More tablets, less people reading, less eink devices long run: Forbes

[spindlegirl]

I think the e-ink devices are perfect for standalone book reading. Long battery life due to low power consumption, easy on the eyes. I have a Sony and a Kindle, and will keep them until they kick the bucket, and then replace them with new ones.

I don't see e-ink dying anytime soon. It's too awesome of a technology. I don't need flash and glitz. I'm function and I'll let everyone else be fashion.

That said, over the next year or so I may want to try my very first tablet. We'll see how many affordable ones crop up over the next while to choose from.

But for me it's not games vs books as well. I like both, but find reading more relaxing and often more interruptable - with 4 children living here, I've got pretty much the perfect hobby. :-)

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

I think the e-ink devices are perfect for standalone book reading. Long battery life due to low power consumption, easy on the eyes. I have a Sony and a Kindle, and will keep them until they kick the bucket, and then replace them with new ones.

I don't see e-ink dying anytime soon. It's too awesome of a technology. I don't need flash and glitz. I'm function and I'll let everyone else be fashion.

That said, over the next year or so I may want to try my very first tablet. We'll see how many affordable ones crop up over the next while to choose from.

But for me it's not games vs books as well. I like both, but find reading more relaxing and often more interruptable - with 4 children living here, I've got pretty much the perfect hobby. :-)

Yes!

And with the Sony's at least you can always go back to where you left of just by turning it on. And/or read more than one book without losing track of them.

[Tattncat]

My tablet has mostly replaced my Sony 700 as my main ereader because the backlit screen is easier on my 65+ old eyes unless I am reading outdoors. If anything I am reading more.

The change in usage has been in my laptop. I don't use my laptop nearly as much since I can do almost everything on my tablet.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Sorry about this, but evil poltergeists are making me type these corrections (which are not intended to function as a giant wagging finger):

More tablets, fewer people reading and fewer eink devices [in the] long run. . . .

[danskmacabre]

I HAVE recently bought a tablet and love it but I use it for browsing, email and reading PDFs of tabletop Roleplaying games.
But I don't use it to read novels.

BUT I also have a ereader, which I DO use for reading novels and it's perfect for that.
Couple that with the superior screen for reading text, far far better battery life, small size and weight and I don't see eink ereaders dying out anytime soon.

Whilst I have grown to find Tablets very convenient, it hasn't replaced my ereader, but it HAS replaced my laptop somewhat.

[DarkScribe]

This guy is comparing apples and oranges - almost literally if you capitalise the apple. Yes pads are becoming very popular, no, they will not replace computers or eReaders. They are cannot be used for gaming, nor are they good for business and they are not much good for prolonged reading. They are and always will be a compromise, one that many will happily make; but most would not choose a pad as their only computing device or primary eReader.

I have recently parked my iPad in a desk drawer after replacing it with a new Macbook Air. The Macbook is not much larger or heavier than the iPad, but it is a real computer with real power with all the advantages of both an iPad and and a computer.

Because of this surge in pad popularity a great many people are using them to read. Many of those same people - if they re-ignite an enthusiasm for reading - will then look to a dedicated reader. The eReader industry has probably reached a plateau, not a demise. I know of almost no one who doesn't own a tablet - mostly iPads, and one by one they buy an ePaper based reader. Eye strain after a few hours reading on an LCD screen is a very real problem. Those who stick with a pad for reading don't read much and so won't affect the eBook sales figures to any large extent.

This is all just another beat up, not researched, not well thought out, and not from a journalist; it is just a blogger's opinion.

[jabberwock_11]

I have been a huge advocate for eink devices and believe that if you read for long periods of time that an eink screen is a much better choice than a tablet, however, tablets have their pace. Many of the 7" deices are fairly close in weight to eink devices and battery times are constantly improving. I have a 10" tablet and have found myself reading on it more and more often. My tablet works quite well for 3D gaming, writing grant proposals, submitting office work, watching movies, etc. In fact I don't even use my laptop anymore because I can do everything easier and faster on my tablet. When you're doing everything else on a tablet it becomes less attractive to switch to another device just to do something that you could just as easily have done on the tablet.

I have a feeling that most people are looking at the cost of a new eink device and the cost of a cheap 7" tablet and seeing far more value in the comparably priced tablet. It's the same reason that more folks are using their phones as MP3 players even though stand alone MP3 players have far better battery lives. Why spend the extra money when you can get everything in one package? As people have less and less to spend on luxury items it becomes more and more about value, both perceived and actual.

[DarkScribe]

Originally Posted by jabberwock_11

I have been a huge advocate for eink devices and believe that if you read for long periods of time that an eink screen is a much better choice than a tablet, however, tablets have their pace. Many of the 7" deices are fairly close in weight to eink devices and battery times are constantly improving. I have a 10" tablet and have found myself reading on it more and more often. My tablet works quite well for 3D gaming, writing grant proposals, submitting office work, watching movies, etc. In fact I don't even use my laptop anymore because I can do everything easier and faster on my tablet. When you're doing everything else on a tablet it becomes less attractive to switch to another device just to do something that you could just as easily have done on the tablet.

I have a feeling that most people are looking at the cost of a new eink device and the cost of a cheap 7" tablet and seeing far more value in the comparably priced tablet. It's the same reason that more folks are using their phones as MP3 players even though stand alone MP3 players have far better battery lives. Why spend the extra money when you can get everything in one package? As people have less and less to spend on luxury items it becomes more and more about value, both perceived and actual.

If you can use a pad to type - in an extended, all day business sense - then you have my admiration. You are the only person who I have heard make that claim. I type at around fifty/sixty words per minute, as do most professional writers, and on a pad that drops back to less than twenty. As for 3D gaming, most of the (popular) games won't run well on anything but a recent computer with a high end graphics card - according to the younger designers in our graphics section. (They are dedicated gamers.) Maybe you like very different games. A pad is good for watching movies, reading email, many simple things, but as a computer replacement for either a gamer or a professional - no way. All of our staff have them, but most, like me, leave them in the office if they need to do real work outside the office.

I stand by what I said, the pads - for a professional or a gamer - are a simple compromise. Try running Adobe CS 6 or Microsoft Office on one. Pages is about as close as you can get to Word, and it sucks. Try to run something as simple as Scrivener; you can't, even though they have been "in the process" of developing it for iPads for more than a year. Pads are useful, they have their place, but they are neither a computer nor an eReader, not for extended use.

[david_e]

.....

[jabberwock_11]

I run a medical clinic and use my tablet quite well as a replacement for my laptop. My tablet is an Asus Transformer, it has a keyboard dock which not only gives it usb ports and a total of 16 hours battery life, but also the previously mentioned keyboard allowing me to type and use it professionally. Tegra quad cores are also attracting a larger and larger percentage of game designers, and now that the Ouya android powered game console has been more than fully funded it too has started to bring in higher end game designers and companies. I also have emulators for most of the available game consoles, so I am good to go. Sure, I can't play the newest $60 PC games, but I am ok with the the $6 ones available for android that are just as good in design. There are better office solutions than MS Office (I never much cared for that suite to begin with). I personally use Polaris Office and my wife uses another program with zero issues. Adobe has a full line of tools available for android, including a PS set (albeit a scaled down version). I don't see android as a compramise at all, just early in development and quickly taking over.

My original statement stands, people see more value in tablets than in eink devices. That does not mean that there is no value in eink, just that the market for tablets is much more stable and is growing much faster. I love my Kindle, but I would be hard pressed to buy a new version when I could buy a tablet for nearly the same price.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Yes!

And with the Sony's at least you can always go back to where you left of just by turning it on. And/or read more than one book without losing track of them.

Except my dying 505 has taken to losing all it's bookmarks when I plug it in to my computer (for charging or transferring books).

Maybe time for a new low-end Kindle....(I much prefer the feel/look/usability of the Sony over my K2 )

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DarkScribe

This guy is comparing apples and oranges - almost literally if you capitalise the apple. Yes pads are becoming very popular, no, they will not replace computers or eReaders. ....

They already are for many users. It very much depends on your personal requirements.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

If eInk departs and there isn't a non-backlit replacement, I'll quite reading and increase my reliance upon audiobooks for literature.

Reading is not a must have activity in my life.

I won't quit reading, but I might go back to pbooks (not that I've entirely left them). It really depends on whether there's a tablet replacement in terms of size, weight, battery life etc.

But I doubt that eInk will go away, unless tablets start competing with them head to head on price. And the backlight, weight & battery issues will still be a drawback.

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by dura

I always carry my Galaxy Note phone with me; 500 books in it (and hundreds of hours of music) and the screen si good enough to read from for hours with my 50+ eyes. At home I love reading from my Ipad. I used to own ereaders but I really don't see the point of them anymore, except for reading with direct sunshine on the screen.
I have to admit though, when I'm tired or distracted it is very easy to switch to Freecell or whatever, something that sdid not happen on my ereaders because the games where simply not there.
But so what, complaining about too much choice sounds a little bit spoiled, and I don't think I for one actually read less now that other options are available on the same screen.

The Note/iPad combination is an attractive one for me, too. I'll need to see if the iPhone 5 has enough screen space for portable reading, but if it doesn't, the only thing which might hold me back from the Note is iCal, which my wife and I share. (There is absolutely no possibility of sharing some other calendar. My wife is not going to move out of the Apple ecosystem.)

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Harmon

The Note/iPad combination is an attractive one for me, too. I'll need to see if the iPhone 5 has enough screen space for portable reading, but if it doesn't, the only thing which might hold me back from the Note is iCal, which my wife and I share. (There is absolutely no possibility of sharing some other calendar. My wife is not going to move out of the Apple ecosystem.)

Silly Wife.