iPad V e-ink devices

[Tamara]

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.

I honestly don't know how much light I would need for a paper or cheap paperback. I haven't bought either in years.

[Magnesus]

I compared E Ink screen to some newspapers, paperbacks and even old books with yellowish paper. And although I think E Ink is great, it had MUCH less contrast than all of those. Even if the paper was comparable, the letter blackness was much better in paper books / newspapers.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Magnesus

I compared E Ink screen to some newspapers, paperbacks and even old books with yellowish paper. And although I think E Ink is great, it had MUCH less contrast than all of those. Even if the paper was comparable, the letter blackness was much better in paper books / newspapers.

I have had exactly the opposite experience.
It was either as HarryT said or in some cases even better.

[leebase]

Yes, another wonderfully "scientific" article about two people's preferences. I read for hours at a time on my iPad. No strain at all. I simply adjust the brightness to the situation, use a nice large font, and ENJOY!

I love reading on my iPhone -- wasn't sure I'd actually use my iPad for book reading. But, within a couple days, I became hooked. Nice big gorgeous, easy to read screen.

Lee

[astra]

Originally Posted by leebase

Yes, another wonderfully "scientific" article about two people's preferences. I read for hours at a time on my iPad. No strain at all. I simply adjust the brightness to the situation, use a nice large font, and ENJOY!

I love reading on my iPhone -- wasn't sure I'd actually use my iPad for book reading. But, within a couple days, I became hooked. Nice big gorgeous, easy to read screen.

Lee

I am sure it is very personal.
Some 5 years ago, when I was studying, most of study materials were on-line materials and I had 19" LG CRT with 120Hz refresh rate. It was horrible. I decided to buy a laptop and one of the reasons was - no refresh rate. A friend of mine has warned me that I still can get eye strain. It is different from CRT but many people do get eye strain, although some, like him, don't notice it at all.
I didn't believe him.
He was right (as usual).
It was much better than CRT, however, I would get tired far quicker than I expected. With time it became worse.

My point is that there was no eInk. So, it was not eInk vs. LCD holy wars. It was just the reality I had to cope with. I never dreamed of reading ebooks back then because of eye strain.
eInk opened the doors to ebook world for me. As a consequence, any gadget with a backlit screen is out of the list of alternative ebook readers for me.
What does bother me on this forum, is that if I say that I disregard a particular gadget as ebook reader because it has backlit screen, LCD fans claim very loudly that I discriminate LCD screens. For whatever reason they feel like they have to wage a holy war with LCD vs. eInk, us vs. them camps.

Silly, stupid and childish.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by astra

What does bother me on this forum, is that if I say that I disregard a particular gadget as ebook reader because it has backlit screen, LCD fans claim very loudly that I discriminate LCD screens. For whatever reason they feel like they have to wage a holy war with LCD vs. eInk, us vs. them camps.

Silly, stupid and childish.

It goes both ways with the e-ink lovers posting "if it glows it blows" and going around and bashing LCD screens.

Plenty of idiots on both sides that have to go around bashing the other technology and taking digs at people who prefer it.

But that's just the nature of net forums. Doesn't matter what the topic is, you have fanboys who act like that on every site.

[astra]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

It goes both ways with the e-ink lovers posting "if it glows it blows" and going around and bashing LCD screens.

That's me. If somebody posts a topic: New ebook Reader AAA-BBB with 6" LCD screen!
Spec:
Review:
Questions: Would you buy it? Consider it? What do you think?

I always reply and say, no way I would buy a gadget with LCD screen to read ebooks or classify it as an ebook reader. Only eInk for me.
If we had a dedicated LCD forum, and the topic was posted there, then my reply would be qualified to be named: LCD bashing.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by astra

It was much better than CRT, however, I would get tired far quicker than I expected. With time it became worse.

FWIW -- I am not someone who can read a book on a laptop. It does kill my eyes. Even though I work on my laptop all day, I still can't read long form on it.

I did not have that problem with either my iPhone or iPad. I'm sure it has to do with how I hold those devices vs my laptop, and the ease with which I can dim the screen and set the font size. It probably also has something to do with the sizes of those screens. My eyes have to travel a lot further reading on a large computer monitor.

I don't say this for YOU -- but others may find that, like me, there is something different between reading on a computer and reading on an iPad.

Lee

[dmaul1114]

Well there's a difference between saying LCD isn't for you, and posting "if it glows it blows" or other inflammatory comments rather than just respectfully posting that it's not for you.

And I agree with leebase, I hate reading on a computer, but don't have much issues with my girlfriend's iPad. And I do think a lot has to do with the form factor--but like him, not saying it would work for you or anyone else. I couldn't give a crap less what anyone else likes to read on. All that matters is finding the right device for your own needs and reading on it.

[whitepaper]

You can't compare iPad with e-ink, it should be compared with Kindle or sony reader. If you compare iPad and Kindle, sure iPad wins, Kindle is closed and is only purposed for Kindle copyrighted content reading, so their capabilities are completely different.

But if you compare LCD/OLED or whatever monitor with backlight with e-ink, E-ink sure wins in easy eye reading and power saving. What an e-reader needs is a good software, but till now since all the e-ink reader's vendors keep their environment closed, and provide very preliminary app, so no user ever experienced full advantage of e-ink.

[Magnesus]

Originally Posted by astra

I have had exactly the opposite experience.
It was either as HarryT said or in some cases even better.

Really? Maybe my paperbacks are good, most have quite white pages and very black letters even those that are yellowish from age.

I agree though that in any light that the paperback is easy readable the E Ink devices I have or had were also easy readable. So in the regard of readability they are on par even if the contrast varies.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by Magnesus

Really? Maybe my paperbacks are good, most have quite white pages and very black letters even those that are yellowish from age.

I agree though that in any light that the paperback is easy readable the E Ink devices I have or had were also easy readable. So in the regard of readability they are on par even if the contrast varies.

For me it's about a 20% difference. If the light is barely tolerable for a paperback, e-ink will not be sufficient. The difference is even greater with hardcovers and trade paperbacks.

Most of the time, both are fine, but e-ink pretty much always loses in contrast, and almost always loses in readability. I have problems imagining the kind of books some users here have been exposed to, considering their feelings that e-ink is generally equal or superior.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by LDBoblo

For me it's about a 20% difference. If the light is barely tolerable for a paperback, e-ink will not be sufficient. The difference is even greater with hardcovers and trade paperbacks.

Most of the time, both are fine, but e-ink pretty much always loses in contrast, and almost always loses in readability. I have problems imagining the kind of books some users here have been exposed to, considering their feelings that e-ink is generally equal or superior.

That's my impression as well. When reading inside, in the livingroom (where you don't have a specific reading light), I find the Mini harder to read than a real paper book. So, I'll just grab my backlit LCD screen for those situations.

Outside, in bright sunlight (they really have some bright sunlight in Southern Spain!), even when sitting in the shade, I find the e-ink more comfortable to read.

[Lemurion]

I liked the article - it very closely mirrored my own experiences with my Sony 505 and the Droid. I do have the lightwedge cover on the Sony, which makes low-light reading easier, but the Droid really shows its strengths at night.

Personally, if I were to pick just one device for reading it would be the Sony hands down.

However if I were to pick just one device - the Droid would win for its greater functionality. It's not as good for reading, but it's better than my PDAs - and the other capabilities make up for it.

I think I'd feel the same way about the iPad, but I'm not sure. What I really want is the Android answer to the iPad.

[BuddyBoy]

I can read on an LCD for several hours without eyestrain, but I prefer e-ink. For many years I was using the Rocket/RCA/Gemstar books - I loved the backlit screens, especially for reading at night, not to mention the ergonomics of the 1150.

When it comes to the iPad and reading, in my opinion, it's strengths are for colour illustrated books, and night reading. My only reservation with night reading is the size and weight. I own an REB1200 and GEM2150, the larger colour ebook readers, and found they were just to big and heavy to hold comfortably in bed. I preferred the grayscale and lightweight 1150.

Doesn't mean I not getting an iPad (picking one up in California next month!), but I doubt it will usurp my PRS505 anytime soon.

Edited to Add: Forgot the other strenght of the iPad vis-a-vis reading: Magazines! I'm going to be getting SO much more use out of my Zinio subscriptions.