Have e-Readers been superseded by Tablets and Phones

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sure they are - they just aren't commercially available yet. I'm sure you recall that Amazon bought Liquavista: the "electrowetting" technology they're developing is very promising, and promises good low-power daylight-readable colour displays.

I hope liquavista turns out to be a lot better than mirasol. I had a hands on mirasol demo a few years ago, and eye fatigue was almost immediate. It also had a lot of glare, even indoors.

[Froide]

OT:


Anybody know what device Caroline was reading on in the Holdsworth House Hotel & Resort restaurant, until Kate joined her, in Last Tango in Halfix season 2, episode 4?

[Barty]

^^^ love that show. That looks like 4:3 AR so I think it's an iPad.

[Froide]

Originally Posted by Barty

^^^ love that show. That looks like 4:3 AR so I think it's an iPad.

Thanks for the quick reply!
(I love Last Tango in Halifax, as well. Happy Valley - also starring Sarah Lancashire and executive produced by Sally Wainwright - is aces, too.)

[Barty]

I've been kind of sick for a few days and haven't done much book reading but only browsing and other stuff on my nook HD+. Today, switching back to the paperwhite, I'm struck by how lousy the contrast is. Everything is so gray! Turning up the light makes the background lighter but also makes the text grayer too so it's kind of a wash. Not that the glare on the tablet isn't tiring, but using light text on dark background does help (for me). In any event, neither choice is close to ideal as far as I'm concerned.

Hopefully a better tech will come along and I can look back at e-ink and think ewww, can't believe I read on that and paid good money for it too.

[saoir]

I disagree comprehensively. I find the contrast wonderful. Beautifully crisp text makes my reading relaxing and enjoyable. 30 books this year already.

[Mivo]

Well, I don't terribly mind reading on the Nexus 7 (323 dpi one), but it is much more comfortable for me to read e-books on an e-ink device. As mentioned before, I also sleep better if I don't read on a backlit tablet. If e-ink devices were disconnected, which I don't believe will happen for quite some time, I'd probably stock up on a few Kobos and hope that by the time the last one breaks, there will better alternatives than the current tablets and phones.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Mivo

Well, I don't terribly mind reading on the Nexus 7 (323 dpi one), but it is much more comfortable for me to read e-books on an e-ink device. As mentioned before, I also sleep better if I don't read on a backlit tablet. If e-ink devices were disconnected, which I don't believe will happen for quite some time, I'd probably stock up on a few Kobos and hope that by the time the last one breaks, there will better alternatives than the current tablets and phones.

I concur. But given the seeming popularity of the new Kindle Voyage, as well as the Kobo H2O, I don't think eink readers are going to disappear any time soon.

[Mivo]

I agree, I don't really see e-ink devices going anywhere. While I'm not an Amazon customer, their dominant market position ensures that awareness and interest in e-ink devices remain alive. They really do provide a much better reading experience and it's hard to settle for anything else when you're used to them. Sure, I wouldn't want to carry around two or three devices, but I rarely took paper books anywhere either, so nothing really changed for me. My Kobo lives at home, just like paper books used to (still do, I find it hard to let them go).

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Mivo

They really do provide a much better reading experience and it's hard to settle for anything else when you're used to them.

Once again, I don't think these are quite the universal truisms that many like/want to assume they are. I don't think eink is going anywhere anytime soon (if ever) either, but honestly ... why the insistance on bestowing universal and inherent "betterness" upon eink devices (especially for "serious" readers)? Why the need to suggest eink preference is somehow more than just preference alone? Is preference and availability not enough?

[saoir]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Once again, I don't think these are quite the universal truisms that many like/want to assume they are. I don't think eink is going anywhere anytime soon (if ever) either, but honestly ... why the insistance on bestowing universal and inherent "betterness" upon eink devices (especially for "serious" readers)? Why the need to suggest eink preference is somehow more than just preference alone? Is preference and availability not enough?

Not when it is better. Carrying a selection of books around at all times is so liberating. Never losing once place. The ease on the eye is far better than white paper books imho which always gave me glare problems.
I bring my Kindle everywhere. I read it in cafe's, waiting rooms, receptions, on the bus an the tram and in the airplane. I can chose at all times between any one of the books I have ready, and when I finish one I know I have another right there waiting.
Yes the tablet does the job, technically. But the screen is far far harder on the eyes and it brings a load of other distractions with it.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by saoir

Yes the tablet does the job, technically. But the screen is far far harder on the eyes and it brings a load of other distractions with it.

Once again ... we've been over this. You're confusing your own preferences with some universal, inherent "better" that just doesn't really exist (and doesn't need to exist). Allow me to show you what you meant to say:

Yes, I could do this with a tablet. And it would the job, technically. But the screen is far far harder on my eyes and I'd be easily distracted by all the other stuff that comes installed on it.

I can assure you that your original statement does not apply to me and many others ... at all (and yes ... I started with an eink device).

So I ask again; why the desire for your preference to be more than just your preference?

[sl42]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Once again, I don't think these are quite the universal truisms that many like/want to assume they are. I don't think eink is going anywhere anytime soon (if ever) either, but honestly ... why the insistance on bestowing universal and inherent "betterness" upon eink devices (especially for "serious" readers)? Why the need to suggest eink preference is somehow more than just preference alone? Is preference and availability not enough?

I suppose it is a matter of preference - I spent a couple years with a tablet which did have better "contrast" than an e-ink display, but that contrast was between black pixels and white glowing pixels so it is hard for an unlit eink display to compete on that front. And of course that contrast advantage only exists in a relatively dark room - outdoors or near windows on a bright day I couldn't see anything but glare on the screen. Hell I couldn't tell you what program was running in sunlight, let alone actually read any text on the screen!

BUT, reading on a tablet meant staring at a clearly digital screen with visible pixels. With two (admittedly low power) magnifying glasses ganged together I still cannot tell that there are pixels of any kind on my Kobo Mini.

Now yes, the e-ink screen is slightly grey in appearance, hence the "better contrast" for a white glowing phone/tablet screen - but text quality is *SO* much better on eink that there really is no comparison. It's so good that there is really little room for improvement - sure, a whiter screen would be nice and since I have a reader with no light, that would be nice too - but you couldn't actually improve the resolution any (or if you could it wouldn't matter any because it is already impossible to see pixels with the aided eye let alone unaided).

Now my tablet was old (I purchased it toward the end of 2011)- maybe there are tablets now that are readable in sunlight and have a higher DPI than the human eye can detect, but I haven't seen any yet. And of course even if a tablet *could* ever reach the text quality and readability of my now discontinued bottom of the line Kobo Mini, could it come anywhere close the battery life? But that's another issue.

[conan50]

It is all about preference and individual needs. I have mostly retired my PW1 and use my Kindle Fire HD (2013) to read from. It has better contrast, the fonts look better to me, and 10 hour battery. Plus I can switch to text-to-speech if my eyes get tired. I also have my Bible app with audio versions available. The tablet gives me more options, which I like, in one device, and can serve as a computer with email, calculator, calendar, note-taking abilities, and more. I think e-ink ereaders and their enthusiasts will be around for a long time. Yet I believe smartphones and small tablets are going to grow in popularity because of people only wanting to carry one device, and that device being able to do more than one thing. Amazon has removed features from their e-ink devices, certainly since the Kindle Keyboard. Meanwhile their tablets have never looked better, never been at better prices, never been in such a small form factor. We will see what shakes out in the next few iterations of tablets, but my bet is on tablets. E-ink really has nowhere else to go, but tablet screens will continue to improve, as will battery life, but as it is tablets are pretty good.

[DuckieTigger]

*sigh*

Can we please stop pretending that resolution doesn't matter? The argument that it may matter on lcd, but not on eink is absurd. It matters on both. It even matters way past the point of your eyes beeing able to distinguish individual pixels.