LCD vs. e-ink

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by radleyp

Maggie, I apologize for my misquoting you, but don't make assumptions about how I read. If you look to the left, you will see that I have an ipad, an iphone and a Kindle, and I read on all of them. I was merely saying that I find reading outdoors on an LCD screen difficult, and in any case I do most of my reading indoors.

I'm not clear where I have assumed anything about your reading habits. If I have indicated that, that wasn't my intent.

By the way, if I look to the left, I see no device listed under your name.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by radleyp

Several people on this thread have spoken of LCD screens which are quite readable in daylight. Really? Which screens? I have never seen LCD screens which are not completely washed out in sunlight, whether on a phone or a computer. If I want to read my iphone (transflective) screen outdoors, I have to duck into a doorway or turn it to bizarre, even extreme, angles. Please identify this readable-in-sunlight LCD screen.

In my case, it's a PDA, and it's quite readable outdoors: all I need to do is turn off the backlight. (The older PDA it replaced wouldn't ley me turn the backlight off, and did have problems outdoors.)

My first PDA was green screen mono, and readable in either environment. It's the color screens that get problematic.

That said, when concerns about reading outdoors are expressed, the first question is "How much do you actually read outdoors?". While I can read outdoors, for example, I usually don't. If I'm outdoors I'm in transit, and reading while doing things like crossing busy streets is inadvisable. The vast majority of my reading is indoors in artificial light.

So while the ability to read outdoors is desirable, lack of it isn't a deal breaker, as I seldom actually do it.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Seanette

I know, you didn't ask me , but I'm switching over from a Palm TX to an iTouch currently. I was using Mobireader with it, which was fine for my (very basic) needs. My DH, still using his Palm TX, favors Plucker.

I do think text looks better on the iTouch (using iBooks. Stanza hates me).

They may well.

Plucker under Palm OS 5 supports custom fonts, and I use a conversion of a font originally developed for Android as the default.

Mobi on Palm OS offers custom fonts, but their offering is so small as to be unreadable on my device. I use FonthackV for OS 5 to enable custom fonts by application, and use some serif fonts converted by MR contributor Alex Pruss's Font Converter in Mobi.

The iTouch uses a higher resolution screen and has better font support than something like the TX, so I suspect you'll find books will look better. The measures I mention above make things look good enough - I can read comfortably, and get a reasonable amount of wordage per screen.
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Dennis

[radleyp]

Maggie, you spoke of my not wanting to read outdoors on an LCD screen, go back and read your post. In any case, I am dropping this conversation, as I did not mean to start an argument, and I again apologize for doing so. BTW, when I post, I see all my devices listed below my signature and I assume anyone who reads my comments sees this as well.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by radleyp

Maggie, you spoke of my not wanting to read outdoors on an LCD screen, go back and read your post. In any case, I am dropping this conversation, as I did not mean to start an argument, and I again apologize for doing so. BTW, when I post, I see all my devices listed below my signature and I assume anyone who reads my comments sees this as well.

I said "if" because I don't know your preferences. I mentioned the devices that I use because you asked, so you might've been looking for an LCD device that you could read outdoors. I tried to answer your question, then you posted your belligerent reply. I'll leave it at that. I make no apology for trying to have a reasonable discussion.

I'm on iPad and see no sig on your posts. Maybe that's an iPad problem. As much as I like the device, I don't think it's perfect.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by radleyp

I have not read anywhere that the iphone has an ambient light sensor, but even if it does, I am describing my experience, and I have nothing covered up.

Even if it does? Seriously?
Transreflective screens are supposed to go between backlit mode and reflective mode. That can only done manually (change a setting) or automatically (ambient light sensor). I don't own an iphone so I don't know, but I assumed that it wasn't the manual kind, otherwise you would have changed the setting.

[radleyp]

Dennis, you turn off the backlight to read in daylight, what would be the effect of turning it up?

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

I'm on iPad and see no sig on your posts. Maybe that's an iPad problem. As much as I like the device, I don't think it's perfect.

I'm on a PC, and I don't see his devices. Actually I don't even see "Device:".

[radleyp]

Sil_lis, you are right about transflective screens, but in daylight even they are not as good as eink. They are, however, better than non-transflective screens.

[radleyp]

I am also on a PC, but I do know that our office system has had problems. Here is what my signature is supposed to look like:

Philippe Radley
New York City
iPhone4 w/bluetooth headsets
Kindle Global Wireless
iPad

If you did not see this, I can understand the confusion, I thought this was visible since I was seeing it. I am curious to know if anyone else looking at my posts does not see the devices listed. I just checked on my ipad and I do see the devices listed.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by radleyp

Sil_lis, you are right about transflective screens, but in daylight even they are not as good as eink. They are, however, better than non-transflective screens.

Can't argue with that. That's why I'm getting E-ink.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Even if it does? Seriously?
Transreflective screens are supposed to go between backlit mode and reflective mode. That can only done manually (change a setting) or automatically (ambient light sensor). I don't own an iphone so I don't know, but I assumed that it wasn't the manual kind, otherwise you would have changed the setting.

iPhone 4 and iPad have ambient light sensors. You see the backlight change if you put your finger over the sensor. There might be wonky ones floating about, though.

[radleyp]

Thanks for the information, I did not know that about the iphone.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by radleyp

If you did not see this, I can understand the confusion, I thought this was visible since I was seeing it.

I see your signature now, and I don't remember seeing it before, but in my defense, you did say:

Originally Posted by radleyp

If you look to the left, you will see that I have an ipad, an iphone and a Kindle, and I read on all of them.

[radleyp]

You are right, I should have said "below".