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Everyone can choose whichever they prefer: a tablet with a matte screen, a colour e-reader with Kaleido 3, or a monochrome e-reader (Carta 1200). This is one possible scenario, but there are many others where the choice may vary.
The point is that when we talk about colour e-readers, we always assume the worst-case scenario (black text without the light on, and of course without any reference to colour, which is why people buy this type of device), whereas with tablets or monochrome e-readers, the scenario is always the best-case scenario. We’re not talking about using a tablet on the beach in summer or in a park in winter under the sun, nor are we talking about a monochrome e-reader for viewing colour content. Every device has its purpose and its best or worst possible use. Colour e-readers certainly don’t excel at anything: they don’t have excellent contrast, nor natural and vibrant colours, and their screen without using lighting is too dark for reading novels (with colour, it’s a different story). But they aren’t incomplete devices; you can use them, for better or worse, to read anything and in any situation. You can read a novel and view colour content, something you cannot do with a monochrome e-reader. Or you can read with or without lighting, indoors or outdoors, something you cannot do with a tablet. If used in the best possible way, in the way that provides the best viewing experience, it can bring great satisfaction to its users. And indeed it does. Colour e-readers are not products that are poorly rated by their users. There will be those who don’t like them at all (just as I don’t like reading on a tablet), but for many people they are perfectly acceptable and, even with their limitations, they prefer them to monochrome e-readers or tablets. Fortunately, there is space for all these devices and for all our preferences. But I simply cannot understand this obsession with repeating over and over again that colour e-readers are useless. And the worst thing is that it doesn’t even reflect the reality of e-reader users.
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