Introducing the All-New Fire HD 8 Reader’s Edition

[leebase]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I'm always surprised when I see people say that videos look good on lower resolution tablets.

Maybe it's my "low definition eyes". But I quite enjoy watching movies on the Fire 7

[tomsem]

I think the key is to achieve 'smooth' playback, so the brain doesn't pick up annoying 'artifacts'-without those, it will just 'perceive' detail and clarity. After all you only have sharp focus in a very narrow area of the retina, and only if you stop a frame can you see where the compromises are. Smooth playback is easier to achieve when the bandwidth is narrower and there are fewer pixels to manipulate.

[SolRaven]

You could use an app like Twilight, and get the same effect that Amazon is marketing as something exclusive.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Shane R

And now the google has responded too:

http://officialandroid.blogspot.com/...ght-light.html

The 'Night Light' release of Google Play Books finally showed up this evening in Google Play and App Store. I'm not sold on the 'black text on orange background' settings (White and Sepia are virtually indistinguishable), but with the Black theme, orange text, hmm, not so bad. But then I've been reading exclusively with Black theme for a number of months in the various reading apps I use (mostly Amazon's).

By happy coincidence, my Android phone finally got updated to Lollipop today as well (Stagefright security breach finally gone). But where, or where is the Fire HD6 update?

But it looks like I'll be playing with this and also Word Runner vs Spritz (the Kindle app for Android supports Word Runner, and Spritz works with any app that uses TTS, such as Play Books).

Screenshots attached. Note that these can only suggest how it really looks. The color is a lot more saturated in the screenshots than as it appears on the device.

OneNote started putting this floating badge thing in the corner of the screen, not sure if I like it.

[fjtorres]

The Digital Reader Blog has a comprehensive look at the Blue Filter feature:

http://the-digital-reader.com/category/hardware-news/

Lots of screen shots.

As for the bogus research report of a few months back what made it bogus was that they researched tablets (iPads only, at that) and claimed it applied to ereaders.

No understanding shown that the products are two entirely different beasts. That was and remains bogus.

Beyond that, blue filters are, like most display settings, a matter of personal taste.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The Digital Reader Blog has a comprehensive look at the Blue Filter feature:

http://the-digital-reader.com/category/hardware-news/

Lots of screen shots.

As for the bogus research report of a few months back what made it bogus was that they researched tablets (iPads only, at that) and claimed it applied to ereaders.

No understanding shown that the products are two entirely different beasts. That was and remains bogus.

Beyond that, blue filters are, like most display settings, a matter of personal taste.

Speaking with my physicist's hat on, I really don't see that it would make a difference. It's the light that (supposedly) causes the issue, and both devices have lighting LEDs. An eInk reader is frontlit, and a tablet is backlit, but your eyes don't care whether photons that enter them come through a screen or are reflected off it. A photon is a photon. If light from the blue part of the spectrum causes sleep issues, that should be equally true for front- and backlit readers.

Can you elaborate on why you believe the research to be invalid?

[fjtorres]

Not the research. The paper.
Not everybody has a lighted ereader, not everybody with a lighted reader uses it all the time, and the lighting is different in the two products. Tablet lighting lasts perpendicular to the screen surface directly into the user' eyes while frontlit readers illuminate parallel to the surface and the light that reaches the eye is scattered.
Very different lighting systems, very different light profile, possibly different spectra.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Not the research. The paper.
Not everybody has a lighted ereader, not everybody with a lighted reader uses it all the time, and the lighting is different in the two products. Tablet lighting lasts perpendicular to the screen surface directly into the user' eyes while frontlit readers illuminate parallel to the surface and the light that reaches the eye is scattered.
Very different lighting systems, very different light profile, possibly different spectra.

oookay. So, is there some magic in reflected light off of paper that filters out that blue light? No.

Does scattered light reach your eyes? Uh...no. Light reflecting off of paper that is scattered...misses your eye. If the light makes it into your eye then it's at the same angle as any other light making it into your eye.

What you get from reflected light is it's AUTOMATICALLY at the level of the ambient light. People already tend to have room lighting that's comfortable, ergo, the reflected light is comfortable.

So just turn your tablet/phone light to match the room light level, or any level you find comfortable.

Or just take a megawatt light and shine it on your book and seek if your eyes don't smart. Cuz...you know...it's not about reflection, but light level. You go outside in light so bright that it hurts your eyes...you won't be able to read a book comfortably in that light either.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by leebase

oookay. So, is there some magic in reflected light off of paper that filters out that blue light? No.

Does scattered light reach your eyes? Uh...no. Light reflecting off of paper that is scattered...misses your eye. If the light makes it into your eye then it's at the same angle as any other light making it into your eye.

What you get from reflected light is it's AUTOMATICALLY at the level of the ambient light. People already tend to have room lighting that's comfortable, ergo, the reflected light is comfortable.

So just turn your tablet/phone light to match the room light level, or any level you find comfortable.

Or just take a megawatt light and shine it on your book and seek if your eyes don't smart. Cuz...you know...it's not about reflection, but light level. You go outside in light so bright that it hurts your eyes...you won't be able to read a book comfortably in that light either.

Precisely my point. There is exactly zero difference between directly-emitted and reflected light as far as your eyes are concerned. It's all about light levels, not the path by which the light reaches your eyes.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Precisely my point. There is exactly zero difference between directly-emitted and reflected light as far as your eyes are concerned. It's all about light levels, not the path by which the light reaches your eyes.

No, it is not just about the light levels.
The path matters to the polarization of the light.
LCd light is uniformly polarized while ereader scattered light is a random mixture of polarizations. Try looking at an LCD through polarized glasses.
Another thing that matters is that ereader front lights use unfiltered LEDs which is why the hue varies from unit to unit. Some yellowish, some faintly green or occasionally blue. LCD backlight, however, always runs through filters: red-green-blue.
white backgrounds on lcd always put out blue light which is what the software filters do: they mute the intensity of the blue pixels. Because about a third of thelight coming out of white sections is pure blue.
The actual amount of blue light will vary depending on design so you can't really use measurements from one iPad model to another much less other brands. And applying those measurements to an entirely different lighting system is just bad science.

The blue light effect is real but it is primarily a color display issue.

[leebase]

Yes...and scientific evidence with literally almost a dozen participants proves it.

It's all hogwash.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

No, it is not just about the light levels.
The path matters to the polarization of the light.
LCd light is uniformly polarized while ereader scattered light is a random mixture of polarizations. Try looking at an LCD through polarized glasses.

Perfectly true, but I'm pretty sure that the human eye can't detect polarisation, can it?

Another thing that matters is that ereader front lights use unfiltered LEDs which is why the hue varies from unit to unit. Some yellowish, some faintly green or occasionally blue. LCD backlight, however, always runs through filters: red-green-blue.
white backgrounds on lcd always put out blue light which is what the software filters do: they mute the intensity of the blue pixels. Because about a third of thelight coming out of white sections is pure blue.
The actual amount of blue light will vary depending on design so you can't really use measurements from one iPad model to another much less other brands. And applying those measurements to an entirely different lighting system is just bad science.

The blue light effect is real but it is primarily a color display issue.

I fully accept your point, but I really do think that this is first and foremost an issue with many tablet users having the backlight set too high in dim light (or, indeed, the tablet's firmware not allowing the light level to be set sufficiently low).

[Atunah]

My new zenfone has a bluelight filter built in. Its part of the zenUI so just a click on the regular pull down thingy. Its really nice. I always use it when I read on my phone.

I put that twilight app on my fire6, but I can't quite get it right as there is fiddling involved. I don't like when I have to fiddle with stuff. On my phone its just on or off, it works. On that app I have to figure out where I want the slider and the colors. Plus, to use it I have to get out of my book, find the app, turn it on, go back to the book. Don't know if it uses more battery as I haven't used it long enough on it.

I really hope my fire6 gets that new update and it includes that filter built in.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Atunah

My new zenfone has a bluelight filter built in. Its part of the zenUI so just a click on the regular pull down thingy. Its really nice. I always use it when I read on my phone.

Do you really find that it makes a difference? I've been reading on LCD screens for 30-odd years now, and find that they make not one jot of difference to going to sleep. Perhaps it's something that varies from person to person.

[John Hopper]

I use the Twilight app on my smartphone. I have it set to come on at sunset and off at sunrise automatically. It's controlled from the pull down notifications so easy to access. My eyes don't tire when I use this to go online, etc., so it definitely makes a difference (albeit that I don't read books on my phone anyway).