Yeah, the so called "e-paper" displays are low power LCDs. Still nowhere near the power draw of the e-ink displays.

Sorry, wasn't all that clear. I didn't mean it in relation to a Kickstarter or anything like that. As you correctly started, I don't think there is one. I meant more along the lines of committing myself to get one. At the moment, due to the issues experienced by other projects, such as by Chen with the tablet/keyboard, the GTA04 based N900 and the number other promising campaigns that have hit snags, I need more reassurance. I expect many others to be in the same boat. Dave999, may order one regardless if his tablet money is fully refunded so if it goes belly up he has something to still moan about

PlayStation 5, I'll be pre-ordering straight away. It's Sony. They've made 4 others that were successful. Generally speaking I have no problems with their hardware. They sold millions. I'm comfortable backing them.

Nintendo are an example of something else I mentioned about having reserves to experiment. Wii onwards have enabled alternative methods of control but all have also supported gamepads so as not to alienate previous buyers. The WiiU also experimented with form factor and flopped. The Switch is a bit like an evolution of the WiiU and is now a huge success. With the success of previous efforts, the WiiU's failure, although a loss in terms of profit (not sure about R&D and other expenses for a net figure) was coped with.

Chen's project is still getting off the ground. There's no dedicated fanbase to the brand pestering stores to preorder (if they could). There's no millions of previous sales. The lure is the keyboard, a useful addition as opposed to Blackphone's security or Turing's fancy metal. Paranoid security is good but it doesn't have a "watch this mate" to the average person down the pub. The keyboard is user promotable to general public. How does it work? Slide and type. If they don't get that, they have a problem. Try explaining network security, mitigation, best practices etc to a technophobe.

A useful, user promotable feature, mainstream screen etc. makes me think this could be a success. Until I see some reviews and devices delivered I'll have to hold out.

Interesting. So you can market anything as anything.

My digital watch from the 1970s had an LCD and lasted well over two years on a small button cell battery. With a 40 years old technology. My first smartphone (running Palm OS) also had an LCD and lasted about 10 days on a single charge. Sometimes I feel like the technology "progress" goes backwards and we are just blndly accepting it.

Regarding speculations in this thread, of course they are not productive and I apologize for getting dragged in them too. On the other hand, absolutely nothing is certain abound this mythical device so speculations are very much in line with everything else.

The screens of current smartphones certainly draw more power than the display of a digital watch, but I believe their relative importance in the overall power use is far behind that of other components that also evolved since then. Current smartphones don't last more than 2 days even when the screen is off. A watch or even and old Palm OS smartphone can't really compare with nowadays devices in terms of performance. The current OSes, applications or network speeds wouldn't be possible with the older technologies, and it really does change the use cases.

This is the progress that "we accepted" (it's not like we really had a choice though, otherwise TMO users would still have recent HWKB phones), but it came with trade-offs on the power draw. Marketing surely facilitated the transition but I'm sure it would have gone in the same direction even without brands renewing their flagship every year.

It is my understanding that e-ink is a trademark of a specific company. "Epaper is the general name for a display technology that works by reflected light, and takes no (or very, very little) power for a static image."

Also in general, I happy that the thread came back to more rational discussions. I have no need to argue/debate about something that is not out yet and mostly out of our control ... .

I'm just happy to share my affinity towards obscure devices ... with even more obscure OS ... lol.

Looking forward to the next info drop from Chen.

x

Hep

Just what i'm doing now... Waiting My New Precious...

I have no problems putting my Moto Z Play 5.5 inch display in my shirt pocket. Which was a big jump in size from my N9, but I have grown used to the larger size of the Z Play and like it for the ease of reading.

"...ease of reading."

Yes, Please.

New newsletter is out, this time it's about the keyboard.

I told You before... It is coming... My New Precious... Great...