Dedicated E-Reading Devices: the State of the Art and the Challenges Yu Li, FIS2309, Design of Electronic Text
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Dedicated E-reading Devices: the State of the Art and the Challenges Yu Li, FIS2309, Design of Electronic Text Abstract Dedicated electronic text reading (e-reading) devices hold the potential to drastically improve e-reading experiences. Nevertheless, up to now they remain in a niche market. This paper surveys existing dedicated e-reading devices and related research to examine the state of the art and the challenges. Firstly, it briefly recounts the evolution of e-reading devices; secondly, it examines the development and issues regarding several critical aspects of this type of device, including form factor, display, interaction methods, connectivity, and e-text distribution methods; finally, it analyzes the reasons why these devices have not become mainstream, and speculates on their future. Keywords: electronic text, reading, human factors, e-paper Introduction Nevertheless it involves the extra step of printing ith the explosive growth of textual out the documents, which is inconvenient and information in electronic form, finding sometimes impossible for travelling readers. Wthe right tool for reading electronic text Moreover, once printed, the paper version (e-text) is becoming increasingly important. There becomes static and disconnected from the are many ways to read e-text. People can read e- electronic version, and cannot reflect changes text on the screen of their desktop computer, but in made to the electronic original; vice versa, doing so become restricted in front of their annotations made on paper are not reflected on the workstation; laptop computers free people from electronic original and become difficult to the location restriction, but the customary manage. landscape screen layout and the mouse-keyboard interaction paradigm make it sub-optimal for Dedicated e-reading devices have been reading and interacting with e-text; tablet considered the right tool for e-text reading. computers improve the form factor of reading Lemken (1999) defines e-book readers as “mobile, devices, and support pen-based interactions, but physical devices to display electronic (i.e. Digital) still suffer from issues such as heaviness, short documents” (p1). Schilit et al. (1999) call for battery life, and eyestrain associated with electronic reading appliances that not only imitate computer screens; highly portable devices such as the best quality of paper, but also allow people to PDAs and smart phones are prized for their exploit extra capabilities, such as distributing and compactness and light weight, but their small receiving documents on the road, organizing, screens make them unsuited for reading lengthy searching and filtering documents, and providing text. Ironically, while the primary source of many support for different modes of reading. Marshall of today's work-related documents is e-text, a lot and Bly (2005) envision devices that “let readers of people still prefer to print out these documents annotate, clip, search, gather and interact fluidly in for reading, rather than reading them on screen. ways that not only captured the affordances of This practice does give users some of the benefits paper, but also transcended paper's limitations” of both the paper and electronic media. (p225). These comments illustrate the high hopes FIS2309: Design of Electronic Text, Vol 1(1), 2008. 1 attached to dedicated e-reading devices. However, 2006. Some notable examples are the Sony dedicated e-reading devices currently occupy only eReader, Amazon’s Kindle, the iRex iLiad, and the a niche market. This paper surveys existing Hanlin eReader made by the Chinese company devices and research in the field, examining the Jinke, all of them using the display produced by E- state of the art, the direction of development, and Ink Corporation, one of the most successful the challenges that researchers in the field are vendors of e-paper technology. These devices are facing. Section 2 recounts the evolution of e- easier to read, especially in direct sunlight. They reading devices; section 3 examines critical have much longer battery life, usually enough to aspects of these devices, including form factor, display 5,000 to 10,000 pages, which translates display, interaction methods, connectivity, and e- into many days of reading for typical readers. text distribution methods; finally speculations on They are also much lighter, making them more the future of e-reading devices are presented. comfortable to hold for long-time reading. They all come with hundreds of megabytes of flash Brief history of dedicated e-reading devices memory, enough to hold several hundred books. The vision of electronic reading devices has a long While there is no lack of enthusiastic followers of history. Alan Kay and others at Xerox PARC these devices, it still remains unclear if they can envisioned an interactive electronic book in the break into the mainstream. 1970’s (Schilit et al. 1999). However, early attempts to turn the vision into products mostly Critical aspects of e-reading devices failed. The first e-book reader, the Sony Bookman, Form factor was released in 1992. It was CDROM based, One of the most important advantages of books as heavy, hard to read, expensive, and it proved to be reading devices is the form factor. Their page sizes a spectacular failure in the market (Coburn et al., are large enough to support sequential reading, 2001). Towards the end of the 1990’s, interest in e- skimming, annotation, and many other reading reading devices reached new heights. SoftBook activities. Yet they are generally light, small, and Press’s SoftBook and Nuvomedia’s Rocket e-book highly portable. They can be carried anywhere, were released in 1998. In 2000, Gemstar bought and read in any position that the reader is both Nuvomedia and Softbook Press, and comfortable with. Successful e-reading devices cooperated with Thomson Multimedia’s RCA need to fulfill the same form factor requirements. division to produce REB-1100 (the successor of While the earlier generation of e-reading devices Rocket e-book) and REB-1200 (the successor of were usually normal book sized, they tended to be Softbook). These devices can hold dozens of heavier than most books. In Wilson and Landoni’s books in their memory, with a battery life ranging studies (2003), both the SoftBook (over 3lb.) and from several hours to 20 hours. They tended to be the Rocket eReader (22 oz.) were found heavy and bulky and heavy (more than 1 lb; the SoftBook cumbersome. E-paper technology allows the weighed as much as 3 lbs). These “second newer generation of devices to be much lighter, generation” e-reading devices also failed to usually well below 1 lb. achieve market success. With the crash of technological sector in 2000, enthusiasm for e- However, while the e-reading devices are reading devices subsided, and some devices in close to books in terms of size and weight, they development, such as EveryBook reader and typically offer a display size considerably smaller Librius Millenium, were cancelled (Coburn et al., than a book’s page size, not to mention that an 2001). opened book allows readers to see two pages at one time. Having two display surfaces at the same The development of e-paper technology time is more than just a matter of screen real spurred another generation of e-reading devices. estate. Alder et al. (1999) found that more than Many new devices have been launched since half of the tasks that people perform during work- FIS2309: Design of Electronic Text, Vol 1(1), 2008. 2 related reading require two or more separate stays at the surface even after the charge is display surfaces. Card et al. (2004, cited by Chen removed; thus no power is required to maintain et al., 2008) argue that viewing two pages side-by- the image. ChLCD technology (a.k.a. BiNem) side helps comparisons and sense making. There uses a special spiral arrangement of LCD to has been much research and commercial interest in achieve bi-stable effect, which allows the LCD to dual-display e-reading devices. In 1998 remain black or white even when no power is Everybook Inc.’s prototype dual-LCD device applied. raised significant media attention (Martin, 1998). In 2007, iRiver also demonstrated a prototype E-paper displays have significant device with 2 touch-sensitive e-ink displays advantages over the LCD displays used by (Block, 2007). However, neither of these devices previous generation of e-reading devices. The reached the market. In May 2008, One Laptop Per reflective nature of e-paper technology makes Child (OLPC) announced that the next generation these displays easier to read, especially in bright of OLPC laptop would have two touch sensitive sunlight. They reduce eyestrain, as they do not screens in the form of a foldable e-book require periodic refreshing. More importantly, e- (Greenberg, 2008). Chen et al. (2008) report a paper displays need neither backlight nor power to unique prototype dual-display e-book reader. The maintain image. As a result, they allow much two displays of their prototype can be detached to longer battery life, and help reduce the size and allow greater flexibility and to better support the weight of the devices because smaller batteries reading involving multiple documents. suffice. Flexible display technology goes further to While all current e-paper products on the provide both portability and adequate display size. market use only greyscale display, research into Traditional computer screens require rigid, usually colour e-paper is receiving a lot of attention. E-Ink glass backing. However, researchers are has developed a demonstration version of colour developing paper-like displays with a flexible electronic paper, and plans to have a colour substrate such as metal foil or plastic. Polymer product in 2010 (Paulson, 2008). Polymer Vision Vision is planning to release its Readius, a pocket- also announced a prototype rollable 65k colour sized e-reader, in 2008 (Eisenberg, 2008).