what's the best eReader?

[MagickMan]

Sure, you can read books on an iPad or any LCD tablet, and for short to moderate stretches they're fine for that. However, e-ink is still more comfortable. I can read 5-6 hours at a stretch on my non-color Nook, but if I try that on my notebook LCD my eyes start hurting after a while.

 

[pm]

You know, I seem to always have the minority opinion on here... Someday a strange thing may happen and I could be in the majority on something...

Merry Christmas, everyone - eInk or otherwise.

 

[fatpat268]

I don't agree. I read a book a week or more and I only use my iPad. I'm 40 years old, don't wear glasses (no LASIK either) and in the past year I have read over 70 books all on the iPad except a couple on the kindle. Plus I have the iPad Economist subscription and read that too. In the past two days (because I am on vacation) I read one whole book and I'm about 35% through another - all on an LCD.

Again, I'm not trying to claim LCDs are better than eInk for reading... I honestly don't believe this to be true. But I strongly disagree with any one who says you can't read ebooks on an LCD... Because I do this pretty much every night for an hour or three.

And it's not like I'm an Apple-crazed guy either. I recommend the color nook personally. But I do like single devices. When I get on a plane, I pull out my iPad and read, watch movies, play games, listen to music and podcasts. I'd just as soon not juggle two devices... And I like the backlit LCD on the late-night plane flights as well.

If people prefer eInk and,like their Kindles, I think that's great. But I don't agree with all the FUD that gets posted about the viability of LCDs.

Maybe, but you also have to realize, not everyone has the same eyes.

I'm 23 and wear contacts, and while I can stare at an LCD for the majority of the day, I get intense discomfort if I try to read large paragraphs of text for longer than 30 minutes or so on an LCD. I don't have that problem with a regular book or e-ink.

 

[Madwand1]

For some, probably the Notion Ink with Pixel Qi screen.

http://pixelqi.com/blog1/2010/12/11/notion-ink-tablet-with-pixel-qi-screen-sells-out/

 

[OBLAMA2009]

i checked out the nook yesterday and i think it is a pretty nice device. its worth the 250 for the browsing alone, although it doesnt have pinch to zoom. the samsung pad is ridiculously expensive and in the att store it had crashed and the salespeople couldnt fix it even by restarting t

 

[zerogear]

I personally like the Sony PRS devices a lot more than kindle or nook and I've owned all three. Build quality by Sony is just there with the metal chassis. Though.. software.. meh. Still being able to rent from the library is a good thing. nook does it as well. Kindle doesn't.

 

[zerogear]

I only read on LCDs. I spend my days reading and writing text documents on LCDs at work, and I spend my nights reading ebooks on an LCD at home. EInk is clearly better under open sunlight but considering that all of us are reading and posting here on AT on computers that have LCD displays I don't understand blanket claims as fact that reading on an LCD is awful...? How is reading a book any different than reading posts on AT? And the idea that one can only read for less than 5 minutes on an LCD...?

My vote for best eReader is a hacked color Nook running Froyo.

It's more like after reading/looking at a LCD all day long, its nice to not have to look at a LCD screen to read a book or document after a long day.

 

[randay]

i checked out the nook yesterday and i think it is a pretty nice device. its worth the 250 for the browsing alone, although it doesnt have pinch to zoom. the samsung pad is ridiculously expensive and in the att store it had crashed and the salespeople couldnt fix it even by restarting t

you can get pinch to zoom/multitouch if you root the nook color. which at the moment is very safe and pretty easy if you can follow directions.

 

[frostedflakes]

Recently picked up a Kindle 3. This thing is nice, was a little worried the screen might be too small, but it's perfect. e-Ink display looks great and is a pleasure to read on, page turns and menu refreshes aren't bad at all. Navigating the menus is very responsive and doesn't feel sluggish. Little things like the built-in dictionary are very handy. Battery life seems to be very good. Just awesome.

 

[KentState]

Amazon just introduced loaning out books which is something that was lacking.

 

[palswim]

Man, it would be sweet if they had an e-Ink device that had a mini keyboard docking station or something, so you could use it for reading or simple word processing/note taking.