It looks like we are not quite on the same wavelength. I realize that the word "applications" may have an ambiguous meaning in this day and age of mobile computing. I am not referring to what is more commonly known as "apps". Rather, I mean the original meaning of the word "application", i.e. "use for a given purpose".

I do not know about you (or indeed about "most people"), but for me, the most common use cases for a mobile phone are, in the descending order of frequency:

• reading/writing emails
• reading/writing SMS
• navigation
• playing music (organized by a directory structure, not by tags)
• making/receiving phone calls
• web browsing
• using the clock and calendar
• taking (still) photos
• other, mostly niche uses like reading books and/or documents attached in emails, source code editing, using the terminal...

On my home and work PCs, the situation is not that much different:

• source code editing
• debugging
• web browsing
• reading/writing emails

In all of these applications (use cases), even a refresh rate of half a second is no big deal. True, Sailfish with its swipe interface may interfere with it slightly but not so much that one could not get used to it. I would happily trade that for a battery life measured in weeks rather than hours.

You may notice that watching or taking videos does not feature on my list. It would be because I use them very rarely. And I do not play games at all (not that there are any marvelous games for Maemo or Sailfish anyway).

Your mileage may vary, but please do not assume that everyone is like you. I did not, which is why I said (even tried to emphasize that, but perhaps I was too subtle) that I would pay extra for the option. That means, if there was a device X on the market in variants a, b, c and d and one of them had an e-ink screen, I would buy that one, even if it were the most expensive one. I did not call for e-ink as the default, let alone the only option.

I think we all should calm down a little bit. The whole discussion doesn't really make sense in the end. We are talking about a product which isn't available yet and where we just know few things about.

As long as I don't know what the over all dimensions of the device are, I don't decide, if I will buy or not. I think i can speak for most people when I say, a larger screen makes me happy, a larger device not. Unfortunately this doesn't fit together, so anybody has to decide, if the over all size is acceptable or not. And of course this doesn't just apply to the size of the readyfx but also to many other points.

So in the end I have to judge over the total package. There will be things which I like and others which I don't like. If it is all in all a device, where the positive things predominate I will buy, if not then not.

I can't expect, that chen is building me a personal dream device. And chen can't expect that I buy a device, which is to far away from my expectations.

So it probably makes sense to tell what you like and what not . But it absolutely doesn't make sense to argue about it.

Let me put it this way. Jolla 1 has a 4.5" screen and (by today's standards) large bezels. It is about 5.75" edge to edge and it is just about the top of what I would call "comfortably usable". Please note the word "comfortably". I know I could use a bigger one, maybe even fit it in a pocket. But it would not, by any stretch of imagination, be "comfortable".

Xperia X has a 5" screen but smaller bezels that Jolla 1, making the entire device "only" 6" edge to edge. And that is above the comfortable zone, which is why I do not use it, even though I have one and it is superior to Jolla 1 in every other aspect. The lack of comfortable use is the deciding factor.

http://youtu.be/OyjjYYpTK7Y

How to embed a YouTube video

Is the screen connected to the case yet?

OK so I will add my spoon to the soup to create the perfect blend... You know, the more cooks...

In my opinion the pocketability of a device is more dependent on the width of the device, not the length. (dimensions in portrait position, that is)

Jolla sbj1 is 131 by 68
XperiaX is 143 by 69
DeviceFx could be 137 by 69, assuming 1mm bezels around (could be more of course, especially lengthwise)

In my opinion all of those are pocketable.

Have you ever used a e-ink device? I ask, because it seems you have some misconceptions about the technical details of e-ink devices. All the points i cited in your list would be horrible experiences with an e-ink device.

I will try to explain why:
Navigation:
You want to have a display of your car, where it is in a map and which way to go. Otherwise you could just use printed instructions. Current e-ink displays flicker each time they are updated. Color has not yet made it into commercial e-ink devices. So you have a constantly flickering display, for which you have to create a custom navigation app which offers at least some contrast between the map and the car and finally you will use quite a lot of power. Why? e-ink consumes power when its updated. Constant updates and its not much better than any other modern display.

At night you would have to illuminate the device to see your navigation, or you make it thicker and add an illumination layer.

Web Browsing:
Smooth scrolling is widely expected, not possible with e-ink.
Colors are missing, you can install redlight or flux and set it to full dark, giving you a black/red image, even with grayscale (redscale).
Browse the web a bit. You will see, many things a re now very difficult to read because of missing contrast.
Examples: lights in "help us keep on the lights" top right of maemo talk has nearly the same color as the background. The youtube subscribe button is invisible, with just black and white it will be way worse.

Taking still photos:
Similar to web browsing you will not know:
Did the contrast wok out?
Have I over/underexposed something?
Did the white balance work?
And zooming would suffer from issues like in navigation.

Email, typing, sourcecode, terminal:
Constant flicker will make you crazy, type fast and you will see spelling errors half a sentence later. Fast scrolling terminal output? You will miss half of it due to the refresh rate.

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E-ink is great and has its uses for reading or standby screens,
but it cannot replace an LCD or OLED screen. Not even for your restricted set of usage.

As the technology is quite new (as a focus of industry) constant progress is made.
There are prototypes which are impressive: Color, no visible flickering and 33 frames per second.
They also have disadvantages: Colors seem washed out, its no longer bistable (requires the image to be refreshed from time to time)

So it seems an e-ink device which suits your needs is 5 years of research away and its 10 years before a commercial solution may appear.

Hum, I fear this whole flaming discussion started because of my reaction about the 6" screen. I'm sorry to have initiated this thing :c

About the screen size, I fully understand that smaller screen than 5" and modern is something almost impossible to find. But 5" and 5.5" are available. I also understand very well that this is a first step in order to get the most customers and I'll not complain about it ! But I thought a smaller device will attract more people. However, and I didn't know it before posting, the Gemini device is also 6" and had some success, so it looks it's fine for many people.

I thougth that my concerns about power consumption, carrying it in a pocket, using it with one hand, solidity and having a keyboard which is not to big and good to use were relevants and not questions from smartphone prehistory. Anyway, I think there are better way to talk about it than by flamming and offending people without any true argumentation, especially when some of us here are moderators.

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I saw a comment here about stylus. There isn't necessary need to have a resistive screen or a special stylus, Few year ago, some Lumia had capacitive screens which worked with standard gloves or other things.

I'm not sure, there is a color e-link screens on pebble smartwhatches. However, the colors aren't good. And in any case, the refresh rate is not enough for a smarpthone.

That was me. And I probably would even accept a 6.5" device if it comes with keyboard, an integrated stylus and a proper OS.

I stand pleasantly corrected!
I looked it up and the display supports 64 colors which is quite good and it even has good refresh rates.
For pleasant web browsing I suppose 4096 colors would be the minimum. For Images we want much more.

It even seems that 32.000 color displays are now on the market. The refresh rate seems to be 50Hz, but information on power consumption is not yet available. The display isn't bistable.

But now back to topic.

I think discussion about hardware and features is good as long as it is civil and maybe even backed up by facts.

Sure Chen will develop the phone and can't change the screen size anymore I suppose, but discussion keeps this place busy, keeps interest in the development and may bring up interesting ideas or concepts for follow up devices.

When Chen posts updates about the device, here, on twitter or on the newsletter, it will be surprising, how fast the thread is back on topic. And of course it will wander of equally fast after that