Light Required

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ransom

I'm hoping that someone will find a way to manufacture a unit that has both an E-Ink Screen and a backlight for night reading. I'm not sure if it's possible to do both, but boy would that sell.

An eInk screen is opaque, hence cannot be back-lit.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by HarryT

An eInk screen is opaque, hence cannot be back-lit.

Sounds as if he might be asking for an updated Pixel Qi eReader.

A few months back, I noticed someone on MobileRead was selling a Samsung Netbook with a Pixel Qi screen installed. If the thread hadn't been geared toward a sale, I would have loved to ask detailed questions about how that screen worked out for reading.

[Hughdal]

47 posts and at least I've found 1 other Sony PRS700 supporter. Guess we'll be bidding it up and up when one comes on eBay. One poster asked why I was so adament for a light (built in). I guess it comes down to being able to read at any time. The PRS700 is usable in day light / artifical light although the e-ink screen is greyish and not so paper like. The beauty comes when the artifical light is taken away and with one switch flick reading continues. My anology is liken to the car. What's the point of having a car if you can only drive in the daytime? Solution: Add lights.

Thanks to all the posters who passed on their experience with add-on lights. My read on them still is they are gadgets not solutions (sorry Harry). To date the most portable light solution i've seen is the minature miners helmets, in the the 21st centuary this is just not good enough. E-ink changed the reading habits of millions of readers something not even the PC could do. As e-ink, LED and LCD technology improves I would be willing to bet a compact, long battery life, clear screen reader with built in light is just around the corner.

Hughdal

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Hughdal

Thanks to all the posters who passed on their experience with add-on lights. My read on them still is they are gadgets not solutions (sorry Harry).

No need to apologise - what works for YOU is the important thing. You're happy with your PRS-700; I'm happy with my Kindle with lighted case. We're both happy bunnies . You're absolutely right in saying that it's the convenience of always having the light available that's the important thing, rather than having to mess around with external gadgets. My Kindle is always in its case. In poor light, I just pull the light out from the corner of the case and bingo, light!

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by Hughdal

47 posts and at least I've found 1 other Sony PRS700 supporter. Guess we'll be bidding it up and up when one comes on eBay. ...
... To date the most portable light solution i've seen is the minature miners helmets, in the the 21st centuary this is just not good enough. E-ink changed the reading habits of millions of readers something not even the PC could do. As e-ink, LED and LCD technology improves I would be willing to bet a compact, long battery life, clear screen reader with built in light is just around the corner.

Don't worry Hugh, my Sony 700 is still going strong so you wont have to worry about me bidding against you. I just went on eBay and there are 4 for sale. One ends in 4 hrs that's still at $75.

I have a few of those head lamps. I'm going to have to try reading with one and see if it's comfortable.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by Hughdal

To date the most portable light solution i've seen is the minature miners helmets, in the the 21st centuary this is just not good enough.

I can't really agree with that statement, as the mining hat is the exact opposite of the 700's light. It is the furthest from the screen of any of the lights we've mentioned and the 700's is the closest.

The closest things to your desired effect (the lighting effect of the 700) would be (1) a reader light with more than one LED, which clips to the side of the reader and lights the entirety of it, or (2) a 350 with lighted case. Since most people don't read their devices without a cover, I'm not quite following why the idea of a lighted cover seems repugnantly complicated to you. Your device is in its cover already and the light, which is part of it and adds no bulk, turns on automatically when you lift it into position.

While the light is not installed at the edges of the screen like the 700's, a multi-LED clip-on can create that effect, and a lighted cover comes far closer to that effect than a mining light would. Besides which, you would not have to constantly realign your skull to the page when sitting in otherwise comfortable positions. Better to get comfortable and then be able to adjust the light than to have to become your own midnight yoga instructor.

The lighted sides of the 700 in the dark are as distracting to me as the silver color of of certain models: You want the text at the center of the screen to be the brightest spot, not the blank areas around it. For me, that sort of lighting would be more distracting than having no light at all.

That's why light that is inches away from the text can be less distracting if positioned so that the entire screen is bright but the direct glare of the light source is deflected by its angle relative to the person reading.

In that sense, the most seamless reading experience for you would have been either a (1) Sony case with built-in light or (2) netbook custom-fitted with a Pixel Qi. The Qi's transflective LCD is analogous to a car as well: unlit by day, backlit by night.

[Prestidigitweeze]

One last thing: I'm not suggesting you should substitute a solution that seems more logical for the 700 which gives you such pleasure. You're obviously happy with your choice and that's the important thing.