MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Simple Touch: buy now or wait for update?

azazel1024 · 04-10-2012, 10:40 AM

I don't think it would hurt to wait a couple of months, but purely up to you. As cheap as refurbs are, I'd get one know if you don't have an eInk reader. $65 is the price of 3 hardback books.

I love my Nook ST. I had battery drain issues on my first one as well, but the replacement is working like a charm. It has to be a hardware issue that is causing it, but it is not all that limited. I couldn't even tell you how many are impacted, but considering some people have gotten replacements that had the same battery drain issue, I'd hazard a guess at anywhere from 1 in 100 to 1 in 10 are impacted.

Beyond that, there are plenty of improvements. The most rumored upon is a front lit screen. I forget the company that just released their "tech", but in effect it is a front lit layer over the eInk screen that is a few microns thick that is "edge lit" with 1 or two small LEDs, but that the light is pretty well diffused evenly over the front of the display with the diffusion/lighting layer. Not like Sony's disaterous front lighting they attempted before.

Other than that, no idea what they might add. I can't see them doing ONLY that. I wouldn't necessarily bet on a faster processor, more memory, longer battery life or anything like that...but at the same time, I also can't see them not adding ANY improvements to try to counter the Kindle touch.

I don't know where eInk stands with the screen tech, but based on some densities for other eInk displays, it sounds like they might be able to produce and B&N source a higher density panel, maybe in the 768x1024 or 720x960 range. That doesn't sound like a huge improvement, but to my eyes holding my nook ST at a comfortable reading distance, I can just barely see the slightest hint of pixelation. It looks nothing like LCD/CRT pixelation, but it is still noticable, if barely. To me even a very small step up in resolution should cure that and make the text sharper (and graphics, but to me that doesn't matter all that much).

Really what I'd love to see, and I hope eInk is working on, is higher contrast screens with more grey shades. Sure, I'd dig one with 3 or 4x the contrast and 256 shades of grey, but heck I'd jump on one with even just 20-30% better contrast and 32 instead of 16 shades of grey.

According to eInk's specs on the Pearl display, the resoltion capability exceeds 200DPI. So I don't know if that is simple marketing hype, or if that means that the 6" eInk pearl displays that everyone is using is simply "the best" display that eInk can produce at the price point that the manufacturers are willing to pay for their eReaders. Current density is around 164DPI (I measured the width of my Nook ST screen at ~3.675 inches). So that to me at least says that they could ramp up the density a little. 702x960 would get you to 193DPI and 768x1024 would get you 212DPI...which might be beyond the capabilities of eInk Pearl...or maybe not.

At any rate, what I'd love to see them do is figure out a way to make the things more power efficient...or at least hold the line. See if they can't squeeze a little bit more responsiveness in to them. A slightly higher resolution screen would be super nice. Something with higher contrast and more grey levels would also be nice, but I won't hold my breath on that unless eInk is "hiding" a new eInk technology. All that plus a front lit screen that actually was pretty diffuse lighting and energy efficient (seems like they should be able to manage that, I have an LED book light that takes a pair of CR lithium button cell batteries that is probably on roughly hour+ and still going strong). Give me that and I will deffinitely go out and get one, especially if it is in the $99 price range. Up around $149 and I'd have to think about it, but give it a few months and I am sure I'll talk myself in to it.

04-10-2012, 10:40 AM	#18
azazel1024 Groupie Posts: 182 Karma: 346596 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Ellicott City, MD Device: Nook simple touch, iPad 2	I don't think it would hurt to wait a couple of months, but purely up to you. As cheap as refurbs are, I'd get one know if you don't have an eInk reader. $65 is the price of 3 hardback books. I love my Nook ST. I had battery drain issues on my first one as well, but the replacement is working like a charm. It has to be a hardware issue that is causing it, but it is not all that limited. I couldn't even tell you how many are impacted, but considering some people have gotten replacements that had the same battery drain issue, I'd hazard a guess at anywhere from 1 in 100 to 1 in 10 are impacted. Beyond that, there are plenty of improvements. The most rumored upon is a front lit screen. I forget the company that just released their "tech", but in effect it is a front lit layer over the eInk screen that is a few microns thick that is "edge lit" with 1 or two small LEDs, but that the light is pretty well diffused evenly over the front of the display with the diffusion/lighting layer. Not like Sony's disaterous front lighting they attempted before. Other than that, no idea what they might add. I can't see them doing ONLY that. I wouldn't necessarily bet on a faster processor, more memory, longer battery life or anything like that...but at the same time, I also can't see them not adding ANY improvements to try to counter the Kindle touch. I don't know where eInk stands with the screen tech, but based on some densities for other eInk displays, it sounds like they might be able to produce and B&N source a higher density panel, maybe in the 768x1024 or 720x960 range. That doesn't sound like a huge improvement, but to my eyes holding my nook ST at a comfortable reading distance, I can just barely see the slightest hint of pixelation. It looks nothing like LCD/CRT pixelation, but it is still noticable, if barely. To me even a very small step up in resolution should cure that and make the text sharper (and graphics, but to me that doesn't matter all that much). Really what I'd love to see, and I hope eInk is working on, is higher contrast screens with more grey shades. Sure, I'd dig one with 3 or 4x the contrast and 256 shades of grey, but heck I'd jump on one with even just 20-30% better contrast and 32 instead of 16 shades of grey. According to eInk's specs on the Pearl display, the resoltion capability exceeds 200DPI. So I don't know if that is simple marketing hype, or if that means that the 6" eInk pearl displays that everyone is using is simply "the best" display that eInk can produce at the price point that the manufacturers are willing to pay for their eReaders. Current density is around 164DPI (I measured the width of my Nook ST screen at ~3.675 inches). So that to me at least says that they could ramp up the density a little. 702x960 would get you to 193DPI and 768x1024 would get you 212DPI...which might be beyond the capabilities of eInk Pearl...or maybe not. At any rate, what I'd love to see them do is figure out a way to make the things more power efficient...or at least hold the line. See if they can't squeeze a little bit more responsiveness in to them. A slightly higher resolution screen would be super nice. Something with higher contrast and more grey levels would also be nice, but I won't hold my breath on that unless eInk is "hiding" a new eInk technology. All that plus a front lit screen that actually was pretty diffuse lighting and energy efficient (seems like they should be able to manage that, I have an LED book light that takes a pair of CR lithium button cell batteries that is probably on roughly hour+ and still going strong). Give me that and I will deffinitely go out and get one, especially if it is in the $99 price range. Up around $149 and I'd have to think about it, but give it a few months and I am sure I'll talk myself in to it.