E-ink vs LCD readers

[kyrax12]

I am beginning to see that E-inks just aren't worth it anymore seeing as tablets have other functions than just reading books.


Do you guys still feel the same about E-ink? I am kinda regretting getting the Kindle reader instead of the kindle fire.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I am beginning to see that E-inks just aren't worth it anymore seeing as tablets have other functions than just reading books.


Do you guys still feel the same about E-ink? I am kinda regretting getting the Kindle reader instead of the kindle fire.

If you wanted a multi use device, why did you get a reader? Books only do one thing. E-ink only does one thing. A single charge on an E-reader lasts a very long time. E-ink is very readable in all light conditions. If I want to use a computer, I'll use a computer not an E-reader.

 

[poofyhairguy]

E-Inks are great for certain things.

Like reading books in daylight. Or being able to read without your eyes getting fatigued.

The real issue is that for the majority of the public books are boring compared to a round of Doodle Fit or some time curled up with a Netflix app. LCD "e-readers" basically admit that in society reading books is a rare hobby, and the real money is selling to those who enjoy less intellectual ways to spend their time.

 

[Red Storm]

They are two different things, it's not an apples to apples comparison.

I like to read books, so E-Ink is very much worth it to me.

 

[kyrax12]

Glad you guys are somewhat alleviating my buyer's remorse issue.

Still.. 129$ for a kindle e-reader compared to a 199$ kindle fire is making me cringe when you factor in the function between the two.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Glad you guys are somewhat alleviating my buyer's remorse issue.

Still.. 129$ for a kindle e-reader compared to a 199$ kindle fire is making me cringe when you factor in the function between the two.

Hey. you can get toe shoes and save yourself the cost of socks. You can read a book on your cell phone and surf the web as well. The point is, e-ink devices do one thing very well. If only they smelled like books...

 

[poofyhairguy]

Depends. If you plan on reading books you made the right choice.

If like me you think books are mostly a waste of time unless its an audiobook on a long car ride, then you never should have bought the e-ink Kindle to begin with. Fire all the way.

They are so different with so little overlap that there is little common functionality between the two. No need for buyer remorse.

A Fire sucks at reading books compared to any E-Ink device.

 

[Deeko]

Conversely, a tablet doesn't really provide function that a smartphone doesn't already provide. There are certainly things that are better on a tablet than a phone - but if I had to choose one or the other, e-reader or tablet, I'd take the e-reader every time. Its considerably better for reading books, its much easier to take with you, it gets much better battery life...and realistically, I can always browse the internet or play fruit ninja on my phone.

 

[AstroManLuca]

E-ink readers are sort of like dedicated MP3 players IMO. They were the standard over the last couple years but they're becoming more of a niche item for book fiends now just as MP3 players are for music lovers. Most people want tablets with LCDs for the versatility, and they're fine with using their phone as an MP3 player even though a separate device might be a little better.

 

[tedrodai]

For reading books, hands down I'd choose the e-ink every time. I don't regret my nook purchase a couple years ago nor does my wife regret her nook purchase this year.

Even though I've recently started considering a tablet purchase in the near future, it wouldn't be for reading books. I'd do browsing etc on the tablet, but I'd switch back to the nook any time I bought a new book, definitely. I think it comes down to how much you enjoy reading, and how much reading you do at a time. I'll go for many months without a book, but when I pick one up I'm engrossed for hours until it's done. The e-ink is just much easier on the eyes, as long as you don't try reading in the dark.

 

[Belegost]

So for me, having both a touchpad and a kindle. First the LCD doesn't give me more eyestrain than the e-ink, but I think this is because I adjust the brightness to match the ambient lighting, and I read on the touchpad with colors inverted (honestly as a long time coder, reading on emmissive displays should be done with a dark background, my preference being green on black for nostalgia.)

The LCD is essentially unusable in direct sunlight, but the e-ink is not usable in low-light without an extra light source (I guess I could add a shade for my touchpad.)

As for battery life... I guess if I get another conference in Bangladesh I should take the kindle. But even there I found enough power to keep my laptop going and it only lasts 2 hours on battery. My point is, the touchpad lasts for a day of moderate to heavy use, beyond that what do I care if I have to drop it on the charger overnight? Of course I'm a little spoiled with the touchstone charger dock that I use to hold the touchpad on the nightstand whole I read in bed at night, maybe if I had to deal with a cord I would have a different opinion.

Overall, I have read 17 books (just in my kindle library, not including PDF papers and such.) on my touchpad since I got it in the fire sale, and 0 on my kindle, in fact I'm honestly not even sure where it is right now...

 

[Red Storm]

Dedicated E-Ink readers are also much lighter than tablets, another reason why I use a Kindle to read and not a tablet.

 

[Mopetar]

E-Inks are great for certain things. . . . being able to read without your eyes getting fatigued.

Everyone always brings this up, but I do not experience this problem. I've been fine reading for almost eight hours straight on my iPad without any eyestrain. I'm curious to know what percentage of the population suffers from this as I have met people who need to take regular breaks from working at a computer or they start to get headaches from eye strain.

The worst problem I have with reading on an LCD is that some screens don't have a low enough minimum brightness for me. The iPad has the ability to invert colors so if I'm still reading late at night I usually just flip it so it's white text and a black background and that makes it better for me.

 

[AstroManLuca]

(honestly as a long time coder, reading on emmissive displays should be done with a dark background, my preference being green on black for nostalgia.)

Wait, which device has the emissive screen? I didn't think there were any tablets with AMOLED screens. The Touchpad and all others have backlit LCDs, so it's best to have lighter colors. Right?

The worst problem I have with reading on an LCD is that some screens don't have a low enough minimum brightness for me. The iPad has the ability to invert colors so if I'm still reading late at night I usually just flip it so it's white text and a black background and that makes it better for me.

My phone has a pretty high minimum brightness but there is an Android app called "Screen Filter" that will (artificially) darken the screen. It doesn't actually reduce the backlight intensity, it just adds a dark filter over the top to reduce the brightness. Works well, not sure if there's anything like that for the iPad but being able to invert the screen seems like a nice feature.

 

[Red Storm]

Everyone always brings this up, but I do not experience this problem. I've been fine reading for almost eight hours straight on my iPad without any eyestrain. I'm curious to know what percentage of the population suffers from this as I have met people who need to take regular breaks from working at a computer or they start to get headaches from eye strain.

The worst problem I have with reading on an LCD is that some screens don't have a low enough minimum brightness for me. The iPad has the ability to invert colors so if I'm still reading late at night I usually just flip it so it's white text and a black background and that makes it better for me.

I can read for long periods on an LCD as well, but I just find it more comfortable to read on an e-ink screen. It's the closest thing we have to an actual book (which is still the best!).

 

[tedrodai]

Wait, which device has the emissive screen? I didn't think there were any tablets with AMOLED screens. The Touchpad and all others have backlit LCDs, so it's best to have lighter colors. Right?

Both LEDs and backlit LCDs are emissive, i.e. they emit light. I don't have a clue what's best though beyond personal preference.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Both LEDs and backlit LCDs are emissive, i.e. they emit light. I don't have a clue what's best though beyond personal preference.

I'm not an engineer, so I might not have this totally right. But this is how I understand it:

The backlight on an LCD emits light, but it emits a constant light and the liquid crystals partially block the light to produce an image. So it requires more energy to darken the backlight, i.e., to display dark images.

AMOLEDs, on the other hand, directly emit the light you see, so the more light they have to emit, the more power they use.

So basically you want to use dark themes as much as possible with AMOLED displays and light themes as much as possible with LCDs.

 

[Deeko]

I'm not an engineer, so I might not have this totally right. But this is how I understand it:

The backlight on an LCD emits light, but it emits a constant light and the liquid crystals partially block the light to produce an image. So it requires more energy to darken the backlight, i.e., to display dark images.

AMOLEDs, on the other hand, directly emit the light you see, so the more light they have to emit, the more power they use.

So basically you want to use dark themes as much as possible with AMOLED displays and light themes as much as possible with LCDs.

I'm not positive on the whole sliding scale mechanism, but I know with AMOLED, when a pixel is black, it is "off" and requires no energy.

 

[Belegost]

Depends on your purpose Astro. For conserving battery, OLED is better with mostly dark themes since power consumption is based on brightness per pixel. For LCD what matters is the backlight level, independent of whether the pixels are mostly light or dark.

The question of eyestrain is different, and mostly related to the ratio of screen brightness to ambient brightness, in general if the screen is too much brighter than the environment it causes more fatigue. Secondary is legibility, and it is fairly well known that for emmissive displays (ones that produce light, as compared to reflective which are lit by ambient light) that higher contrast is better, and that dark backgrounds with light text are better (ignoring hue effects, which are quite profound, for instance blue on black is less readable even when the contrast is much higher than white or green on black.)

 

[corkyg]

For the avid book reader, e-ink is the way to go. I've never seen a book in anything but B&W, and for continuous reading, say 4-5 hours a day, every day, with zero Internet interest, the basic reader rules. That is what my wife would have. I am not an avid bookster, and would be happier with an iPad2 or Nook. Like the man said above - it is apples and oranges.

Conclusion . . . LCDs are for toys - eInks are tools.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I like the battery life on my e-ink Kindle much better than on my Fire -- days of reading vs. about 7 hours.

 

[Doppel]

E-Inks are great for certain things.

Like reading books in daylight. Or being able to read without your eyes getting fatigued.

The real issue is that for the majority of the public books are boring compared to a round of Doodle Fit or some time curled up with a Netflix app. LCD "e-readers" basically admit that in society reading books is a rare hobby, and the real money is selling to those who enjoy less intellectual ways to spend their time.

I hate that you are right, but u are. Anyway the eink kindle is so cheap now it is basically worth having one just to avoid eye strain from reading on an LCD for too long.

 

[manko]

I think they're working on a switchable combination of LCD and e-ink. I thought I read that Amazon looked into that for their new tablets, but it was too expensive. It sounds like there could be some devices with switchable screens in the next couple years. You'd use e-ink mode for reading and long battery life, then switch to the LCD for color, video and web.

For me, I prefer an all-in one pocket LCD device (and hoping for a future flexible OLED). I do my reading with white on black text. It's crisp and easy on the eyes and I don't need bright room lighting or a book light to see the page. Of course, it doesn't work well in bright sunlight, but that's not where I do most of my reading.

For people who want a dedicated e-reader only, I recommend the Nook Simple Touch for it's size, weight and ease of use. Anything bigger gets to be a pain to hold for long periods.

 

[MagickMan]

LCDs are fine for light reading, but they can't touch e-ink when you're reading a book. I have both, an original Nook for reading (rocking its epub support) and an iPad2 for everything else. For now, that's the best you can do, and most other solutions simply have too many limitations.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I think they're working on a switchable combination of LCD and e-ink.

It already exists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_Qi