Monday, June 27, 2011

The seven-inch dilemma

I think Steve Jobs is right from his perspective: a 7-inch tablet does not make much sense. It's sat between two chairs.
That's as a tablet, though! As an e-reader, it would be perfect.
So I'm hoping that while Apple probably won't ever the "small" ereader market, somebody else will (Amazon) and make the perfect ereader. Small enough to put in a large pocket, 250+ pixels per inch, power and features to juggle all kinds of text easily, emails, web articles, etc. And of course color multi-touch screen.
The Nook Color is close, when it's hacked. But I'm still hoping for the high-rez screen, it makes a surprising difference. And I'm hoping lighter and thinner and great ergonomics (no pressing buttons by mistake all the time.)

1 comment:

Stephen A said...

Actually the new Nook Simple Touch Reader is the pocket reader you describe especially when rooted. It fits in a regular pants pocket, is spectacularly readable, and has an incredible battery life. Incredibly elegant and functional design for reading.

That said the 7" tablet with a 1024x600 screen rules for day to day living. It's perfect for reading, big enough for most manga and comics and flexible enough to do most tablet related work while being small enough to fit in a big pocket or manpurse.

On the other hand my 10" tablets rule for bed and travel, when sedentary the added bulk is compensated for by the added resolution.

Think about books, we have paperbacks, trade paperbacks, hardcovers and coffee table books. Each has a functional niche which is very useful.

On top of that the Archos 35 Home Connect has me drooling. A cheap little alarm clock running android completely blows the Chumby away, especially once I hack a universal remote onto it.

The proper answer is all tablet sizes are good. Forcing a single size and configuration down everyones throats is bad.