Anti-aliasing aka font smoothing

[DanielSt]

I have a 2014 Kindle Basic 7th generation that has never been updated and I am able to use it without any problems.

I had the same model some years ago and when it was updated in 2022, I could no longer use it (brain fog and fatigue).

All other newer e-readers of any brand that I have tried, as well as older e-readers that have been updated, I am unable to use.

Do all current e-readers use anti-aliasing (font smoothing), and does my never-updated Kindle Basic 7th generation not use it?

If current e-readers use it, is there a way of turning it off on all or some of them?

Would be grateful for your help!

[rowe]

I only really know pocket readers. The xteink x4 doesn't have text aliasing on the standard firmware.

The Viwoods Reader is a more polished device. It doesn't have text aliasing in some of its refresh modes.

[DNSB]

Some of the earlier eInk devices with lower resolution may have used anti-aliasing though it slowed down the display and would require a display capable of greyscaling. For later eInk screen, the 300 DPI screen keeps the jaggies small enough that anti-aliasing would not be useful.

Takes me back a lot of years. The first discussion on anti-aliasing and eInk I remember on MobileRead was from before I joined and was just browsing the site.

[DanielSt]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Some of the earlier eInk devices with lower resolution may have used anti-aliasing though it slowed down the display and would require a display capable of greyscaling. For later eInk screen, the 300 DPI screen keeps the jaggies small enough that anti-aliasing would not be useful.

Takes be back a lot of years. The first discussion on anti-aliasing and eInk I remember on MobileRead was from before I joined and was just browsing the site.

Aha! So the earlier devices would be more likely to have anti-aliasing, and the newer ones generally don't use it?

[nana77]

I wasn't to know that older devices used anti-aliasing, @DanielSt consider that the best crispness is done by the resolution (anti-aliasing, other than not being that clean, has processes demanding), and the older Kindle Basic had 800 x 600 at 167 ppi, the 2022 one has 300 ppi; just as a comparison, there are 4K TV that has 160 ppi (3840 × 2160 on a 29").
Pardon but do you have to watch videos or other kind of sources on it?

[DNSB]

He is not watching videos on it. One thing to remember is that most people will hold an ereader a lot closer to their eyes than their normal TV watching distance.

I am only aware of one ereader that used anti-aliasing and that was a 212 DPI screen. If you looked at the screen with a magnifier when using a serif font, you could see the gray capsules around some edges of the glyph. It was also slower than most 6" ereaders at that time when turning pages. Sheesh... it's only been 14 years and I'm blanking out of the manufacturer.