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Sony brings its e-ink tablet 'Digital Paper' to the U.S., for $1100

Last year, Sony released their Digital Paper e-reader/tablet in Japan to a niche audience. It will now try to reach that same niche audience in the U.S.

The device, which is part e-reader and part tablet, is aimed at legal professionals with extreme note taking needs.



Digital Paper devices have 13.3-inch flexible e-ink displays with 1600x1200 resolution, 3GB internal storage (with microSD slot for more), Wi-Fi support, a battery that lasts over three weeks on average and a design that is just 6.8mm thick and 0.79 pounds heavy.

The device also has optical and active digitizer touchscreens for both finger and stylus inputs. You can mark documents right on the screen, although the device shockingly only supports PDFs. Even with Wi-Fi ability, there is no way to add an email client or other apps.

Sony will sell the Digital Paper through document management company Worlddox for the hefty price tag of $1100, even more expensive than the highest capacity 4G-capable iPad Air.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 29 Mar 2014 17:11

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• 3 comments

• Bozobub

  I'd say this sad attempt is doomed to immediate failure.The ONLY thing this silly tablet has going for it is the e-ink display, and hence very good battery life and excellent readability. But good battery life won't hide the fact that you're paying roughly 50% more-twice as much as you would for an iPad, and up to 3 times as much for a similar Android tablet, for far less functionality. I mean, you can even run Office on an iPad now, FFS, and gain full access to a whole spectrum of document types, not just PDFs, as well as spreadsheets, project management, and so on. And that's just Office! And while not quite as good for pure text as an e-ink display, HD/"retina" displays are not exactly hard on the eyes.
  
  I'm reasonably sure that 10+ hours of constant internet and/or video use (and approaching 13-15 hours of lighter or more sporadic use) between charges is plenty for almost anyone, and you can easily carry a USB power pack if you need to extend that time.
  
  I'll actually be quite amazed if anyone here, much less the consumers this tablet is targeted at, disagrees with me in the slightest.
  
  Anyone owning one of these white elephants is going to be awfully jealous, when the exec sitting next to him in 1st-class fires up his iPad or high-end Android tablet and watches an HD movie, THEN goes on to take the exact same type of notes this Sony POS does, THEN opens up and edits a spreadsheet, THEN... Etc., etc., etc. ad absurdum. And it's damn well ONLY going to be execs buying this thing in the 1st place.

  29.3.2014 18:43 #1

• Ripper

  Hahaha, $1100. Don't be silly.
  

  
  

  29.3.2014 21:19 #2

• biglo30

  I guess they just want to throw away their money. Only read PDF.
  

  
  

  30.3.2014 09:10 #3