BeBook Review - really a great device...

[ProDigit]

Hendrik:

Well,I think it's obvious that there is a change for sure!
Most e-ink readers have a battery life that completely outperform any notebook!
This means you can read longer times non-stop.
The reader is way smaller and lighter, this means you can put it in the pocket of your jacket, and take it anywhere without problems.
Also, you can take it with you to read in home places like bed, toilet etc, without the discomfort of a laptop/desktop's size,wheight, or having to plug it into a wall and be dependent on where the cable can connect.

Any person using a e-ink reader has said the same comment, that it is less straining to the eyes; but I believe in pure sunlight the reverse is true.
If you have a laptop with a reasonable backlight,that is much better to use in the open sun than a reader.
The white page,just like with a book, can really burn in your eyes with long use in sunlight (you'll see green spots after reading outside).
This leads me to believe the reader is the best device out there to read in shadows outside, or in inside environments.
Reading is nearly 90% identical to reading a book, even in low-light environments like eg: in bed with a nightstand (light) on should be possible...

PDF's read slower than text, and you can get your best experience of the resolution by comparing to set your laptop to a resolution of 800x600 pix.
If your drivers support to not stretch out the image on your laptop screen, you'll have about the best comparison (about 20 by 15cm screensize?)
You'll see you can only read most pdf's in landscape mode. Sony's reader supports pdf upto 120% zoom, which basically should be to zoom a normal pdf book, without the white borders around it.

I found manga/comic books works ok, and is readable in landscape, however in portrait mode most anime with small to regular fontsize will become unreadable.
With landscape I seem to notice that the screen refresh rate is a big issue, since you can read only about 1/3th of an A4 page, then PgDn, and have some overlapping piece of the book.
Those who read comic books fast, will notice it is less pleasant to do it on a reader, though not impossible.

Lit and other specified e-reader formats are the same as books, more designed to compress textbooks than comic books, though some formats support pictures.
The format generally automatically starts a new line of text when the old line is too big to fit the screen.
One con I find, is that often many formats only support 1 font type, though some do support inverted text, Bold text, or larger fonts (I don't know if any supports Underscore text)

So all of the above can be said about most e-book readers, not only the BeBook since that's common for most readers.

On the BeBook which supports 4 greyscales you'll have slightly more grainy pictures, since the only colors it supports is Black, dark grey, light grey and white.
It tries to compensate the different colors by rendering (meaning rastering darker and lighter greys), to get a color inbetween the 4 colors.
A sony reader is a bit more refined there, but in essence does the same thing with it's 8 grey tints.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

Any person using a e-ink reader has said the same comment, that it is less straining to the eyes; but I believe in pure sunlight the reverse is true.
If you have a laptop with a reasonable backlight,that is much better to use in the open sun than a reader.

That is wrong. A laptop is usually unuseable in direct sunlight. The E-ink screen is actually much better in direct sunlight than a paper book since it is not as white as a paper book.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

The white page,just like with a book, can really burn in your eyes with long use in sunlight (you'll see green spots after reading outside).

"The futures so bright, I've got to wear shades" - Huey Lewis

Wearing polarized sun glasses should help. Or, you could probably get a polarized film and put it over your reader. I haven't tried but I expect this will help for that.

BOb

[ProDigit]

Originally Posted by tompe

That is wrong. A laptop is usually unuseable in direct sunlight. The E-ink screen is actually much better in direct sunlight than a paper book since it is not as white as a paper book.

Well,I'm using my laptop outside just fine!
On full backlit,yes, but I can read everything perfectly fine!
It shows me exactly the same as dimming the LCD in a darker room, and because the environment is light, it doesn't burn as much as when you put high contrast,and high brightness inside.
In fact, a laptop is quite comfortable reading outside. Depending ofcourse which one.
Outside my Sony Vaio's LCD works just like a pda; black text, with what seems like a light grey background due to LCD and sunlight being reflected in the back panel.
I do have a shiny (glossy) finish, which has some reflection showing, but it's less tiring than using a monitor @ full brightness inside.
I can not say how things go with anti-glare monitors.

I don't know what laptops you are using, but mine I can read everything pretty well in full sunlight.
Ofcourse I won't do any photo or video editing outside, but it's more than good enough to see websites,write documents like mails, and read pdf's, and you only see the colors slightly reduced. (like white appears as light grey, and it's harder to see the difference between light blue and light grey on a website, or white and yellow).

[sheygetz]

Err... excuse me...
I was asking for comparisons with a ppc (or pda, if you know that better), like the OP mentioned (In his case an Acer n10).

Hendrik

[tompe]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

I don't know what laptops you are using, but mine I can read everything pretty well in full sunlight.

I thought you meant direct sun light. If you meant direct sunlight I am very interesting in knowing what type of screen you have since at work we do some flight tests outside when the sun is shining directly at the screen and it is totally hopeless to use a laptop in these conditions.

[pthwaite]

In my earlier days I tried to find a copy of the User Manual but couldn't. I still can't has anyone got an electronic copy the could email me or point me to where it is?

Also, it is said to support epub (I assume that is the non-drm'd version?) Now that they are supporting Mobi, will they also support the drm'd epub too, to give Sony a run for their money? (As I understand it Mobi gets kind of upset if some one wee to offer a choice)

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by tompe

I thought you meant direct sun light. If you meant direct sunlight I am very interesting in knowing what type of screen you have since at work we do some flight tests outside when the sun is shining directly at the screen and it is totally hopeless to use a laptop in these conditions.

The OLPC has a screen that is transflective. I don't know if any other laptops or netbooks have such a screen. But, I bet they are going to get more popular. Matter of fact, I just saw a news item about this type of screen from HP I think, nope Epson.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/29/e...-play-well-in/

BOb

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

The OLPC has a screen that is transflective. I don't know if any other laptops or netbooks have such a screen.

HP iPaq Pocket PCs have transflective LCD screens and are clearly readable in full sunlight.

[ProDigit]

Originally Posted by tompe

I thought you meant direct sun light. If you meant direct sunlight I am very interesting in knowing what type of screen you have since at work we do some flight tests outside when the sun is shining directly at the screen and it is totally hopeless to use a laptop in these conditions.

Yes,direct sunlight!
When I use my laptop outside in the shadows on a sunny day, the backlight provides enough light to make me see the screen's content. (I'm using an old Vaio VGN-C190G here as example).
When the sun is shining at it's fullest, and I'm sitting outside in the sun, it's a bit harder to read, because I don't have enough brightness to see things clearly.

But when I turn myself so that the sun shines over my shoulder on the screen, then I don't even need any LCD back light to be able to read my text.

The sun literally shines in my LCD, and doing that gives you about the same as playing a gameboy SP, palmtop or calculator.

It's less good for pictures or movies, since many colors area bit green/yellow/grey faded.

Also make sure the sunlight does not directly reflect on the LCD in your eyes, because that would blind you.. (and then you won't read anything at all anymore []).
I angle my screen so that the reflection of the sunrays bounce anywhere except in my eyes,but just as long as the sun's shining on my LCD screen I can see things clearly.

I suspect you can do this nearly with every laptop with a reflective (non anti-glare) screen.
I estimate that an LCD screen with an anti-glare filter will not allow you to see things very easy at all in direct sunlight; but I've never actually tried it out yet.

You also must not have touchscreen or any film over the screen,since that would only blur the image more.

[sheygetz]

Holy crap!
First Sony's marketing strategy is discussed at length including questions of international law. Now it's on to the properties of several kinds of notebook and ppc screens. What's all that to do w/ the original topic? Are there no moderators around here to reign this in?

Hendrik

[HarryT]

It's not the role of moderators to keep threads "on topic". That would be an impossible task. Threads do "drift" - that's life.

[sianon]

Originally Posted by sheygetz

Holy crap!
First Sony's marketing strategy is discussed at length including questions of international law. Now it's on to the properties of several kinds of notebook and ppc screens. What's all that to do w/ the original topic? Are there no moderators around here to reign this in?

Hendrik

Isn't that the way real life discussions drift as well, start discussing one thing and gradually (or not so gradually at times) you are discussing something at the other end of the spectrum from where you started. All healthy as far as I can see.

Karen

[ProDigit]

yeah, no flaming (yet)

[tcv]

Originally Posted by ProDigit

yeah, no flaming (yet)