and the Kindle 2 are the only two products that have it. It gives you the ability to do stuff like scrolling around more smoothly, and writing with a pen, and typing up to 200 words a minute, and showing enhanced grayscale images.
I’ve read that the Sony device now supports touch although supposedly with a sacrifice in contrast.
The pen, I presume, is coming down the road.
Imagine. Pen input. Touch navigation and onscreen keyboard. Now we’re talking. A device like this could shake up the MID/UMPC market. It would seem to be ideal for filling out forms and the like, although maybe not rugged enough. And don’t you think it might change the whole discussion about what “computers” would be most appropriate in K-12 schools?
The article says you can buy an E Ink development unit now for $3000, which is outside of my budget, but that would be interesting. From other projects that are being built around it, it appears you can drive the dev unit via USB.
This would be fascinating to drive a unit like this via my Windows machine to give it a try with handwriting recognition. Hmmm. Earlier I was blogging about the challenges that Windows 7 might face with changes in hardware down the road–this very well may be one such case. A 1 pound $359 Kindle-like device that can double as a form reader/input device with great handwriting recognition and sports a more generic processor, could be quite compelling. I see the return of the slates.