Thread: Touch Are the fonts too light?
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Old 06-28-2011, 07:02 PM   #10
sonyreaderfan
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Posts: 182
Karma: 203167
Join Date: Apr 2011
Device: Sony Reader Prs 950, iPad
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomsem View Post
I am finding the fonts lighter than they 'should' be.

It does not seem to be any physical problem with the screen. I took a screenshot of a typical Kindle page, and used it as a screensaver image on my Nook. They look equal in contrast and clarity.

But comparing Caecilia on Kindle with the same typeface on Nook Touch, at approximately the same size, the former looks a bit pale. I don't think it is just because I prefer smaller text and the strokes are thinner. Sometimes I get a glimpse of what it might look like when I bring up the reader options panel and put it back. When it redraws the text that the panel covers up, that text sometimes looks noticeably darker.

I think they perhaps have optimized too much for power savings, and it comes at the expense of text contrast and darkness. I'd like to see that fixed, perhaps by providing a 'saturation' control like Sony has. I would trade some power savings for it.

But I'm wondering what other people think. I haven't seem a lot of complaints about this here, though it has been mentioned in some reviews.
The Kindle rendering of fonts makes it appear darker. There have been reports of it in two reviews. Here's a specific explanation why:

http://www.marco.org/2011/06/03/nook...e-touch-review

"The Kindle’s rendering is slightly more readable, with the Nook’s too often aligning on half-pixel boundaries, resulting in thin gray strokes. This is least noticeable with Caecilia but is problematic with the thinner fonts, especially Gill Sans and Trebuchet."

Lest anyone dismiss the reviewer as a Kindle fanboy, Lisa from mobiletechreview.com says something similar. Lisa has been in this forum described as an even-handed reviewer and the favorite reviewer of certain forum members.

Lisa from mobiletechreview.com:
http://www.mobiletechreview.com/erea...uch-Reader.htm

"The New Nook Simple Touch vs. the Amazon Kindle 3

We have both ereaders in house, and put them through their paces for this 30 minute video comparison. We look at several key features in depth on each: search, dictionary, annotation, page layout options, shopping and more. The video isn’t a “this one is better” sort of thing, because honestly, it’s a very close race. I vastly prefer the touch experience, durable and grippable rubber casing and more open ePub format support of the Nook Touch. But I find text clarity and page layout are better on the Kindle 3 (that’s the most important feature to me in an ebook reader) , as is Amazon’s selection and customer service. " (Emphasis mine)

Last edited by sonyreaderfan; 06-28-2011 at 07:10 PM.
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