iPad V e-ink devices

[Graham]

The article posed the very reasonable question of whether the eReading experience was better on an iPad or a Kindle under various lighting conditions. Whether or not the iPad is marketed as an eReader is completely irrelevant.

Graham

[Penforhire]

Interesting experiment. Thanks for the link.

The value of the comparison is higher for those of us who are heavy readers and will consider buying a $400-odd device in the near future, but not two. The writer was clear to separate the conditions so if you never read under open sky just ignore that condition in his report. I do not understand why anyone feels the need to point to it as a deficiency in Jason's report. Some of us do, in fact, read under open skies from time to time.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Interesting experiment. Thanks for the link.

The value of the comparison is higher for those of us who are heavy readers and will consider buying a $400-odd device in the near future, but not two. The writer was clear to separate the conditions so if you never read under open sky just ignore that condition in his report. I do not understand why anyone feels the need to point to it as a deficiency in Jason's report. Some of us do, in fact, read under open skies from time to time.

Agreed.

And having just now read the piece, he was fair and also talked about the benefits of the iPad in dim lighting which many e-ink lovers leave out when bashing lcd screens poor performance in direct sunlight.

So it was a fair comparison IMO.

[CleverClothe]

Originally Posted by ac4lt

I have an onyx boox bought just a couple of months ago. I would hope it's been fixed but there are at least some displays that act like this out in the wild.

All you need to do is shade the screen while it refreshes. A piece of paper, the shadow from your hand, or even just angling the screen away from the sun for a moment. I think the heat (or maybe ultraviolet light) gives the screen trouble when it tries to move the dye around.

[dmikov]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Pretty unfair to take the iPad to task for not working in daylight when it's not designed / marketed for such.

If one wants a device to use outdoors, then one should pick a screen suited / designed for such --- an e-ink or transflective LCD (I just picked up a Fujitsu Stylistic 4121 w/ indoor/outdoor screen and am finding it has transformed how I used my Tablet PC).

William

Really? How about using the worst e-ink display (Sony 700) of all time for comparison - fair?

[astra]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Pretty unfair to take the iPad to task for not working in daylight when it's not designed / marketed for such.

If one wants a device to use outdoors, then one should pick a screen suited / designed for such --- an e-ink or transflective LCD (I just picked up a Fujitsu Stylistic 4121 w/ indoor/outdoor screen and am finding it has transformed how I used my Tablet PC).

William

It is a gadget marketed as ebook reader amongst other features. Moreover, one could say that ebook reading is being advertised as one of the most important features of iPad. Since reading outdoors is a very common thing it is a fair thing to do.

[daveps]

Doesn't the Onyx Boox have a touch screen? If so that's why it won't work in full sunlight, same reason you cannot play a Nintendo DS in full sunlight, the touch screen is very reflective?

[Magnesus]

Originally Posted by daveps

Doesn't the Onyx Boox have a touch screen?

Onyx Boox has Wacom touchscreen which is UNDER the E Ink layer. It works great in full sunlight.

Sunlight problem - washing out during page flip - afflicts only some faulty batches of E Ink screens.

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by gastan

From Apples own website under their short list of "iPad at a glance":

Originally Posted by Shaggy

...It's being marketed as a multimedia tablet which also happens to include an eBook app.

Yes, that is what I said if you read past my first sentence.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Tamara

My biggest gripe with e-ink is needing so much light to read at night in bed or in any low light situation.

The contrast of current eInk screens is on a par with that of newspapers, or cheap paperbacks. They can be read in any light that you could read those in.

[badbob001]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

So I don't think it's silly to complain about lcd devices not being good in direct sunlight, but to be objective such reviews should also note that e-ink devices aren't great in dim lighting and require hassling with clip on lights etc.

Eh, you did read the review, right?

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by badbob001

Eh, you did read the review, right?

Not at the time of that post, see my later post above where I finally got time to read it and said it was a fair review.

So yeah, first post was off base as I assumed it was more of the typical "if it glows it blows" nonsense from e-ink lovers. But it wasn't and was a fair review of the pros and cons of each type of device.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The contrast of current eInk screens is on a par with that of newspapers, or cheap paperbacks. They can be read in any light that you could read those in.

Which is why I like LCD.

It's more readable in my typical reading conditions than either e-ink or the cheap paperbacks I usually read before.

[WillAdams]

Agreed. It's a very well-done writeup --- it's just that the results shouldn't be surprising to anyone w/ experience w/ the technologies, and it's unfortunate that it doesn't mention the possibilities afforded by other technologies (or turn that around --- it's unfortunate that transflective LCDs aren't more widely available).

William

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by badbob001

Eh, you did read the review, right?

You expect people to actually read the review that we're discussing? What a silly idea.