Re:How a $20 tablet from India could blindside PC makers, ed...
by GFischer on Monday November 12, 2012 @12:23PM
(#4773719)
I agree that the current Kindle is not the best format for college - I have one, and I'm doing a business degree (technology MBA).
In my experience, both paper and traditional tablets (such as the iPad) are much better suited for case studies and reference material - the refresh rate and lack of touchscreen of the older Kindles are both dealbreakers, and it would need a tablet-like UX to be more usable.
I actually use my Android cell phone for classes, download the PDFs of the case studies and all that. I still prefer paper (I'm used to spreading multiple pages around, something you can't do with a tablet. Maybe with a Microsoft "Surface".. err Microsoft PixelSense).
And they've tried using the big Kindle DX in US colleges, but that was also not a great success.
It's a shame, because it is exciting tech.
US Colleges - (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/e185bce2-b76a-11df-839a-00144feabd...)
WSJ calls Kindles "rugged" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230376810457746...)
Gigohm says nearly half the Kindles sent to Ghana broke (http://gigaom.com/2012/04/27/worldreader-kids-e-readers-kind...)
But Worldreader have turned this into an opportunity, by launching an independent repair centre (http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/06/13/worldreader-lau...)
Recycling electronics could be valuable for developing nations. It's such a shame that unscrupulous people ignored any semblance of safe and ethical working conditions, and now it's not legal to send electronics from the UK to developing nations to get recycled.