Dedicated E-Readers: They're History

[Maggie Leung]

Dedicated e-readers will exist as long as people vote with their money and create enough profit for the device makers. That's just business.

Not everyone will want a dedicated device, but niche markets still get served, especially if the tech is cheap to produce relative to sale price. With dedicated e-readers, there's also the advantage of subsidizing the hardware costs through the selling of content. Stats indicate that heavy readers often prefer dedicated hardware and buy more books. To me, those types of stats indicate that dedicated e-readers will continue to exist, even with tech advances in multiple-use devices such as iPad.

About 15 years ago, I got hooked on Tetris. It was the only game I played, and I bought a hand-held Game Boy (not cheap) to play it. Nowadays, they sell a dedicated device to play Tetris and nothing but; it sells for about 20 bucks. Tech has long advanced, but that's just one instance of demand still driving production.

[leebase]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

. It will take 2-3 years before color screen technology has advanced to the point that they will be as energy efficient and suitable for long term reading for everybody as e-ink is. .

The iPad already has infinite battery life. You just plug it in at night, the battery lasts all day. Eink is it's own desirable feature and they will always be a lot cheaper. The tablets aren't going to have to do anything to compete with eink readers.

Lee

[pholy]

Even if you assume that plugging your iPad in every night is the same as an infinite battery... the batteries still only last for one or two thousand charges; six years, at most. If you plug your e-ink device in every two weeks, that's about 84 years. Just don't sit on it

[GERGE]

When you use nook and see the LCD and eInk screens side by side, you understand that LCD screens is horrible for reading. I don't think they will ever die. Maybe evolve.

[Spiffy]

Originally Posted by GERGE

When you use nook and see the LCD and eInk screens side by side, you understand that LCD screens is horrible for reading. I don't think they will ever die. Maybe evolve.

Yes, its called "Reflective LCD", and it will probably replace both technologies.

So really this debate is silly. It will be the SAME screens on dedicated e-Readers and Mobile Internet Devices, and the MIDs will only cost marginally more and yet still do e-book reading (again, as I said, with the same screen the dedicated readers will have). So... which are most people going to buy?

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by Spiffy

So... which are most people going to buy?

Dedicated reader for me. I want to read, not be interrupted by email, messages and phone call pop ups and notifications.

Dealing with that stuff does not make the reading experience relaxing in any way.

[Spiffy]

Originally Posted by sabredog

Dedicated reader for me. I want to read, not be interrupted by email, messages and phone call pop ups and notifications.

Dealing with that stuff does not make the reading experience relaxing in any way.

Note the word "most".

What's likely to happen is that it will still exist, but as a slightly more expensive (than it is now) niche. Players like Amazon will simply update their technology to Reflective LCDs and slap a "Kindle 4" label on it, and that may last a while. But the smaller players will either stop getting enough business to support them, or gradually only be able to support fewer models, at a higher price point.

I mean unless that ONE single company who makes e-ink screens pulls their head out of their ass and halves the cost of the thing.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by Spiffy

Note the word "most".

What's likely to happen is that it will still exist, but as a slightly more expensive (than it is now) niche.

I am not certain that would be the case. Dedicated MP3 players for example are cheaper than they have ever been. Another example are mobile phones that offer the basics rather than bells and whistles. It is the extra so called "functionality" that you end up paying more for.

In my opinion, as our lives get more busy and devices we carry more invasive, the need for being able to use a device that provides a single, simple function like an ereader becomes more important. Provides that little bit of sanity per day, away from the distractions.

It is human nature to check that email, missed call, IM or SMS as soon as the alert sounds. You cannot relax when all that cacophony keeps occurring.

I do however believe that the notebook and tablet PC's will evolve into a single device.

[mdmorrissey]

A simple netbook with an included or detachable ereader would be fine -- since the combination of e-ink and LCD does not seem practicable. All I want is a small e-reader that will EASILY and RELIABLY reproduce texts that I can read on the computer. This seems to be a software challenge, since the e-ink technology exists, and it IS much easier on the eyes. Trying to pack everything into one machine is completely wrongheaded. The company that does what I want -- with greatest attention to the two key words above -- will get my money.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by GERGE

When you use nook and see the LCD and eInk screens side by side, you understand that LCD screens is horrible for reading. I don't think they will ever die. Maybe evolve.

It's not. It has its pros and cons. Just as e-ink has its pros and cons.

Originally Posted by Spiffy

Yes, its called "Reflective LCD", and it will probably replace both technologies.

No, it's called transflective LCD and that will replace both technologies. The PixelQi screens are an example of transflective LCD screens.

e-ink has its strong points, reflective LCD has its strong points, but also transparent LCD has its strong points.

[stargazertony]

Originally Posted by Spiffy

... So... which are most people going to buy?

I've never understood why what "most people" are going to buy is a consideration. I read what they have to say then however, evaluate the product for myself and choose the one I want despite of what "most people" buy. I would hazard a guess that virtually everyone has at least one pair of denim jeans. I don't, haven't since I was a kid. I simply don't care.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by stargazertony

I've never understood why what "most people" are going to buy is a consideration. I read what they have to say then however, evaluate the product for myself and choose the one I want despite of what "most people" buy. I would hazard a guess that virtually everyone has at least one pair of denim jeans. I don't, haven't since I was a kid. I simply don't care.

I think some e-ink fans care only because they worry that the popularity of non e-ink devices will lead to e-ink devices no longer selling enough to be worth producing.

I'm not an e-ink fan, but I hope such devices will continue, if only because they allow some people to read when they otherwise couldn't. Of course, I make a distinction between what I want (emotional) and what I think will happen (logic). In this case, I think e-ink will survive (at least for a good number of years), based on the economics and reader demographics.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by stargazertony

I've never understood why what "most people" are going to buy is a consideration. I read what they have to say then however, evaluate the product for myself and choose the one I want despite of what "most people" buy. I would hazard a guess that virtually everyone has at least one pair of denim jeans. I don't, haven't since I was a kid. I simply don't care.

Weird. I thought I was the only person around who didn't have even one pair of denim jeans. Not even as a kid, which is odd because my brother and sisters all wore them constantly.

And I agree with you, except that for electronics products that rely on content, some people are understandably worried about buying something that may have no support in the near future. (Long term of course, very little is safe )

[mdmorrissey]

How can anyone not be an "e-ink fan"? This is a serious question! The difference between reading for longer than a few minutes on e-ink vs. normal computer screen is huge. In fact there is no comparison.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by mdmorrissey

How can anyone not be an "e-ink fan"? This is a serious question! The difference between reading for longer than a few minutes on e-ink vs. normal computer screen is huge. In fact there is no comparison.

eInk has many advantages, but it clearly also has disadvantages, lets not be silly about it.
- Low contrast
- Slooow refresh rates
- Grayscale only
- Can't read in low light (vs can't read in bright light for LCD)

How much the advantages and disadvantages outweigh each other will depend both on personal preference and the material you are trying to read.

I have a PRS505 and loved it, but not because it had an eInk screen, but because the eInk screen gave it great battery life. Give me workable battery life on an LCD screen, which suitable for more applications, and I'm just as happy.