If you've ever wanted a truly digital notebook without much of the excess baggage of full blown tablets, then you better start crossing your fingers that Netronix makes its latest wonder device a commercial reality. Its unnamed 6.8-inch slab boasts of an e-ink screen that you can read on as well as a pressure sensitive Wacom stylus to write with.
Netronix is most likely an unfamiliar name to even those who closely follow the mobile device world. That's probably because the Taiwanese company mostly designs or produces devices that other companies would then buy from them to customize and rebrand. One of its more popular designs, however, is probably more known to the world as the Kobo eReader.
The combination of eink and wacom digitizer is a rather unusual mix, but this Netronix device is pretty much unconventional all over. Inside, it runs on a Freescale i.MX6SL (Solo Lite), a single core Cortex-A9 processor capable of running up to 1 GHz only. The 6.8-inch display size is rather odd too, but perhaps not so much for an ereader. The resolution is also a strange and almost square 1440x1080, that's Full HD that won't be of much use for videos but should afford crisp text and images. It is said to be running Android 4.1, definitely an old version but that shouldn't be much of an issue considering what the device is designed for.
And that purpose is to really give a unique ebook reading experience, especially for obsessive note-takers. Use cases include not just jotting down notes in margins or highlighting important lines but also scribbling down comments or making illustrations for, say, a business meeting. Right now, however, the functionality isn't all there yet, as the demo ebook reader doesn't allow for annotations yet. But since it is running Android, that shouldn't also be a problem in the long run. The screen is also supposedly touch-enabled but has been disabled for that demo device. This is definitely an interesting device for e-ink lovers to root and wait for, and hopefully Netronix finds a willing customer to put this on the production line.
VIA: Liliputing