Which is better for reading, Color or STR? It depends...

JAcheson · 07-11-2011, 06:34 PM

I'm posting because this surprised me.

I have both the Nook Color, which has an LCD screen, and the new Nook Simple Touch Reader with an e-ink screen.

I had assumed that the e-ink screen would completely leave the Nook Color in the dust as far as readability is concerned. It turns out this is not necessarily true.

The STR's e-ink screen is indeed much much sharper than the Nook Color's screen, and its contrast between black and white is better, too. So for black and white Postscript text, there's no comparison; e-ink is much better.

However, a lot of PDFs I own are made up of scanned-in documents where each page is a bitmap image, rather than Postscript text. For these documents, the STR actually does rather poorly. It appears that it doesn't have enough shades of gray, and is attempting to dither everything. The result is that the text is broken up and fairly difficult to read on the STR.

Since I owned a Nook Color, I decided to try putting the same PDF onto that reader, just to see how it would do. To my surprise, it does very well! The Nook Color's LCD screen has plenty of shades of gray, and the text comes across as anti-aliased and quite readable.

So, if you are dealing mostly with PDFs made up of bitmaps, either from a document management system, or Google Books, or from the internet, you may want to consider the Nook Color over the Nook Simple Touch.

I have no idea if it is possible to get better results on the STR by loading a different reader app. It is possible, and now that I've rooted my STR I plan to investigate that.

mettleh3d · 07-11-2011, 07:10 PM

For a true, quality pdf viewing experience, please remain seated at your PC.

Thank you.

Bookworm_Girl · 07-11-2011, 09:42 PM

Thanks for your thoughts, JAcheson. I think that having both an eink and LCD device make a great combo. They are each suited to different types of reading. I have enjoyed reading on my NOOKcolor more than I anticipated. I am excited that my library recently added many books that have graphics like interior design, cooking, how-to manuals, travel, etc. These look brilliant on the NC whereas they would have been lackluster on my eink reader. I frankly wouldn't have bothered to check them out. I find that I also use the NC frequently at night since my family room doesn't get enough light suited for reading on my e-ink reader.

taustin · 07-12-2011, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mettleh3d

For a true, quality pdf viewing experience, please remain seated at your PC.

Or print it out. That's what PDF is best at, by far.

mettleh3d · 07-12-2011, 12:23 AM

cant zoom and pan an 8.5 x 11...

Guess you could, it's not convenient though.

GreenMonkey · 07-12-2011, 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mettleh3d

For a true, quality pdf viewing experience, please remain seated at your PC.

Thank you.

Or use an ipad (ugh, I hate to even say that).

PDF isn't good on e-readers.

JAcheson · 07-13-2011, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mettleh3d

For a true, quality pdf viewing experience, please remain seated at your PC.

Yeah, but I'm not taking my desktop with me on the road. Or even my laptop in most cases.

And I'm certainly not maintaining piles of paper printouts. Too much bulk, too much dust. That's what I want to get away from.

hrosvit · 07-13-2011, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAcheson

I had assumed that the e-ink screen would completely leave the Nook Color in the dust as far as readability is concerned. It turns out this is not necessarily true.

I agree. I have the Nook Classic, and loved reading on it. I bought the Nook Color because I wanted to reduce the number of devices I had to carry around with me when I was traveling, and the Color gave me the ability to watch movies and surf the web, also.

I was prepared to be disappointed in the Color with regards to the reading experience, but I actually like it a lot. Obviously, it is virtually useless in sunlight. But I have noticed no eyestrain issues, and the backlit screen is nice on planes, where the little reading lights make me feel like I'm on stage at night.

toddos · 07-13-2011, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

PDF isn't good on e-readers.

PDF isn't good, period.

GreenMonkey · 07-15-2011, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toddos

PDF isn't good, period.

PDF is good for a lot of things. Tabletop RPG gaming, for example. Anything with tables or drawings, possibly (math books for example).

technomom · 07-16-2011, 01:25 AM

I chose the e-ink display because I wanted to read in bed without messing with my circadian rhythms too terribly. I also have an iPad for other uses, such as scanned needlework patterns.
I appreciate your advice regarding the PDFs. I had already decided that I'd use the iPad for any of them that used color illustrations, of course, but it sounds as if I should probably just use the iPad for most PDFs in general.

RainingLemur · 07-17-2011, 11:35 AM

For straight reading, I prefer eInk. But, the LCD screen on the NC isn't bad. I was really surprised at how it looked with some books.

07-11-2011, 06:34 PM	#1
JAcheson Tech Writer Posts: 211 Karma: 1745785 Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Philadelphia, PA Device: Palm TX, Nook Color, Nook Simple Touch, Vizio Tablet, Nexus 10	Which is better for reading, Color or STR? It depends... I'm posting because this surprised me. I have both the Nook Color, which has an LCD screen, and the new Nook Simple Touch Reader with an e-ink screen. I had assumed that the e-ink screen would completely leave the Nook Color in the dust as far as readability is concerned. It turns out this is not necessarily true. The STR's e-ink screen is indeed much much sharper than the Nook Color's screen, and its contrast between black and white is better, too. So for black and white Postscript text, there's no comparison; e-ink is much better. However, a lot of PDFs I own are made up of scanned-in documents where each page is a bitmap image, rather than Postscript text. For these documents, the STR actually does rather poorly. It appears that it doesn't have enough shades of gray, and is attempting to dither everything. The result is that the text is broken up and fairly difficult to read on the STR. Since I owned a Nook Color, I decided to try putting the same PDF onto that reader, just to see how it would do. To my surprise, it does very well! The Nook Color's LCD screen has plenty of shades of gray, and the text comes across as anti-aliased and quite readable. So, if you are dealing mostly with PDFs made up of bitmaps, either from a document management system, or Google Books, or from the internet, you may want to consider the Nook Color over the Nook Simple Touch. I have no idea if it is possible to get better results on the STR by loading a different reader app. It is possible, and now that I've rooted my STR I plan to investigate that.

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07-11-2011, 07:10 PM	#2
mettleh3d Member Posts: 10 Karma: 1034 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: nook str	For a true, quality pdf viewing experience, please remain seated at your PC. Thank you.

07-11-2011, 09:42 PM	#3
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,871 Karma: 36507503 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	Thanks for your thoughts, JAcheson. I think that having both an eink and LCD device make a great combo. They are each suited to different types of reading. I have enjoyed reading on my NOOKcolor more than I anticipated. I am excited that my library recently added many books that have graphics like interior design, cooking, how-to manuals, travel, etc. These look brilliant on the NC whereas they would have been lackluster on my eink reader. I frankly wouldn't have bothered to check them out. I find that I also use the NC frequently at night since my family room doesn't get enough light suited for reading on my e-ink reader.

07-12-2011, 12:23 AM	#5
mettleh3d Member Posts: 10 Karma: 1034 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: nook str	cant zoom and pan an 8.5 x 11... Guess you could, it's not convenient though.

07-16-2011, 01:25 AM	#11
technomom Enthusiast Posts: 40 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Atlanta, GA, US Device: Kindle Paperwhite, iPad Pro, iPhone 12 mini	I chose the e-ink display because I wanted to read in bed without messing with my circadian rhythms too terribly. I also have an iPad for other uses, such as scanned needlework patterns. I appreciate your advice regarding the PDFs. I had already decided that I'd use the iPad for any of them that used color illustrations, of course, but it sounds as if I should probably just use the iPad for most PDFs in general.

07-17-2011, 11:35 AM	#12
RainingLemur Spork Connoisseur Posts: 2,355 Karma: 16780603 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Color	For straight reading, I prefer eInk. But, the LCD screen on the NC isn't bad. I was really surprised at how it looked with some books.