Wow, now it opens and closes, just like a
real book!
At the risk of sounding like a lousy contrarian... I guess I've always found it a just little bit ludicrous how the makers of e-book readers keep trying to make their devices mimic as much as possible an actual book . . . forgetting that the point of an e-book reader is to allow you to do all the things that you can't do with real, physical books -- such as doing quick-searches. It seems to me they're trying to mimic books because they seem to feel that people would still rather read a book than a computer device . . . which makes me wonder why you don't just stick with the damn book.
Of course, e-books and e-book readers have their uses, and they should be respected for that, and on that note I think instead of trying to mimic books: the makers of e-book readers should go back to the drawing-board, make a list of all the things that e-books and reader devices can do that books cannot, and then try to devise the best and most comfortable sort of tool that accomplishes that. ...Instead of trying to make a gadget that will somehow 'replace books'.
E-books, after all, will never take the place of books, and any manufacturers of e-book readers who harbor such dreams should get rid of them as soon as possible, I think.
(Rant concluded.)
So . . .
now is when I go ahead and actually look at the product I just trashed.
For all I know, apart from the opposing pages (redundant, since you can just do a two-page view by turning the device sideways, to landscape orientation) they might be on the right path, regarding much of what I've said above. I'll see... .
(And, admittedly I do have a personal, sort of romantic prejudice, here. While I recognize the advantages of e-books and embrace those elements: I also feel offended by anybody who suggests that e-books could -- or, especially,
should -- replace books.)
It's not just the feel of a book, the smell of a book, the mannerisms/behaviors of a book, the way you can 'snuggle up' with a book, the fact that books can be collected and sit on shelves and be physically handed to your friends for them to read . . . there's also the matter of
book art, which, sadly, even these days have still not been adequately explored, much less taken seriously as a capitalistically viable art form -- blame Society (with a capital S) for that if you want -- that cannot be reproduced in e-book format, it can only exist in the form of a book, since
book art is about the book itself, the book form and the ink on the pages.