Why are eink screens so gray?

[Sydney's Mom]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If I had that same attitude about meeting people I've met only online, I would not be married to whom I am married. We both fell in love with each other online. We'd never spoken voice or met offline. Kind of hard to meet when she's in the UK and I'm in the USA. But it's almost 4 years and we are quite happy together.

Awwwwwww.

I met in a hotel lobby in Boise and showed someone my and Syd's kindles. It took a little while, but it was right before Christmas, and seemed like a nice thing to do. He brought his father, whom he had bought a kindle for for Christmas (hope he got a kindle2).

[Fledchen]

Originally Posted by Alisa

I do find lighting conditions make a HUGE difference. Sadly, being a bit of an EcoGeek, my lamps all have CFL bulbs which really don't help.

There are some newer types of CFL bulbs that are closer in spectrum to daylight (they look more blue/white and less yellow).

[thibaulthalpern]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

I'm not sure, but are you sure you want white? The gray is really easy on the eyes. It's a similar color to most mass market paperbacks.

I actually read a book the other day in hardcover with white pages and my eyes started hurting.

I think much of this depends on one's preference. Clairefontaine paper, which is often touted as one of the best paper among fountain pen enthusiasts is bright white.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by Fledchen

There are some newer types of CFL bulbs that are closer in spectrum to daylight (they look more blue/white and less yellow).

If you shop online at sites like 1000bulbs.com (no relationship except as a satisfied customer), you can choose the 'color temperature' of the CFL that you buy. You can choose either bulbs with a peak at a specific spot in the spectrum, or even "full spectrum" bulbs that are also broader-spectrum output (and thus more like sunlight). I've been very happy with the 4100K bulbs -- they really help with my wife's S.A.D.!

Xenophon

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by thibaulthalpern

I think much of this depends on one's preference. Clairefontaine paper, which is often touted as one of the best paper among fountain pen enthusiasts is bright white.

Exactly, it is, as you say, a personal preference. I suspect a lot of people do not like the "shiny" paper used in magazines and some books because they read under harsh overly bright lighting. And even under more subdued lighting those type of papers are too reflective to offer a nice reading experience. Personally I do not like them at all. I want bright soft white not a harsh light reflected back to me.

An analogy can be made with the current and completely strange trend in LCD displays & TV's with glossy fronts. Under anything but a very narrow range of lighting conditions these devices are very difficult to use for anything more than brief periods. And if you have any sort of bright background behind you when facing the display you will get a significant amount of eye numbing glare or reflection depending on how one wishes to define each term. Most use them interchangeably which is fine for this purpose here. Again, unless your intention is to watch movies in the dark there is truly no purpose for these sorts of displays as there are far too many trade-offs especially in terms of eye fatigue.

How easy any media is to read from depends on how much light is directly reflected back to your eye and how much is diffused. Diffusion softens how light appears to your eye. A flat or rougher surfaced media will generally, there are exceptions, reflect back a very diffused soft light while retaining the brightness needed for contrast needs. A simply summary is direct reflected non-diffused light is harsher and reflected but diffused light is easier on the eye but is still just as bright. Still the inverse square law applies to light fall off over distance. The diffused light can have a shorter distance in which it is effective.

I guess I am saying glossy white paper is awful to read from for a lot of people. But bright white flat paper is superior for many people. Especially over gray.

I believe the reason fountain pen people like the Clairefontaine paper is how it handles the ink. It does not bleed and holds ink better than other general use papers. Plus it is has great archival properties, is very tear resistant, and it's one of the smoothest papers around. I used some only once and was blown away by it. Too expensive for every day use though and a complete waste of perfectly good paper if used in a color laser printer.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Fledchen

There are some newer types of CFL bulbs that are closer in spectrum to daylight (they look more blue/white and less yellow).

Yes. I actually have those in my reading lamps and they are a great deal better than the old CFLs. Not quite as nice as daylight or some of the full spectrum incandescents I've had, but doable.

[JasonB]

It's funny that nobody, so far, knows the actual answer to the question here. (noonscoomo from the Wizpac txtr thread might have a technical answer.) It seems to me that there's either a technical reason, or it's a matter of user studies.

It was actually one of the first things that I noticed when I saw my Sony the first time. I wondered to myself why it wasn't white, but gray instead. It hasn't detracted from my reading, and I hardly notice it at all any more. I don't know if I prefer it being gray or not - as I haven't ever seen one that's really white to be able to compare. It's fine to speculate that white may be easier or harder to read - but we may not know until somebody actually produces a truly white unit (if it's possible to do so) tests it.

I know I don't like the "glare" of white from LCD screens - but that's not a fair comparison. Is the glare from the colour or the technology? (Perhaps a little of both.)

I'm quite happy with the gray I do have - but I'd be very curious to get my hands on a white unit and see what I've been missing (or not).

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by Renaldo

Just because she hasn't killed and eaten you yet, doesn't mean she's not going to.

And the prize goes to Renaldo for the first cannibalism joke of the day!

I was also expecting a much whiter screen, based on the Sony website pics and seeing Slayda's in bright daylight. Mine is so gray that I've wondered if it was defective. Even in bright sunlight, it just isn't that white. Still, it's better than reading nothing.

My absolute preferred ebook reader is still a PC with a large screen and bright colors. But it doesn't fit into my purse.

[pshrynk]

Well, given a large enough purse...

[jj2me]

I've had my Sony PRS-505 for about a month now, and wish it had a whiter background. (Wow, would I have been disappointed with the PRS-700.) I've felt that way from the beginning.

I just got a couple of print books from the library, older books (Galbraith's "Money" from 1975 was one), and I noticed immediately that I preferred the print on them with their creamy colored paper. A couple of days later I stumbled onto a more objective measure: the, um, bathroom test, where the poor lighting in my bathroom had caused me either to use a booklight with my Sony or magnify to large size print. Yet I had no problems reading the pbooks without a booklight. The print size on these pbooks is approximately somewhere between Sony's small and medium magnification.

Granted I'm not one who has sensitive eyes that are bothered by looking at an LCD screen, so I can see how others might prefer a gray background. Just giving my personal preference and gut reaction to the Sony screen.

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by jj2me

A couple of days later I stumbled onto a more objective measure: the, um, bathroom test,

Is that not the ultimate facility to test any device or talk on the phone?

[thibaulthalpern]

Originally Posted by snipenekkid

I believe the reason fountain pen people like the Clairefontaine paper is how it handles the ink. It does not bleed and holds ink better than other general use papers. Plus it is has great archival properties, is very tear resistant, and it's one of the smoothest papers around. I used some only once and was blown away by it. Too expensive for every day use though and a complete waste of perfectly good paper if used in a color laser printer.

Yes, you're right that that is the reason some fountain pen enthusiasts (which I am one) like Clairefontaine paper. I personally do not like the paper that much even though I use fountain pens almost exclusively. Clairefontaine paper is too white and too smooth. I prefer something more subdued and with a little bit of tooth.

[etherspin]

my cybook screen seems white in direct sunlight and close to white with a good reading lamp, light grey in all other conditions, id love it if it was a tad whiter in low light , id certainly not go for a sony model with a darker white/gray after the lovely but small screen of the cybook

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by etherspin

my cybook screen seems white in direct sunlight and close to white with a good reading lamp, light grey in all other conditions, id love it if it was a tad whiter in low light , id certainly not go for a sony model with a darker white/gray after the lovely but small screen of the cybook

The Sony and the CyBook use the same screen. Come to that, all the 6" devices on the market use the same screen. They come off the same production line in the same factory run by PVI in Taiwan. Different machines use different screen controllers, but that shouldn't affect the "colour" of the screen.

[etherspin]

cool , im not familiar with the sony range, i thought they perhaps had some larger non vizplex type screens like the irex range