Quote:
Originally Posted by AprilHare
I am a long time fan of eInk and I was wondering: what does the casual user think of the difference between what the iPad offers in terms of quality of display compared to a good eInk display for good old plain eBooks?
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Back to original poster question. First off let's not compare iPad to 3 year old device Sony 505 or poorly implemented screen on 600. Let's compare it to new wave of e-ink devices. And let's keep it to book reading, I am sure iPad is a magical device for some people because of other things.
My latest reader is IREX 800 and it has a few thing better then iPad which for me makes it a better reader device.
1. Screen. IREX screen is much sharper. Resolution is the same as iPad (1024x768) but on a slightly smaller screen 8.1 vs 9.7 dpi count is higher. Contrast without putting backlight on iPad to highest (to burn the back of your head) also seems better on IREX almost like one month old laser printout.
Plus although IPad supposedly have IPS and should be viewable 178 degree, I see brightness falling toward edges on the screen, which is annoying.
Plus for me the screen shimmers a little, LCD refresh is a refresh after all, but I know there is not many people who will notice that.
2. Screen is smaller,
which for me coupled with small bezel and light weight is a boon. It allows for one hand operation (comfortable). Some people will see it as disadvantage of course and will be right for their purposes.
3. Portability and battery life - IREX wins and wins again.
4. Software: IREX is not perfect, but it's getting there with new firmware, but it wins over iBook even now, the inability to change fonts and remove margins on screen is unacceptable. IPad is already have ginormous bezel adding to it margins and fake real book trappings puts the usable readable area to less then what I have on 8.1" IREX 800 and that on device that is twice as big by itself.
5. Ergonomics, now here your mileage will vary. For
me one handed operation is a must. I left paper books because of this few years back and don't want to go back to it again.
6. Page refresh, since I tested only text and min graphics - they were about the same imperceptibly small. I would imagine however that on graphic rich pages iPad will pull quite ahead.
So for reading experience it looks like new e-ink crop like Onyx or IREX is better then iPad.
Some features of iPad like big screen or backlit or page refresh might be more important for some people even not considering additional features though.
But I certainly wouldn't recommend it to my friends if they are interested in book reading.
P.S. I read all previous posts, so please don't feel obligated to extol the virtues of video player or game platform of iPad... AGAIN. I was answering the original poster question.