Would you ever buy a non front-lit e-ink reader?

[hidari]

Kobo mini....great reader...No glow light....

[MrDoug]

Originally Posted by Quexos

To put it simply: Never again
The light, whether the current front-lit technologies or new ones in the future are a fundamental part of the reader experience for me. I can't imagine going back to a non lit device anymore than I imagine post mailing in this day and age of e-mails.
Also I assume that when color finally hits readers, I will apply the same philosophy

Who in the heck would ever buy a non lit e-reader? All new lighted readers have a on/off lite switch.. I looked at my old Non lit Kindle the other day and what a piece of old technology.. Kinda reminded me of my old bag cell phone..

[shanghaichica]

Well I've just bought a Nook simple touch but that will be used as a secondary reader. I can't imagine my primary reader not being front-lit though.

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by MrDoug

Who in the heck would ever buy a non lit e-reader? All new lighted readers have a on/off lite switch.. I looked at my old Non lit Kindle the other day and what a piece of old technology.. Kinda reminded me of my old bag cell phone..

I've seen the demos of the lit e-readers, played with them in the stores, and they didn't grab me at all. My Sony PRS-T2 and my Kindle 4 (non lit) look pretty much like pages of paper, and the simplicity of the set-up really is wonderful to me. My original reasoning for buying these readers has not changed and I still find using them enjoyable even though "something new" has come along.

Something new will always come along.

[exaltedwombat]

Originally Posted by patrickt

I would probably not get an ereader that wasn't lighted with some technology that lets me read in bright sunlight. I will never buy a tablet computer for reading but then no one does really.

Don't they? Since I acquired a Nexus 7, my Kindle has rarely been used. I don't need to carry around TWO devices!

[miklizro]

I still have my K3 and I adore it, I use a light wedge for reading in bed with it.
If it ever dies on me I may upgrade to the PW, I bought one for my son for Christmas and it is lovely but the K3 is still my baby.

[Hellmark]

I just bought a nook str with glowlight after Best Buy had them for sale for $79 the other day. Ended up getting one for my wife as well.

I am going to root mine to add a RSS reader, tapatalk, and Bacon reader for reddit. Those are the top things I do on my phone, and they'll be great on eink.

I was on the fence between Sony and the nook for ages. It kept coming down to the glowlight vs collections support. Nook's shelves have to be created on the device, which suck. When the nook ended up being $40 cheaper, that was the tie breaker.

[crossi]

I've been reading books for 50 years without backlights or frontlights. Never bothered me. Never used a booklight. I'm rarely someplace where I can't just turn on the lights and when I am I usually doing something where I wouldn't be reading anyway like walking home in the evening.

Of course I also feel no need for a cellphone much less a smartphone instead of a landline. Have a desktop instead of a laptop or tablet.

[MrDoug]

Originally Posted by crossi

I've been reading books for 50 years without backlights or frontlights. Never bothered me. Never used a booklight. I'm rarely someplace where I can't just turn on the lights and when I am I usually doing something where I wouldn't be reading anyway like walking home in the evening.

Of course I also feel no need for a cellphone much less a smartphone instead of a landline. Have a desktop instead of a laptop or tablet.

I think you should change your screen name to Fred Flintstone.

Originally Posted by MrDoug

I think you should change your screen name to Fred Flintstone.

Weren't the Flintstones the modern stone age family?

More seriously though: why can't people pick and choose technologies based upon their interests? I choose ereaders because I was always the type of person who brought two or three books with me because I wanted to make sure I had something to read if my mood changed during a trip, not because I wanted to carry around a huge library or have a backlight. The type of phone I use depends upon where I'm living. If I'm using transit a lot, I like a mobile to check bus times. If I'm living in a place where I don't need transit, landlines work just as well. My computers are fancy because they're my hobby. Yet my word processor is actually a text editor because I don't need the bells and whistles for personal stuff and prefer to use LaTeX (an text processor that hasn't changed much over the years) for formatted documents. We don't have to use the latests and greatest because it's the current market fad. We should choose to use it if it makes our life better, and choose not to use it if it'll drive us to the poor house that much quicker.

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by crossi

I've been reading books for 50 years without backlights or frontlights. Never bothered me. Never used a booklight. I'm rarely someplace where I can't just turn on the lights and when I am I usually doing something where I wouldn't be reading anyway like walking home in the evening.

Of course I also feel no need for a cellphone much less a smartphone instead of a landline. Have a desktop instead of a laptop or tablet.

This is similar to me. (Although I do have a net-book). I've been reading paperbacks all my life - the current models of e-readers I have (K4, and Sony PRS-T2) simulate the paper pages just perfectly imo.

Because of this, it is hard to perceive a non-lit piece of technology useless. If it's good enough on a paper book, it's good enough on e-ink screens.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

Because of this, it is hard to perceive a non-lit piece of technology useless. If it's good enough on a paper book, it's good enough on e-ink screens.

Sorry, but to me it isn't. The frontlight adds a lot of brightness and clarity, even when there is enough ambient light to read by. The reason is that a paperback, even an old one, is much brighter under the same lighting conditions as an unlit ereader. I can read a paperback at lower light levels than I can read an e-ink screen.

The frontlit ereader improves in a way I can't even describe with words (<-- put this in the relevant rant thread ), besting the paperback in the one and final advantage it had. Only because of that I wouldn't want to use an unlit ereader as my primary device anymore.

[Xiaopanda]

Having owned a range of devices, I wouldn't trade my PW's front lit display. I use it all the time and find that transitions into shadows don't disrupt my reading any more. Sure, it has it's faults, it isn't perfect, but one device, no accessories and easy to charge.... Plus the screen resolution , I wouldn't go back. All I'd really like is a colour screen (EInk) and I'd be 100% happy. PW really doesn't do comics that much justice....

[hidari]

I'd chose a non-lite front "gooooo" light just to piss off all the lemmings that need a front light cause everyone says you need one. I imagine Cicero read without a frontlight on his "reader"..... I say back to slates.... no e..anything....

[maxbookworm]

Nope-ity nope nope. I love reading from lit screens -- I use my Glowlight at night (just before bed -- no email or website distractions), and my Galaxy Note II for almost all other situations. And yes, I read in many places that would be impossible or uncomfortable on a non-lit screen. I used to have to drag a reading lamp to all different corners of the house and now I can just plop down wherever it feels comfortable and start reading.