Friday, November 4, 2011

Digitimes says 8.9-inch tablet display may be next


DIGITIMES NOW PREDICTING 8.9 DISPLAY ON NEXT TABLET"

Digitimes' Yenting Chen and Steve Shen report that Amazon is "likely" to shift the display size of its next-generation Kindle Fire to 8.9-inch "instead of" the originally planned 10.1-inch one reported for awhile.

  They cite "sources in Amazon's supply chain."

' Amazon's current 7-inch panel suppliers Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) and LG Display (LGD) reportedly have begun to prepare production capacities for 8.9-inch displays, added the sources. '

They add though that Amazon "may" also release 9.7-to-10.1-inch models in 2012, according to their sources.

In other words, be prepared for anything.  Sources talk but nothing's done until it's done.


Earlier
A history of the stronger tablet and e-reader rumors


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8 comments:

  1. I would actually prefer an 8 or 9" tablet as long as it retains 1280x800 resolution or better. The whole argument that 'Steve Jobs says nobody wants anything smaller than 10"' is very weak. At the time he made the remark 10" was pretty much as small as you could make an affordable screen with even 1024x768 resolution (while squeezing in a 10 hour battery). But technology has moved on since then. Xoom 2 has 1280x800 in 8" screen, and I'm guessing the next iPad will have 1280x1024 in a similar form factor. A 10" device needs to be much lighter if one is to hold it comfortably for long periods of time, though is still desirable for some applications like art books, magazines and sheet music (I'm trying to come up with a good acronym here, ABMSM doesn't quite work ). But even 10" (or 1280x1024) is not really big enough for these.

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  2. All I know is that the 9.7" DXG is not big enough for PDFs nor for sheet music as you say, though much better than when they're on 6". I'm happy to choose between 7" and 10" if being lazy and not wanting to get my Netbook up, but, 8.9"...

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  3. I heard a couple of rumors prior to the release of the Fire that a better on was coming out soon. I like the idea of 8.9" much more than 7"...so I think I may wait it out. Besides, tablets are still evolving.

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  4. J.R., Yes, most have aid a 10" one is in the works for 2012 if people show much interest in the 7" and it seems they have.

    8.9 has been rumored also. Wise to wait for something that really interests you. On the other hand, Amazon does offer the 30-day full refund policy for Kindle line with no questions asked. If it doesn't please you, there's no reason to keep it. And they honor that.

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  5. I've been into Best Buy recently to play w the Galaxy Tabs 8.9 and 10.1. Specifically, I experimented with reading PDFs. For both the experience was surprisingly good, and better than my KDX.

    How can this be? Well, apparently pixels per inch also count towards readability. As Tom Semple above mentions: the same resolution on a smaller physical screen results in a higher ppi. This shouldn't be taken as applying continuously on ever smaller screens, but it can make PDFs readable on slightly smaller screens. Color also helps with readability in certain situations.

    We actually don't know what the resolution of a larger Amazon tablet might be. The iPad3 is rumored to have 2048x1536 (most likely) or 2560x1920 (less likely). The former works out to 264 ppi (compared to iPad2's 132).

    More than size, aspect ratio is important for me. Most Android tablets are using the HDTV 16:9 ratio. The iPad2 uses the 1.3:1 ratio of 8.5x11 paper which I find more pleasing.

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  6. Hi, Edward -
    The iPad 3 is now due "in the Fall" I read last night. There'll be an updated iPad 2 with slightly better resolution than the current 1024 x 768 at 132 ppi, which makes the NookColor easier on my eyes.

    Unfortunately, the NookColor doesn't do landscape for PDF (nor do the Kindle Touch's).

    With that higher resolution planned for the iPad 3, it'll be quite a bit more costly.

    I plan watch high-def documentaries or even regular movies on the Kindle Fire so I do prefer the idea of 16:9 so as not to have to settle for smaller video with black areas above and below. For books, they can just leave the top and bottom black.

    I do like the book size better when reading books, but I tend to use e-Ink for that by a wide margin. Now, I think you'd be doing work documents too, so I can see why you'd prefer the 1:3:1 ratio!

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  7. I hadn't heard that the iPad3 was pushed back -- I did hear that they are having great difficulty doing the 2560x1920 resolution at volume. It may be they have decided to wait for the better resolution which is a "true" retina display at 326 ppi, and at which point the human eye can't see individual pixels.

    This could be good for Amazon, if they bring something to market in 1Q2012 (of course they could decide to delay as well).

    The fly in the ointment will be the market response to the NC and NC2. The NC2 is rumored to be priced at $250 and the NC will remain for sale at the reduced price of $199. BN is going for increased resident memory and insertable memory cards versus Amazon levering AWS storage facilities. Silk performance is going to be incredibly crucial. If Silk has teething pains, Amazon could take a hit.

    On the content/channel side Amazon appears to be making all the right moves -- no one expects BN to be able to match them there.

    BTW I saw your Yosemite photo on G+ -- you'll be giving Ansel Adams a run for his money ere long ;-).

    ReplyDelete
  8. Edward,
    That iPad news was just the night before so it wasn't seen much. I should go find it so I can reference it though.

    I agree.
    The NC2 sounds good for people who feel they need to rely on local storage and waive the Amazon ecosystem benefits + cloud-speed features for $50 more. It's good for us that B&N give them good competition though.

    Re Mr. Adams LOL!

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