linux-friendly ebook with decent support in Israel?

[geoffrey mendelson]

On 1/11/2014 8:43 AM, Ori Idan wrote:
>
> Not true at all. e-Ink continues to be developed and now is much 
> quicker then it used to be. Many vendors are developing new e-ink 
> platforms.
> I can reveal that I am working with one company on a better version of 
> their system that will be sold in Israel when it is done. It is based 
> on Android, will be able to read mostly EPUB but also PDF.

That, IMHO is going to be a tough sell. If you search for Android on 
Zap, reduce the list to tablets and then under 1000 NIS, you get 135 
different ones for sale, several under 300 NIS. Not surprising, the 
under 300 NIS tablets were sold under another name by Wal-Mart in the US 
last fall on the run up to Christmas for $59.

Since a generic Android tablet can read many formats of eBooks, 
including ones with DRM, just an ePub reader is again, IMHO a hard sell. 
BTW, when I wrote about PDF files, I was writing about SCANNED images 
encapsulated in a PDF file. In order to read them, you need a wide range 
of grey scale or color, and the ability to slide sideways, up or down, 
and zoom. I was not writing about text files.

I don't know what happened to the eVrit, an Israeli version of a Chinese 
ebook reader that had its own customized software which included Hebrew 
fonts and DRM from NDS for Steimatzky. Last I looked, it had morphed 
into  an iOS App, I don't know if it made it to Android, and if books 
are still sold for it.

It will be interesting to me to see how much it does sell for and what 
realistic battery life is.




> The same company is also developing a cellular phone with eInk touch 
> display.
>
Interesting, Nokia's "dumb phone" with an eInk display bombed in India, 
which may have been the only place they sold it.  Again, price and 
battery life will mater. Though an interesting niche would be a cheap 
cellphone with a 7 inch display and full Android, or as they are called 
a phablet.

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson 4X1GM/N3OWJ
Jerusalem Israel.