Is the color really worth it?

[Towerblock]

Originally Posted by SCION

Sounds like a rehearsed script.

I'm busting your chops because when other people say their experience is different from yours or those of people you know, you always make it seem as if they're not being honest. Now you know how it feels.

Where do I start Scion.... I am really surprised that you are arguing that LCD's are as easy on the eyes as eInk. Maybe you ARE that rare person who has never heard/met any people that have eye strain from LCD's though. I will remind you though that just because you haven't heard of it or experienced it first hand does not mean it doesn't exist. There are many things in the world that exist that you have not experienced personally..As my Dad used to say...the world doesn't revolve around you.

If you choose to believe that LCD's are just as easy on your eyes as eInk, that's a reasonable position. When you try to extrapolate from your direct experience that "this must be true for the whole world" than you have gone from a reasoned approach to a "world revolves around me" approach.

My direct experience has shown that they do cause issues for some people (me included) so I've jumped in on that side of the argument. Scion, YOU should PROVE that LCD's are NOT causing the eye strain since we have a few examples in just this thread of people who are saying it IS LCD monitors that causes eye strain for them. Can you prove it? Are you calling us all liars? If you are, then I'll point back to the last sentence of the paragraph above..just because you haven't experienced something does not mean it does not exist.

Anyway, anyone still reading this thread might REALLY want to know if the Nook Color is as easy to read as eInk, and they will have to see that there is a percentage of people who have DIRECT EXPERIENCE who say that it is not. If I were one of those people I'd take that into advice and if I find that my eyes get teary, or itchy or burning etc after sitting in front of a computer screen all day, I'd expect a similar experience with the Nook Color. Again though, I OWN and am very happy with my nook color..it's just that I wouldn't want to read on it for 4-5 hours at a time.

Oh, and just be thankful that you have genetically superior eyes than some of us and you don't have any issues with LCD's.

[SCION]

Originally Posted by Towerblock

Where do I start Scion.... I am really surprised that you are arguing that LCD's are as easy on the eyes as eInk. Maybe you ARE that rare person who has never heard/met any people that have eye strain from LCD's though. I will remind you though that just because you haven't heard of it or experienced it first hand does not mean it doesn't exist. There are many things in the world that exist that you have not experienced personally..As my Dad used to say...the world doesn't revolve around you.

If you choose to believe that LCD's are just as easy on your eyes as eInk, that's a reasonable position. When you try to extrapolate from your direct experience that "this must be true for the whole world" than you have gone from a reasoned approach to a "world revolves around me" approach.

My direct experience has shown that they do cause issues for some people (me included) so I've jumped in on that side of the argument. Scion, YOU should PROVE that LCD's are NOT causing the eye strain since we have a few examples in just this thread of people who are saying it IS LCD monitors that causes eye strain for them. Can you prove it? Are you calling us all liars? If you are, then I'll point back to the last sentence of the paragraph above..just because you haven't experienced something does not mean it does not exist.

Anyway, anyone still reading this thread might REALLY want to know if the Nook Color is as easy to read as eInk, and they will have to see that there is a percentage of people who have DIRECT EXPERIENCE who say that it is not. If I were one of those people I'd take that into advice and if I find that my eyes get teary, or itchy or burning etc after sitting in front of a computer screen all day, I'd expect a similar experience with the Nook Color. Again though, I OWN and am very happy with my nook color..it's just that I wouldn't want to read on it for 4-5 hours at a time.

Oh, and just be thankful that you have genetically superior eyes than some of us and you don't have any issues with LCD's.

I said I was busting his chops and gave an explanation as to why. I'm not arguing about eyestrain on LCDs. It comes down to individual experience. When folks with the NOOKcolor say they don't have any problems reading for extending periods of time, die-hard eink folks chime in that we're not being honest. Everything comes done to personal experience. If people would stop making these blanket generalizations (and just say, I experience this, but I know others don't) there would be no need for this going back and forth.

[Towerblock]

Originally Posted by SCION

I said I was busting his chops.

I know. This thread kind of got off track for a bit, but I do think it's important that people be advised that there are real people out here who say that the Nook Color screen causes them fatigue (again, I think the NC is a great device even though I get fatigue if reading it for more than an hour).

They'll have to balance that with the people that have no issues with it of course.

This is starting to look like the unintended toyota acceleration issue. Toyota took the approach of "oh, no we can't duplicate the issue so it doesn't exist". Dozens of real people experienced that issue but Toyota claimed it doesn't exist for quite awhile.

You can be an evil corporation and I'll be a real person...

(I hope you know I'm just busting your chops!)

[SCION]

Silly! Thanks for helping me keep things in perspective.

[Towerblock]

Originally Posted by SCION

I said I was busting his chops and gave an explanation as to why. I'm not arguing about eyestrain on LCDs. It comes down to individual experience. When folks with the NOOKcolor say they don't have any problems reading for extending periods of time, die-hard eink folks chime in that we're not being honest. Everything comes done to personal experience. If people would stop making these blanket generalizations (and just say, I experience this, but I know others don't) there would be no need for this going back and forth.

and added some more detail. Thank you. Ok, so you are not arguing about eyestrain on LCD's, so we (well at least you and I) concede that for some it's a problem and for others it's a non-issue. That was easy..

I guess the problem arises when one side or the other says "eink is BETTER" or "the nook color is BETTER". Better is just too vague and causes too much offense I guess.

[Towerblock]

Originally Posted by SCION

Silly! Thanks for helping me keep things in perspective.

we should be called upon to solve some of the worlds bigger issues..

[GreenMonkey]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Wrong!

I did not have this problem before and I was not born with such eye problem. No one on my family (dad or mom) had astigmatism.

I started working with computers at 1994... soon after .... I developed astigmatism. It was confirmed by two doctors, one here in USA, another one on my country. Actually, because same reason I need to take short breaks from monitors and LCD displays in order to avoid the problem getting worse.

You started eating peas...soon after...you developed astigmatism.

You started watching He-man...soon after, you developed astigmatism.

You started wearing T-shirts...soon after, you developed astigmatism.

See? You could conclude it was caused by anything.

Look, there's plenty of evidence that LCDs, like most displays, cause some eye strain. But astigmatism? No. There's no science there.

[Mitzasuro]

I also have astigmatism and my computer monitor gives me eyestrain. The nookColor doesn't. I wish they would make the brightness a little lower though. The NookColor is better on my eyes than my nook light I have been using for a nook classic for nighttime reading.

[mlewis78]

Originally Posted by Mitzasuro

I also have astigmatism and my computer monitor gives me eyestrain. The nookColor doesn't. I wish they would make the brightness a little lower though. The NookColor is better on my eyes than my nook light I have been using for a nook classic for nighttime reading.

I'm having trouble understanding the last sentence. Your eyes are better with NookColor screen than with the Nook with Nook Light attached?

I usually use my laptop for hours before I change over to reading with e-ink and the difference in how my eyes feel is enormous. E-ink doesn't hurt eyes the way my laptop LCD does. I've also noticed that when I read with a white background on the LCD screen it's just terrible, like a light flashing in my eye. I don't know why I stay on the computer so long (addiction?).

(I don't have Nook Color and if I do buy one it would not be for book reading but for web surfing and games, IF it works well for that).

[Mitzasuro]

Yes my eyes do better with the NookColor than with a nook with a nook light. I use the classic Nook during the day but it get's dark here at 4pm until 8am. When the nook light would start to go dim after a couple of days of reading It would start to hurt my eyes to read.My wife also got annoyed by the light and would keep her up at night. The NookColor saves me money on batteries and it doesn't bother my wife at night. I also have an anti glare screen on the NookColor which cut down on the shiny fingerprinted screen.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by Mitzasuro

Yes my eyes do better with the NookColor than with a nook with a nook light. I use the classic Nook during the day but it get's dark here at 4pm until 8am. When the nook light would start to go dim after a couple of days of reading It would start to hurt my eyes to read.My wife also got annoyed by the light and would keep her up at night. The NookColor saves me money on batteries and it doesn't bother my wife at night. I also have an anti glare screen on the NookColor which cut down on the shiny fingerprinted screen.

This makes perfect sense as the Nook Color has better contrast and resolution plus better readability in dim light than the e-enk Nook. According to jocampo's own source these are main causes of eye strain on computing devices. And because of this, in 95% of MY reading conditions the Color causes less strain.

The only thing that would cause more eye strain on the Nook Color vs e-ink would be glare or too much screen brightness. I think the complaints about eye strain can pretty much all be traced back to these two issues. And they are valid reasons. Simply saying "LCD causes more eye strain" is not.


edit: I should also mention that even though the Color causes less strain for me, overall I still prefer the look of reading on e-ink. It's just more like a book and I like that. But with all the extra functionality of the Color, steering back on topic here, I feel it is indeed worth it.

[Rebo]

Originally Posted by Mitzasuro

Yes my eyes do better with the NookColor than with a nook with a nook light. I use the classic Nook during the day but it get's dark here at 4pm until 8am. When the nook light would start to go dim after a couple of days of reading It would start to hurt my eyes to read.

I have to 2nd that. I get terrible headaches when I start reading with the Classic nook in low light even though I have those clip on lights. Unless I turn my house into broad daylight, it is hard for me to read with the Classic Nook in evenings. I also find the NookColor is much easier on my eyes with the backlit screen. I never have any problems reading on LCD screens. I work 10 hours a day staring at LCDs and go home and stare at it for 3 hours more without any problems

[The Joker]

Newbie Ereader in the house.......Just came over from the dark side.....so expect this post to ramble.....

When I first saw Eink (about a week ago) I was sold on it....looks just like paper. Of course before making any decisions, I researched and played with every Ereader I could get my hands on......Came down to the Nook (Epub, free books at the library, pushed me away from the Kindle) Which version was the question.....I was loving Eink....but the nookcolor with all its cool features made it a tough decision.... My initial thought was I've got the laptop and desktop for internet stuff and I really just wanted something more of a reading device....

At times I can be more than a casual reader and can zip thru books pretty quick....so I was concerned about eyestrain......I'm mostly a night reader while in bed, the wife hates any lights on, so I've been relegated to some sort of low light book light.....which seemed to cause some eyestrain anyways (being on a computer all day at work certainly contributes)

After going back to B&N for a third time (last nite) I went ahead a pulled down the nookcolor....Ended up staying up, almost all night getting to know my new toy......between reading a couple of the free short stories, and playing on the net, while enjoying pandora......After about 8 hours straight of viewing the nookcolor's LCD screen (with no booklight required, and when enlarging the text without glasses) I'm convinced I made the correct decision.......

Luckily I'm off work for 2 weeks ......so avoidance of any eyestrain will be impossible.....might not be able to get me out of the room Except to get to the library and get my Netlibrary account set up....

Had I ever been an Eink reader, I would have likely never went with the nookcolor......

Expect me on these forums, gaining knowledge of the electronic reading world.....

[Towerblock]

Originally Posted by pl001

This makes perfect sense as the Nook Color has better contrast and resolution plus better readability in dim light than the e-enk Nook. According to jocampo's own source these are main causes of eye strain on computing devices. And because of this, in 95% of MY reading conditions the Color causes less strain.

The only thing that would cause more eye strain on the Nook Color vs e-ink would be glare or too much screen brightness. I think the complaints about eye strain can pretty much all be traced back to these two issues. And they are valid reasons. Simply saying "LCD causes more eye strain" is not.


edit: I should also mention that even though the Color causes less strain for me, overall I still prefer the look of reading on e-ink. It's just more like a book and I like that. But with all the extra functionality of the Color, steering back on topic here, I feel it is indeed worth it.

I'm happy you like your NC (as I do mine) but I felt that there was a bit of inconsistency in your post, maybe because you're in the "in love" stage with your NC. I'm a gadget person so I totally get exuberant about my new toys as well, so please don't think I'm trying to judge you etc..and of course I could be totally wrong...onto my points:

I'm curious..what do you mean by resolution? In my mind, resolution doesn't matter for readability, pixel density does.

For example, say you have two screens, one has a resolution of 1000pixels and is 10" wide. The other screen has a resolution of 1000pixels and is 5" wide. Which one do you think will appear sharper? I'd say (given a font of comfortable size on each device, and a comfortable distance to your eyes) the one with the 5" screen because you are packing the same "resolution" of pixels into a tighter area.

EInk "looks" to have greater density, especially on my main eInk reader the Sony PRS-350. This is a small screen with what appears to be very high pixel density.

If you look closely at eink the letters look mostly smooth, just like laser printed on paper. If you look at the Nook Color letters closely, they are fuzzy and "smoothed" using font smoothing technology for the LCD screen. They are more spread out over a larger area and less sharp. That's why the eInk (latest generation) readers are easier on my eyes. Add to that the huge amounts of glare on the Nook color and eink has another advantage.

Also, if as you suggest the Nook Color is better because it has "better contrast" (your first paragraph) then why do so many people with the NC (me included) turn the contrast ALL THE WAY DOWN in order to make it easier to read? That would suggest that the Nook Color has TOO MUCH contrast and that makes it hard for people to read. If you look around these forums you will see quite a few people wishing they could turn the brightness down even further. You even in your next paragraph state that you believe that most complaints about eye strain are because of people having the screen too bright (as if they haven't found the brightness control yet..).

Actually from your post, it looks like you read with the brightness turned DOWN..so even you like less contrast?

One other thing..you also state the Nook Color has better readability in dim light..but you forgot the other half of the sentence..."and worse readability in bright light" (actually pretty much no readability in sunlight).

I would also say, saying LCD causes more eye strain is reasonable based on the options available to us presently. Too many people complain about eye fatigue with LCD monitors..again, check with the HR department of any medium to large company, or if you don't believe my statement, at least tell us your experiences with large companies and lots of LCD's. Perhaps my experience is an anomaly. When my eyes are tired from LCD's I can still read comfortably for hours on eInk.

Having said all of that, it comes down to..some ppl will have no issues with the nook screen (oh yeah, how do you keep fingerprints off of it?..) and some will. I have not seen many people complaining about eye fatigue with eink devices, in fact people have flocked to Kindles in droves..partly because of their readability. Also, I had a nook and while it's eink was decent, it's not as nice as the latest generation pearl eink screens in the kindle and sony (both of which I have).

[Towerblock]

Originally Posted by Mitzasuro

I also have astigmatism and my computer monitor gives me eyestrain. The nookColor doesn't. I wish they would make the brightness a little lower though. The NookColor is better on my eyes than my nook light I have been using for a nook classic for nighttime reading.

You said you wish they'd make the brightness a "little lower"...and that's because it would make it MORE COMFORTABLE for your eyes, so to some small degree you are experiencing eye strain....but probably less than you particularly experience with your "nook light".