[Timboli]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I just don't understand the appeal. An ereader doesn't need to exactly replicate the experience of reading a book just like a cell phone doesn't need to replicate the exact experience of using a rotary dial landline.

Well clearly it is a personal preference thing, and I don't see the comparison as logical myself, with size and pocket-ability being major differences with the phones, whereas with a book and ereader, size is not that different.

I guess for me, who is on the computer much of every day, I would like my ereader to feel more like a traditional book, rather than another computer. In other words give a less computer like experience, and really a book from is tried and true.

Most ereaders at this point are basically a screen and nothing else. So they are what you describe. Perhaps the bezel could be made out of the same soft touch plastic the backs tend to be made of. Not sure if there would be a benefit there.

An ereader is about 3 parts screen and one part plastic edges.
How I imagine a nice (for me) ereader, is one where the ereader is embedded in some kind of cover, that hides the plastic edges with something more friendly.

I can already hold my reader in one hand much easier than I could ever do so with a mass market or trade paperback. Forgot easily holding a hardback in one hand.

I use a cover where the front folds all the way back so that you are just holding the reader.

I likewise hold mine with one hand, but I have the cover open like a physical book, so have a stiff left page, and because my hand is quite large, I have very little issue ... not so my wife with a smaller hand, and so the device feels top heavy to her, and because of that she still prefers to read a physical book, where you have many more places to put your fingers and not so tricky with two hands. And the cover on her ereader is worse, than the cover on mine ... quite floppy in fact, which just acerbates things for her ... the stand ability is mostly to blame for that, but also not as thick and rigid as mine..

Color e-ink would be nice. Otherwise, on the Kobo at least, the cover is the device's sleep screen. So I see the cover about as often as I did when reading paperbacks.

That is good, but color would be better.

The title on the spine I don't consider a benefit. It was mainly useful for finding the book on a bookcase. With my reader I can just search the title from among the hundreds to thousands of books stored on a device that weighs less than a single paperback.

Well I am sure there are many like me, who when asked what you are reading, have a blank moment. If the spine of the ereader case showed the title and author of the currently being read ebook, then no need to fire it up to find out, or in your case open the cover, to see what it is. It's just a little convenience thing, but certainly something I and others miss.

Many of the little benefits don't seem much on their own, but do add up, certainly for some of us ... and that includes being able to see the synopsis of the current ebook you are reading, without having to turn the device on.

But hey, I am talking about ideal here, and I am not suggesting I am unhappy with most elements of my ereaders. And I am certainly not holding out for the ideals I suggest. Things can be improved and better though.

As always, who knows what the future may bring. We don't yet know if e-ink devices will survive, especially with screen improvements etc to tablets.

I dream of a far-off future where an ereader looks exactly like a physical book of old, perhaps even paperback. Where you communicate by voice or mind, to change font size and anything else.

Science will indeed be just like magic when that happens .... but sadly I am unlikely to be around by then.