Que (PlasticLogic): $649 / $799 to read. | Hacker News Reader

Que (PlasticLogic): $649 / $799 to read.

buyque.barnesandnoble.com

26 pointsboredguy828 comments

Just for clarification, the Que is not Barnes and Noble's ebook reader. It will, however, be sold in their store next to the nook.

http://gizmodo.com/5390858/plastic-logic-que-is-going-to-nuz...

Huh! I wonder why they just don't call the Que something like "Nook XL". Seriously, why the two brands?

It's the same as Amazon selling both the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Digital-Reader-Touch-PRS600BC/dp/...

Different products, different makers, different brands. One brand is owned by the retailer, the other by a third party that sells through multiple channels.

Why is this question being voted down? I think it's interesting, from a marketing perspective.

I think its interesting to see the features they are pushing here:

  *Work with the documents you use every day at work

  *Put you in control of your documents

  *Let you quickly transfer files from your computer or BlackBerry® smartphone

  *Connect via WiFi and Bluetooth®

  *Access the QUE store. Complete with the best business section around

  *Feature the largest touchscreen in the industry

The iTouch/iSlate is going to kill this thing on all these features. It seems like a device that is confused about whether its a book reader or a tablet PC and instead of being good at one, it fails at both.

> The iTouch/iSlate is going to kill this thing on all these features.

Ok fine, not even Apple, any generic tablet device wins here.

I'd like to see a demo video at least. This would give more information about responsiveness of screen, speed of eink and relative size to human hands.

EDIT: Some video is available on the site but I can't find any "hands on" video. I do love the schedule at a glance feature. It's something I've been trying to get work between iCal and my KindleDX

Engadget has coverage: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/plastic-logic-que-proread...

The screen response is around 1 second.

The screen response is around 1 second.

Fail!

If a selling point is to be able to display the "documents you use at work" then you need to be able to interact with them. THis means searching, zooming, and scrolling at a minimum. 1 second response time is way too slow to do that well.

this is the fundamental flaw in e-ink.

the que does allow you to search, zoom, scroll and manipulate. You can even type or draw annotations.

The size of its display is less impressive when you see how big the border is. That thing's got to be huge.

The external dimensions are 8.5" by 11" (same as US Letter paper) and 0.3" thick. According to the nice charts at the MobileRead wiki, this is larger than the Kindle DX but also slightly thinner and lighter (each is about 1 pound):

http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix

Hmm, I thought the screen was 8.5" x 11". Turns out the screen is 10.5" diagonal. The Kindle DX screen, OTOH, is 9.7". So the screen's a little bit less than an inch bigger, diagonally. Its width, however, is 1.3" bigger (8.5" vs 7.2") than the Kindle DX's, though.

They're both small by textbook standards, but the QUE might be pushing it when it comes to eBooks.

Edit: It has the biggest screen, and also the longest length and width, of the products in its category. It is lighter than others, though. Its form factor will appeal to some potential buyers, I think.

The Skiff is even larger, with an 11.5" screen. http://www.skiff.com/skiff-reader_tech-specs.html

Hmm...that one's not mentioned in the mobileread wiki. Thanks for mentioning it. If I had the time and inclination, I'd add it.

The site being designed in black and white just because the Que display is B/W seems strange. Are they trying to indelibly impress the fact that this thing is B/W?

I'm not sure the website is that well made in the first place. The results of Ctrl+A amused me.

An interesting way to deal with cross-browser compatibility issues.

Weird. Barnes and Noble announces another reader before the Nook has even had a chance to ship? Seems like they could have timed this a little better and maybe announced them under the same brand.

They're targeted towards two different markets (personal e-book readers vs. business), made by two companies utilizing two different display technologies. (I think the Que has something designed specifically by PlasticLogic, not the usual eInk displays the readers get)

Not quite. The Que is printed on plastic (or polymer transistors, i guess. I'm no chemist), as opposed to traditional silicon. It uses the same e-ink display as every other reader, the Que also has no glass. There is a certain amount of disparity in response times due to how good the firmware is on the respective e-reader.

Plastic is cheaper, more rugged and easier to produce than silicon.

Am I mis-informed?

I understand that lots of nooks have shipped. If you order one today, you won't get it for about a month when I write this (accd to http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nook/index.asp?cds2Pid=32280), but nooks are shipping now if you ordered one previously.

Just me, or does it monkey with the "back" button?

Is the display E-Ink?

Yes and no, it uses an E-Ink front pannel on Plastic Logics own plastic back pannel. E-Ink make theirs on a glass pannel which is why people keep breaking their Kindles. Plastic Logic have spent something like $300 million developing their plastic back pannel.

Yep

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