The not-so-terrible $10 e-reader

Xianxia · 12-09-2015, 10:27 AM

http://www.teleread.com/chris-meadow...e-10-e-reader/

excerpt:

Quote:

And given that at least 54% of people who read e-books read them on a smartphone part of the time, and 14% use a smartphone primarily, it seems like a good thing to know. A $50 Fire tablet is nice and all, but a $10 Android phone would be a lot easier to carry in a pocket—and even less of a financial loss if accidents happen.

So, I went out and grabbed one of the LG Sunrise phones for myself, and spent a couple of hours playing with it. And I am happy to report that it is a reasonably useful e-reader—and the fact that it only costs ten bucks makes it an excellent e-reader.

And at $10, well, why not? After all, the phone includes an AC-to-USB travel charger, a USB cable, and a 4 GB SD card, and those are worth $10 all by themselves.

But let’s move on to the main event: e-books. The phone has a 3.8” 320×480 display—the exact same resolution as a late-model Palm PDA or an early-generation non-Retina iPhone or iPod Touch, in a slightly larger form factor. It’s not the best screen in the world, but it’s amply legible. As an Android phone, it comes with Google Play Books as a standard pack-in, plus it has the genuine Google Play Store for downloading other apps. For my tests, I stuck with Play Books and the Amazon Kindle app, since that’s what so many people read e-books from anyway.

Cinisajoy · 12-09-2015, 11:38 AM

Where did his percentages come from?

AnemicOak · 12-09-2015, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Where did his percentages come from?

The numbers come from a December 2014 Nielsen survey.

Cinisajoy · 12-09-2015, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

The numbers come from a December 2014 Nielsen survey.

Are Nielsen book surveys anything like their TV ratings?

ProDigit · 12-09-2015, 12:08 PM

What a horrible resolution!
Can you actually read 1 line of text on a screen without page flipping?

I would recommend you to download an app called "screen dimmer".
It will save you battery by decreasing the brightness below the lowest brightness the device handles, in case you'd like to read in the dark.
It'll also make the screen more e-ink like, meaning less bright whites.

I also recommend to find a screen setting to set the colors on some "warm" or "movie" profile.
Cold or more blu-ish tint may be brighter, but keeps you up at night.

fjtorres · 12-09-2015, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProDigit

What a horrible resolution!
Can you actually read 1 line of text on a screen without page flipping?

And more. Those of us that have been doing ebooks since the PDA era can testify that yes, you can read just fine at even half that resolution. And no, you don't go blind.

Numbers are far from the only way to measure readability or screen quality.

Robotech_Master · 12-09-2015, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProDigit

What a horrible resolution!
Can you actually read 1 line of text on a screen without page flipping?

Well, sure. As I said, it's got exactly the same resolution as early iPhones and iPod Touches, and people loved reading on those back in the day. In 2008, Fictionwise's Pendergrasts even thought that the iPhone was the real future of e-reading instead of the Kindle—they told of people who gave up their Kindles because they discovered they liked reading better on iPhones.

Looks a bit quaint, now, but then a lot of stuff from back in those days does.

Quote:

I also recommend to find a screen setting to set the colors on some "warm" or "movie" profile.
Cold or more blu-ish tint may be brighter, but keeps you up at night.

Sure. I use F.lux on my desktop and Twilight on my Moto X. And if I were seriously going to use the Sunrise as my regular phone, I'd put Twilight on it, too. That's the great thing about it—it's a $10 device that nonetheless runs genuine Android apps from the genuine Google Play Store.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjtorres

And more. Those of us that have been doing ebooks since the PDA era can testify that yes, you can read just fine at even half that resolution. And no, you don't go blind.

Well, that does kind of depend on what sort of book you're reading, and what you're doing with the hand that isn't holding the phone, doesn't it?

ProDigit · 12-09-2015, 12:53 PM

I think 4x the resolution is about as low as I go, for a readable pocketbook sized reader. With 320x480 pix, I'd have to compromise too much, either on few info on the screen, but readable letters in a variety of fonts, or
Reasonable info on the screen, but small letters, and only few font types.
Small sized fonts would not have enough pixels to display a variety of font types.

Atunah · 12-09-2015, 02:27 PM

My eyes my eyes.

I have an original iphone in the house, I could not and cannot read on that device. It makes my eyes hurt like the devil. Just does. Its also too small. But then I need my fonts a bit larger.

Until recently I had a MotoG 4.5 inch and it was decent to read on in an emergency. It was still too small. I know have a new phone, a 5.5 inch zenfone 2 laser and its the right size for reading. It also has this awesome zen bluelight filter build into the software and its really great for reading. Well, as great as it can be for me on a tablet type screen. I only use this for epubs I can't figure out another way to read. Otherwise I am all e-ink. I have to read in shorter spurts on tablets as my eyes just start hurting after certain time. E-ink never bothers my eyes.

But I am a voracious reader reading 100's of books a year.

HarryT · 12-09-2015, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjtorres

And more. Those of us that have been doing ebooks since the PDA era can testify that yes, you can read just fine at even half that resolution. And no, you don't go blind.

Numbers are far from the only way to measure readability or screen quality.

Definitely! I read almost 20 years on PDAs with resolutions not as good as that. I must have read somewhere between 1000 and 2000 books that way.

Cinisajoy · 12-09-2015, 03:21 PM

I would say rather this is a good idea or a bad idea depends totally on the potential reader's eyes.
Yes, HarryT could read on it easily. Atunah and me couldn't.
Ereaders are not a one font or screen size fits all.

HarryT · 12-09-2015, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I would say rather this is a good idea or a bad idea depends totally on the potential reader's eyes.
Yes, HarryT could read on it easily. Atunah and me couldn't.
Ereaders are not a one font or screen size fits all.

I'm not saying I'd like to do it today, but it was great when we'd never seen anything better.

Cinisajoy · 12-09-2015, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm not saying I'd like to do it today, but it was great when we'd never seen anything better.

If you still had your younger eyes would it be a good idea?

danskmacabre · 12-09-2015, 05:45 PM

I used to read ebooks on a Nintendo DS lite and it was ok.

Atunah · 12-09-2015, 06:12 PM

I can't go back in time, but I would like to know what I would have thought of reading ebooks on some of those devices. Back when. I had never read a ebook until I bought my first kindle in 2008. My eyes have never been great, but probably a bit better. Not much though.

I honestly never knew about ebooks before kindle. It was all paperbooks with shrinking fonts until 2008.

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12-09-2015, 11:38 AM	#2
Cinisajoy Just a Yellow Smiley. Posts: 19,161 Karma: 83862859 Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Texas Device: K4, K5, fire, kobo, galaxy	Where did his percentages come from?

12-09-2015, 12:08 PM	#5
ProDigit Karmaniac Posts: 2,553 Karma: 11499146 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Miami FL Device: PRS-505, Jetbook, + Mini, +Color, Astak Ez Reader Pro, PPW1, Aura H2O	What a horrible resolution! Can you actually read 1 line of text on a screen without page flipping? I would recommend you to download an app called "screen dimmer". It will save you battery by decreasing the brightness below the lowest brightness the device handles, in case you'd like to read in the dark. It'll also make the screen more e-ink like, meaning less bright whites. I also recommend to find a screen setting to set the colors on some "warm" or "movie" profile. Cold or more blu-ish tint may be brighter, but keeps you up at night.

12-09-2015, 12:53 PM	#8
ProDigit Karmaniac Posts: 2,553 Karma: 11499146 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Miami FL Device: PRS-505, Jetbook, + Mini, +Color, Astak Ez Reader Pro, PPW1, Aura H2O	I think 4x the resolution is about as low as I go, for a readable pocketbook sized reader. With 320x480 pix, I'd have to compromise too much, either on few info on the screen, but readable letters in a variety of fonts, or Reasonable info on the screen, but small letters, and only few font types. Small sized fonts would not have enough pixels to display a variety of font types.

12-09-2015, 02:27 PM	#9
Atunah Wizard Posts: 1,817 Karma: 23400001 Join Date: May 2012 Location: USA Device: K1/K3/BasicK Voyage/Oasis1/Oasis3	My eyes my eyes. I have an original iphone in the house, I could not and cannot read on that device. It makes my eyes hurt like the devil. Just does. Its also too small. But then I need my fonts a bit larger. Until recently I had a MotoG 4.5 inch and it was decent to read on in an emergency. It was still too small. I know have a new phone, a 5.5 inch zenfone 2 laser and its the right size for reading. It also has this awesome zen bluelight filter build into the software and its really great for reading. Well, as great as it can be for me on a tablet type screen. I only use this for epubs I can't figure out another way to read. Otherwise I am all e-ink. I have to read in shorter spurts on tablets as my eyes just start hurting after certain time. E-ink never bothers my eyes. But I am a voracious reader reading 100's of books a year.

12-09-2015, 03:21 PM	#11
Cinisajoy Just a Yellow Smiley. Posts: 19,161 Karma: 83862859 Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Texas Device: K4, K5, fire, kobo, galaxy	I would say rather this is a good idea or a bad idea depends totally on the potential reader's eyes. Yes, HarryT could read on it easily. Atunah and me couldn't. Ereaders are not a one font or screen size fits all.

12-09-2015, 05:45 PM	#14
danskmacabre Guru Posts: 733 Karma: 3593438 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Glo. Galaxy Tab S 8.4	I used to read ebooks on a Nintendo DS lite and it was ok.

12-09-2015, 06:12 PM	#15
Atunah Wizard Posts: 1,817 Karma: 23400001 Join Date: May 2012 Location: USA Device: K1/K3/BasicK Voyage/Oasis1/Oasis3	I can't go back in time, but I would like to know what I would have thought of reading ebooks on some of those devices. Back when. I had never read a ebook until I bought my first kindle in 2008. My eyes have never been great, but probably a bit better. Not much though. I honestly never knew about ebooks before kindle. It was all paperbooks with shrinking fonts until 2008.

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