To me, ereader now is an useless and redundant gadget.

Originally Posted by FinancialWar

I don't get it, why would anyone want to buy a reader just to read books? The only situation I can think of ever needing the reader is if I want to read books under the sunlight or where I won't be able to find plug to charge my phone. Which almost never happen in my life as I am an indoor person.

You explained why some people will prefer ereaders right there. People who read outdoors, or anywhere else that there is direct sunlight, really don't have an alternative. People who do a lot of traveling where they don't have reliable access to electricity don't have many options in the tablet world either. (It basically comes down to reducing usage or carrying portable chargers.)

Of course, there are other factors. Yet I suspect that you'll find that those two reasons are the overriding factors for most of the people who choose ereaders over tablets or phones. Just as eInk has technical limitations that limits its applications, LCD has technical limitations that limits its applications.

For the distractable crowd, of which I'm a member, I will point out that it is possible to created a dedicated LCD based ereader that would be better for many types of publication. Indeed, a technically proficient individual can create a dedicated ereader from virtually any Android device. Those without the requisite technical skills can simply follow instructions created by someone else or even explore the settings on their device to disable many of the features that distract them.

Originally Posted by teija

I was curious to try the eInk but didn't believe the claims that it was easier on the eyes until I got it and actually started using it.

Have you tried adjusting the brightness of the screen on your non-eInk devices? I suspect that the difference between the screen's brightness and the ambient light is a cause of eye strain. If this is the case, eInk readers would have at least two advantages: with the light turned off, the screen's brightness reflects the ambient light (i.e. there is essentially no difference). Even when the light is enabled, ereaders seem to have significantly lower and more fine grained brightness settings. That makes it easier to reduce the difference between the screen's brightness and ambient light. (Heck, some of the Android ereader software that I've used will replace whites with greys in order to reduce the apparent brightness by reducing the contrast. Alas, that doesn't do much about the back light bleeding through.)

[4691mls]

I am nearsighted and normally read with my glasses off, as I have really good vision up close. I typically hold reading material about 10 - 12 inches from my face. Before buying an e-ink reader, I looked at tablets but felt like I was seeing every pixel; I just couldn't stand to read like that for any length of time. I have been very happy with my e-ink reader.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

You explained why some people will prefer ereaders right there. People who read outdoors, or anywhere else that there is direct sunlight, really don't have an alternative. People who do a lot of traveling where they don't have reliable access to electricity don't have many options in the tablet world either. (It basically comes down to reducing usage or carrying portable chargers.)

Of course, there are other factors. Yet I suspect that you'll find that those two reasons are the overriding factors for most of the people who choose ereaders over tablets or phones.

For me, as well as just preferring the look/battery life of eink, I want to read on a screen at least 6 inches in size and properly page-shaped (not skinny like phones or most Android tablets are); but I need the weight as low as possible, below 200g.

[walan]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

I just don't get it, why do people post "I have ____(insert name of tablet, ereader, etc here) and it's perfect, why would anybody want anything else"?

Everybody's different - different eyes, different uses. You buy what suits your purposes and I'll buy what suits mine.

So what's the reason of a forum? To write about the different opinions!

[teija]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Have you tried adjusting the brightness of the screen on your non-eInk devices? I suspect that the difference between the screen's brightness and the ambient light is a cause of eye strain.

On a more basic level, looking at a screen for 8.5 hours a day at work is the cause of eye strain. This is a well documented problem for many people, and a "job hazard" of working in an IT-related field.

And I forgot to include (and agree with a previous post) that have been known to read on my iPhone, but it is MUCH easier to read on the larger screen of my eReaders, and without the bulk/weight of my iPad.

[vbkun]

I agree on the eye strain comment, in my own experience what caused me eyestrain (in my tablet or monitors) was the brightness.

Futhermore companies dont make it easier on the eyes, my tablet (first xoom model) simply does not allow a backlight level that is ok to read in the dark on android settings, I had to use an app to force lower values.

Monitors... I never seem one that had an ok brightness level as default, and ussually the ok levels are so low that it feels 'wrong'. Also I never find anyone using apptopiete screen brightness in monitors.

That being said, i read web and comics for hours on my tablet without any strain, I tried reading books too last years when my prs-650 died but it simply just didnt work.... why? That I don't know, maybe my tablet screen was too big, maybe I'm tooo used to e-ink, maybe I like being different and having an e-ink device, who knows. All I know is thatfor some reason reading in the e-reader is just a overall amazing experience when compared to reading in my tablet.

And reading in a phone.... even if its a 5" one, I just cant imagine.

Bottomline: People are different, the redundant gadget for me is actually a huge 5" phone, not the reader.

[filmo]

4 days in hospital with Kobo Mini could finish reading a couple books, check email, and post to this forum. My son left Android tablet 3rd day but didn't need it.

[FinancialWar]

using internet on a ereader? Must be a pain.

[SoCalReader]

I am impressed by the behavior of the participants of this forum. In other forums popular in the United States, the majority of the responses to FinancialWar's salvo would be to label him as a troll or as someone whose objective is to incite an angry response. These responses occur when the posting contains nothing original and thus adds nothing to the discussion.

[sabredog]

I have three ereaders and two tablets. The tablets are perfect for comics and PDF reference material reading but not for prolonged sessions reading a good book. That is what my e-ink readers do for me.

I enjoy table top roleplaying games and carrying my iPad or Nexus7 to sessions packed full of gaming manuals is far better than lugging kilo's of game manual books. My back (which is never all that happy) thanks me for that.

I too suffer LCD eyestrain, plus do not want the added distractions of email, messages and the pretty coloured icon encouraging me to join a bunch of disgruntled avians when I want to enjoy a good novel.

Ereaders are perfect for me. No eyestrain, always ready to allow me to read and allow me to carry lots of books away from home without the necessity of needing a power point every day and all of that in a much lighter device.

This is my personal story though.

[filmo]

Originally Posted by FinancialWar

using internet on a ereader? Must be a pain.

Ereader keyboard is far from best. Some websites go into tablet friendly mode or have mobile version making it better experience for ereaders. Sony T1 pinch zoom is best but Kobo Mini has easy set zoom options that helps. In past I have only tested it's web browser to know what was possible and downloaded free books from http://m.feedbooks.com/?format=mobile and http://m.gutenberg.org/

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by SoCalReader

I am impressed by the behavior of the participants of this forum. In other forums popular in the United States, the majority of the responses to FinancialWar's salvo would be to label him as a troll ..

I was sorely tempted to do exactly that, but maybe it's be nice to trolls week here

[FinancialWar]

labelling people troll in the first place is not nice.

[filmo]

Originally Posted by FinancialWar

using internet on a ereader? Must be a pain.

No pain. I don't like touch screen keyboards of any kind because they eliminate old school learned typing skills. In this case slow typing helped pass the time. Using best Apple or Android tablet would not help me type twice as fast but being able to pair Kobo reader with bluetooth keyboard would enable speed typing.